Pointing around door frame

[Pleasedontdothat]

We have an old (pre 1800s) stone farmhouse. When we moved in around 18 months ago we had to have pretty much the whole house repointed as a lot of it had been badly repaired with concrete. We used a local firm who specialised in lime pointing and most of it looks fine and is doing its job. However the pointing around the door we use most is cracking and chunks are falling away. The builder came back to fix that patch a few weeks ago but it’s already started falling off again. He’s now saying the only thing that will work is to use plastic ‘moulding’ (sorry not sure of the technical term) around the door frame but from the photos he’s sent it looks awful and completely out of keeping with the rest of the house. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it?

Sounds like there's a source of moisture that's preventing it from drying properly. This could be anything from the angle of the face above to guttering or the level of the door frame. Perhaps post a photo of the whole thing?

Also, lime might need particular drying conditions -like no frost?

I’d say it’s because of slight movement when opening and closing the door ? If you don’t like plastic trim why not use timber instead? I’m assuming your door is timber .

You need burnt sand mastic. The lime mortar is great for regular pointing but won't take the movement you get between the masonry and windows and doors.

Thanks - so it’s the reveal (?) on the side it opens/closes which is the problem. I’ll ask the builder about burnt sand mastic, thank you. Photos added plus photo of whole house so you can see his out of place plastic trimming would look 🤷‍♀️

Looks like the lime is going over the top of the timber .
The timber swells and shrinks in the weather.
Suggest your lime specialist only renders back to the solid and not over the timber frame.

Yes, it does.
My first thought was, lime pointing at this time of year?😳
I probably won't start doing mine until April up here in the hills. You'd probably get away with March in warmer parts of the country.

But I think other posters may be right too- wood moves much more than stone, I'd not be keen to use lime between wood and stone.