Lime mortar

Description

A masonry mortar that is composed of hydrated Lime and Water with Sand or Marble dust. Lime mortar was the primary mortar used for masonry before the invention of Portland cement (Bucher 1996). It has also been used as a plaster for fresco (Mayer 1969).

Synonyms and Related Terms

mortier à la chaux (Fr.); argamassa de cal (Port.); lime-sand mortar;

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 454

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000