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These first two shots show natural hydraulic lime mortar being applied on top of a slurry mix designed to increase and retain adhesion.

These 2 shots show the completed skew – still moist and beginning the curing process.

Skew now hessian covered. The curing process takes a long time. Lime reaches full strength over an extended period of time, but the first three days are the most critical and it’s during this period that we make sure the work stays protected. The point of the hessian is twofold – it’s there to: protect the mortar from the weather, and (importantly) prevent it losing moisture too quickly.