Lime Analysis

Inspired to analyse the composition of my mortar, I improvised and placed a lump of mortar that I’d levered out of my wall in the strongest acid I could lay my hands on – white wine vinegar 8% acidity.

The vinegar was surprisingly successful in dissolving the lime (with a rather attractive bubbling that makes me want to do it again) and left me with the residue photographed below:

~ Click for more detail

I was left with around 10-20% of the original volume of material, mainly quite fine sand. From this and the appearance of the mortar it seems to me the mortar contains a high proportion of lime with added sand.