deGruchy's LIME WORKS™ is a supply company committed to providing you the resources which are helpful for performing professional masonry restoration and for building sustainable structures.

Many historic masonry buildings which are over 100 years old are just receiving their first repointing work. These old buildings were usually built with only lime and sand for mortar. The well built historic buildings are considered sustainable due to the longevity of their service as opposed to the waste caused by rapid cycles of obsolescence in buildings such as the modern strip mall.

The details in how all substantial and beautiful historic masonry buildings were made allows many of these old structures to last for centuries and even for millennia throughout the world. Modern Portland cement mortars have had many known failures as a primary or gauged-in binder to lime mortar used in masonry preservation efforts of these old masonry buildings.

However, the correct lime and sand mortar mix has always been very durable and cost effective by achieving its long service life for the buildings they serve. When new mortars with duplicate properties as that of old materials are used to repair and repoint buildings, or to build new ones, then the final life-cycle assessment of the replacement materials will be as equally impressive as that of the historically time-proven materials. Using materials with an outstanding durability in their service life is a property of Green Building Technology.

deGruchy's line of Natural Hydraulic Lime sanded mortars is a logical one-step choice for building and restoring. deGruchy's mortar and St. Astier Ecomortar can be used suitably for many applications where type N or O mortars would otherwise be used, such as:

1. Repointing brick and stone buildings.
2. Laying up brick, stone, terra cotta and other masonry units.
3. Scratch and Brown coats for external stucco over traditional wood lath or wire mesh,
    straw bale, adobe and cob.
4. Finished color coats for external stucco (render)
5. Finished color coats for internal lime plaster.
    (Can even be used over regular sheet rock using a quartzite primer beforehand)
6. With the addition of NHL 2 deGruchy's Mortar (F) can be polished into true
   Venetian plasters with a mirror-like finish at a fraction of the cost of imported Italian lime putty
    plasters.

Since deGruchy's mortar is hydraulic, it sets with water in about 4 to 6 hours unlike Portland cement mortar that has a much quicker hydraulic set. A quick set limits the time for creativity that is gained by using a slow curing material.

What you also get with deGruchy's mortar is a higher elasticity, permeability and salt resisting mortar that contains over 20% free lime

deGruchy's mortars release approximately 80% less CO2 emissions in the production of its binder over the CO2 released in the production of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) binder. This makes our line of mortars an extremely "Green" building material for the construction of new sustainable structures.

deGruchy's mortar is surprisingly economical even in any of our standard colors!

If you are planning on repointing or repairing an old Brownstone, Limestone or Brick structure or planning to build, stucco and plaster a new building and you want to have the old world look, feel and durability of lime mortar coupled with significant CO2 savings for our global good, you have come to the right place!

Select from the menu to the left to review the products that interest you. Give us a call and we can help with application instructions, calculating quantities and quote you a price for delivered materials. Thanks for your interest in the preservation of our irreplaceable historic and cultural resources and protecting our environment by conscientiously choosing Green Building Technology.