What pointing mortar is this?

[Fridge03]

Hi all,

After some help in identifying what type of mortar this is? It's a single skin wall and on the interior I have removed decades worth of paint from the brick and mortar which is definitely lime mortar.
This is the outside. It's solid and quite tough, but when I break a bit off it's quite soft and "sandy" deeper down. I've got quite a few bricks that have spalled, which I thought occured when moisture gets trapped and can't escape, usually through cement pointing? I also have this built up section of mortar which the bottom of my window frame was up against. I've had to remove this and in the process of replacing it as it was rotten through. I think water was getting in between the mortar sill and the wood and not able to escape.
I'm hoping with removing the paint on the interior and doing the right thing on the outside, to get the wall breathable again.

Cheers

 

[sxturbo]

Sounds like it's been repointed in the past and not done every well.

It's not uncommon for mortar to go soft over time, this can sometimes be due to not having the correct mix when built (certainly the case in my previous house which was thrown up in the 20's and my current house thrown up in the 70's)

When repointing dig out to 50mm (25mm as a minimum)

If getting someone in to do the work make sure they understand lime mortar and old buildings, many of them don't and insist on just slapping sand and cement in.