Damaged lime pointing on chimney breast

[RickWoodall]

Hi folks

This is my first time posting on here, hopefully someone can offer me some advice.

So I recently removed a gas fire and surround from my chimney breast as the fire was pretty knackered. After it had been removed I decided to knock off some plaster, as I was considering having a solid fuel stove fitted and wanted to see what the situation was i.e. to check the lintel and builders opening.

Unfortunately now that I've knocked of some of the plaster I can see that it's a hodgepodge of modern plaster and original lime plaster and can see that all the pointing is lime (not the brickwork under the lintel, that's regular mortar). This has resulted in modern plaster coming into contact with the lime pointing and completely dissolving it in places (see the picture with the hole).

So I'm at a complete loss in regards what to do next. I've done bits of plastering and pointing before but never using lime. I wondered if the chimney breast could be repointed with modern mortar then plastered? Or would this just cause more damage to the brickwork? Or will it need to be repointed with lime and re-plastered with lime?

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Wayners]

Not my area however I've repaired a few like that.
Loose bricks I use bolt resin around.
Limelite backing plaster which Travis stock.

 

[RickWoodall]

Thanks bud. So you re-point with the bolt resin before plastering with the limelite? I did a bit of research and lime plastering sounded like a complex 3 stage process, but is limelite a special product?

 

[StephenStephen]

Gypsum plaster doesn't dissolve lime plaster.

Lime plastering is slower than gypsum, but as an amateur, I don't find it complex.

Repairing/replacing lime plaster on internal walls

We've removed lining paper in our Victorian terrace to uncover lime plaster as shown in the photo. It's largely intact, but covered in tiny cracks and with numerous areas that feel hollow to the tap (though are clearly sounds enough that they didn't come off with the lining paper). One patch...

www.diynot.com

To be honest I'd be tempted to use NHL for both the pointing and plastering, just to keep things simple - faster than lime putty and less rigid than cement or gypsum.