Can somebody who is knowledgeable about stonework help me please.

I have two small walls I want to repoint (nothing major, just cosmetic stuff). What product do I need to use please, I've not done this before.

I don't mind mixing it myself, as I'm not worried about colour-matching batches as I will be painting them (it's very dark stone and I want to lighten the room). So can anybody tell me exactly what product I need to buy please? I'm hoping it's something I can just add water to and stir, and not something I need to add a bit of this and a bit of that


Which brings me onto my second question. A friend told me ages ago that I would need to use a particular paint, otherwise it would just all flake off. Can anybody tell me what paint I need to use (what it's called in English and what it's called in French would be really helpful).

My final question (I will stop soon, promise!) ..... do I need to use that special paint on an upstairs wall too? Or is it just necessary downstairs due to damp? (I get damp on the downstairs walls - don't we all?! - but no problems upstairs).

Hope I haven't put you to sleep

I would say that the first thing that you should do, is to cure the damp problem, then you could start to think about repointing and painting the wall, otherwise you will be having problems with the paint adhering to the wall

And without a bit more knowledge about the wall it would be very, if not next to impossible to offer any advice on how to treat the damp problem. IE. is the earth piled up against the wall on the outside; is there a lot of trees, bushes or flowers, tight against the wall; is there a gutter for the roof on that side of the property, if so is it leaking, or is the rainwater pipe leaking, or could it be that the drain to the rainwater pipe is leaking, or could it be that there is a soak away or fosse septique built against that wall, (I have seen this a couple of times in France) and its leaking

Just to clarify, there is no visible problem with damp on the stonework walls (no beading or sweating etc), it's the plaster walls that suffer from damp, as in many French houses.

My friend recommended using a particular paint anyway.

We have a similar problem with one of the walls in our hall. We need to check the guttering as there is some overflow which may be contributing to the problem but otherwise there is no obvious reason for the small damp patch. Once we've sorted out the guttering we're going to re-plaster the area and use a clay-based paint which apparently lets the wall breathe and will hopefully stop the plaster becoming flaky again...