Lime/hemp plaster

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Thankyou.

We used that adhesive backed carpet cover on the timber but didn't do much with the masonary. Difficult to get anything to stick to it normally.

The finish starts green and gets whiter as it calcifies. It will end up very white.

We've completed half of the building now and that will be it for a while. I should have taken more pics I suppose but I'm quite lazy.
 
Hi, firstly an apology, I am a beginner plasterer and the experience I have so far would be fairly embarrassing to mention! However I am a quick learner and up for just about anything really.

I have a 'green building' project, a wooden hut in a remote woodland. I am making the hut with a timber frame and on the outside it will be split logs and maybe wooden shingles if I can make enough.

I have been doing a lot of reading about lime hemp plaster and am considering it for the inside, either using an improvised lath with narrow branches or by buying some reed mat and taking it up there, and using a medium grade Ty-Mawr lime hemp plaster.

The question I have is regarding 'knocking up' - this place is really remote and there's no chance of getting a cement mixer up there or anywhere near.

I was looking at the pre-prepared Ty-Mawr bags and wonder if it could be 'knocked up' in small quantities on the hawk with a trowel, before applying either with a trowel or by hand with rubber gloves.

Presumably knocking up is to make the plaster more malleable and easier to trowel on?

Any help much appreciated! :)
 
It's completely unworkable from the bag. You need to get a petrol mixer up there ideally.
It takes at least 20 mins in the mixer.

How were you going to get the bags up to the house?
 
solarbud said:
The question I have is regarding 'knocking up' - this place is really remote and there's no chance of getting a cement mixer up there or anywhere near.

I was looking at the pre-prepared Ty-Mawr bags and wonder if it could be 'knocked up' in small quantities on the hawk with a trowel, before applying either with a trowel or by hand with rubber gloves.

Presumably knocking up is to make the plaster more malleable and easier to trowel on?

Any help much appreciated! :)
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How about 'knocking it up' in a wheel barrow with a shovel (i use a three pronged rake known as a drag) and then feeding it onto your hawk. Or am I missing something? Youll end up with a very poorly wrist if you attempt to knock it up by the hawkful lol.

Make sure you check with Ty-Mawr what thickness they reccomend per coat for their product, and the correct scratcher to use diamond key etc to create a hook for the float coat?

Sounds like a nice project, you should post some pics of it as it progresses.

Good luck!
 
It needs a lot of working to get it to a nice consistency, possible with a drag but much more work than dismantling a mixer and taking it up in peices i would imagine. It's the slapping/smashing action of the mice that makes it creamy. Needs some water too.
 
DannyMac said:
It's completely unworkable from the bag. You need to get a petrol mixer up there ideally.
It takes at least 20 mins in the mixer.


How were you going to get the bags up to the house?
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Thanks - vital information! I was going to carry each bag up there in a rucksack ...
 
A wheelbarrow might be do-able ... I don't really mind if it's not trowel-able, as long as I can stick it on by hand. Apparently you can put it on up to 50mm at a time. It would only be the one coat, to make the structure airtight really.
 
why not use a belle mixer ,you can dismantle them quickly, then carry the parts to your site and rebuild.
if you do go for the reed mats. they must be fixed tight or you will have problems, we floated them in lime, with a lambs wool insulation.
anglia limes sold me chalk instead of lime for the timber frame as it had a better resistance to cracking. you will need deep pockets!
 
Apologies, what's a belle mixer - do you have a link?

It's not a very big structure so hopefully I wouldn't need too much in the way of materials, so might be affordable.

It's sounding challenging from the feedback so far. But the whole thing is challenging actually! Hmmm ... *strokes chin*
 
solarbud said:
Apologies, what's a belle mixer - do you have a link?

It's not a very big structure so hopefully I wouldn't need too much in the way of materials, so might be affordable.

It's sounding challenging from the feedback so far. But the whole thing is challenging actually! Hmmm ... *strokes chin*
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It's just a cement mixer, we're all talking about the same thing.

How far is the build from a drivable track?
 
DannyMac said:
It's just a cement mixer, we're all talking about the same thing.


How far is the build from a drivable track?
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Ah, ok thanks :)


The site is probably 10 minutes up a steepening rocky woodland track, then down a bit into woodland. It's fairly awkward really.
 
The hemp lime is a very good product. Extremely strong when cured, breathable and sticks very well. It will shrink but because of the binding of the hemp wont crack much.

On the surface it sounds perfect for your build but takes some mixing. I wonder if they might send you a sample bag, I would ask them for sure. I know they did for our recent project, they even sent out a rep to do a few test panels.
 
if you do go ahead with the reed mats, it is a 2 person job to fit. one person to nail the mat, the other to pull it tight ,it is most important that they are pulled tight.
 
solarbud said:
Apologies, what's a belle mixer - do you have a link?

It's not a very big structure so hopefully I wouldn't need too much in the way of materials, so might be affordable.

It's sounding challenging from the feedback so far. But the whole thing is challenging actually! Hmmm ... *strokes chin*
Click to expand...

there are plenty of belle mixers on ebay either petrol or electric. you would need to employ a plasterer this is not diy stuff imho.
 
I am not joking here have you thought about a clay/mud daube cos from what your saying you couldor may have a supply near to hand
 
DannyMac said:
The hemp lime is a very good product. Extremely strong when cured, breathable and sticks very well. It will shrink but because of the binding of the hemp wont crack much.

On the surface it sounds perfect for your build but takes some mixing. I wonder if they might send you a sample bag, I would ask them for sure. I know they did for our recent project, they even sent out a rep to do a few test panels.
Click to expand...

There is a supplier in Ruthin which I pass on my way to the site, I have been thinking of just getting one bag of the stuff to have a mess about with and see what I can do. Thanks for the advice, I am getting a feel for what the stuff might be like now!
 
raggles said:
I am not joking here have you thought about a clay/mud daube cos from what your saying you couldor may have a supply near to hand
Click to expand...

That was actually my first thought for it! But the soil at the site is not clay and is very rocky. Then I started reading about the lime hemp plaster and it sounded like daub on steroids!
 
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