Lime novices in need of help!

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Crysmac

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Hi guys! Really hoping someone’s able to help. We have an 1850’s Yorkshire stone terraced cottage.

We’ve recently had our internal lounge (facing external wall) and fireplace wall removed of gypsum. It’s about 20sqm. We were quoted £3k to have it plastered and the guy said we’d be better off doing it ourselves. Figuring we would not be able to do a good enough job, we went with a recommended plasterer who had used limelite before and was up for a challenge. The place we got the lime said they were happy to advise on application and the plasterer was happy to operate in this way.

We were really happy with the finish. Except the corners. The guy was also really disappointed. We were mostly disappointed with the guy advising as clearly the way corners should have been handled should have been explained from the base layer. The plasterer tried to make them a point, which clearly doesn’t work in lime. We’ve had bits chip off and it just doesn’t look good. We don’t need it 100% but we do need to do something.

We have started to test how we might fix this. We have sanded down a corner that will be covered by curtain, plan to lime plaster over then possibly sand back to make sure the wall and fix merge. Will this work?! Any better ideas?! There are only 2 corners that will actually be visible so we have plenty of practice opportunity. Just not quite sure if it’s just going to look like we slapped it on and it will just peel off?!

It’s a risk we look to save £2k of money we don’t have - so no regrets. But trying to find the best fix from this point. On the up side it appears our damp issues are resolved :-)

Pic 1 is the corner finish
Pic 2 is the sanded down corner
Pic 3 is on of the chips

So many thanks for any help or advice that can be offered!
 

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you need to build your corners again and take them to the wall trying to blend in as much as possible and use carborundum stone to sand /blend in the new line you’ll have , not the corners . Corners should be floated and troweled to give them strength.Paint or wash will do the rest
 
I suppose my question is how we build the corners again and take them to the wall. Do we sand quite far down or is what we have sanded sufficient?
Will look into the carborundum thank you. We have a float and trowel, but will be learning how to use them.
We will be using earthborn paint. No gypsum, it’s a lime layer and a fine finish.
Thank you
vfr12 said:
you need to build your corners again and take them to the wall trying to blend in as much as possible and use carborundum stone to sand /blend in the new line you’ll have , not the corners . Corners should be floated and troweled to give them strength.Paint or wash will do the rest
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The Hobo said:
tell them fck all lol
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They, as in me? If I’m not welcome here I’ll go somewhere else. I’m trying my best to do the right thing for our house. I’m not a builder and sadly don’t have an unlimited budget. We took a risk and lost out. But we just could not justify £3k on 20sqm. We had 3 comparable quotes. We could have just gone gypsum, for a fraction of the cost, like most people and replaced every 5 years. But we’ve tried our best to use the right stuff... the trade is f’d if it is so inaccessible
 
Crysmac said:
I suppose my question is how we build the corners again and take them to the wall. Do we sand quite far down or is what we have sanded sufficient?
Will look into the carborundum thank you. We have a float and trowel, but will be learning how to use them.
We will be using earthborn paint. No gypsum, it’s a lime layer and a fine finish.
Thank you
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Crysmac said:
They, as in me? If I’m not welcome here I’ll go somewhere else. I’m trying my best to do the right thing for our house. I’m not a builder and sadly don’t have an unlimited budget. We took a risk and lost out. But we just could not justify £3k on 20sqm. We had 3 comparable quotes. We could have just gone gypsum, for a fraction of the cost, like most people and replaced every 5 years. But we’ve tried our best to use the right stuff... the trade is f’d if it is so inaccessible
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I don’t think Norman had you in mind tbh.
Lime is dying art although every one is shouting about in the past 10 years and cos not every one can do it , the majority on the chain,manufacturers including, are taking the piss. Lime is not just chucking gear on the wall, it’s knowledge and experience . It’s all about prep, mix and aftercare. You should look at it as long term investment, lifetime if you get the right person in, not just a plaster. If you was closer visit wouldn’t a problem and even over stone I think 3k is a bit over the top for internal . External however, might not be enough. Saying all that , I haven’t seen the job so take all with a pinch of salt . If it was my job to repair 2k offer would be on the table.
You shouldn’t have any regrets using lime, even with this finish and failure in some sections it’s 100 times better than gypsum. You’ll feel the difference in the air in a few months time when is dry.
 
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Reading your post again...... I don’t get it?
You hired a plasterer for 3k, who has been advised by the company who sold you limelight for the job ?
 
vfr12 said:
Reading your post again...... I don’t get it?
You hired a plasterer for 3k, who has been advised by the company who sold you limelight for the job ?
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Nope. We used a proper lime product. Not limelite. We used a plasterer who had not used proper lime before (only limelite) and that’s the risk we took. The manufacturer who quoted the 3k for the whole job (material and labour) said we would be better off doing it ourselves. We chose not to do it ourselves but used the plasterer who was willing to learn under guidance of the manufacturer. We saved about £1.5k
 
We’ve had so much bad advice and information about what to do with our damp issue.. it’s been really hard to get to this point. Even advice from people that claim they have worked with lime told us it was better to line it. For someone who just wants their home to be comfortable it’s really hard to work out what is right and wrong. Especially when there is not financial flexibility. So it’s all been a gamble for us. I appreciate it’s a long term learned trade and not just something you could pick up like tiling. We did as much reading as we felt necessary to ask the right questions and to do the right thing. Out of it all it’s the corners we got wrong. So I don’t see the job as a failure. I just want to work out how we can fix those ourselves. As I say, we don’t need them to be perfect.
 
So action plan:
1: take back the existing corner (using what and how far?)
2: wet it
3: use the finishing plaster with float and trowel
4: once cured use the corondum stone to merge the line

Many thanks for taking the time to respond
 
Crysmac said:
They, as in me? If I’m not welcome here I’ll go somewhere else. I’m trying my best to do the right thing for our house. I’m not a builder and sadly don’t have an unlimited budget. We took a risk and lost out. But we just could not justify £3k on 20sqm. We had 3 comparable quotes. We could have just gone gypsum, for a fraction of the cost, like most people and replaced every 5 years. But we’ve tried our best to use the right stuff... the trade is f’d if it is so inaccessible
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no i think hes being a dick in general...

one of those spreads who knows everything about everything... always 1 in every forum
 
vfr12 said:
You done yourself and the wall a favour using lime tbh. What lime did you use?
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Thanks. I won’t state the manufacturer (only small) but it’s a 1:1 mix of fine putty and a super fine silica sand. It’s pre mixed/slaked? in buckets
 
Crysmac said:
Thanks. I won’t state the manufacturer (only small) but it’s a 1:1 mix of fine putty and a super fine silica sand. It’s pre mixed/slaked? in buckets
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Not interested which manufacturer you have used. That ratio is for the finishing coat and hope you have used something different for the other 3-4 coats.That crack on your corner in picture 1 is a sign you have to be worried, hence I said failure before. You can remove say 7-10mm of the lime plaster , 200-250mm around the corner and replace it with the ratio you mentioned above . And there can be also affordable 1k fix if the plaster is sound, but I honestly doubt it.
 
vfr12 said:
Not interested which manufacturer you have used. That ratio is for the finishing coat and hope you have used something different for the other 3-4 coats.That crack on your corner in picture 1 is a sign you have to be worried, hence I said failure before. You can remove say 7-10mm of the lime plaster , 200-250mm around the corner and replace it with the ratio you mentioned above . And there can be also affordable 1k fix if the plaster is sound, but I honestly doubt it.
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Yes, the dubbing we did with hot lime plaster then 2 layers of a lightweight insulating lime plaster.
Ugh, when you say failed, you mean blown? Is the key not good enough or is that to do with how it’s been applied or the thickness? We had thought it was cos we let it dry too quick.
7-10mm will take off the finish layer so perhaps that’s the best solution to get it right :confused:
Thanks so much
 
Crysmac said:
Yes, the dubbing we did with hot lime plaster then 2 layers of a lightweight insulating lime plaster.
Ugh, when you say failed, you mean blown? Is the key not good enough or is that to do with how it’s been applied or the thickness? We had thought it was cos we let it dry too quick.
7-10mm will take off the finish layer so perhaps that’s the best solution to get it right :confused:
Thanks so much
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Oh dear! The f**k up Is biger than I thought. In the next few months you’ll see the voodoo side of the lime . You may leave them corners for now.Feel sorry for you now.
 
vfr12 said:
Oh dear! The f**k up Is biger than I thought. In the next few months you’ll see the voodoo side of the lime . You may leave them corners for now.Feel sorry for you now.
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thought his corner looked blown to me but I aint getting involved some on here think im a smart c**t anyway but I always thought hot lime was for building /and had to be slaked to a putty for plastering/but who am I to comment
 
The Hobo said:
thought his corner looked blown to me but I aint getting involved some on here think im a smart c**t anyway but I always thought hot lime was for building /and had to be slaked to a putty for plastering/but who am I to comment
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The wall was falling to bits so it was essentially rebuilt in parts. Have to say I’m just getting more confused by the post. Gypsum is starting to feel a good alternative...
 
Crysmac said:
Care to explain?
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There are only few more n the whole country who use hot lime for plastering and I can assure you the guy who did the job is not one of them. Hot lime has its benefits and negatives, but working around them you can achieve plaster with great results. Not in your case I am afraid. You have been conned by the manufacturer in a first place. What was their spec and method statement for the job? Give me some more details.
 
We did the hot lime ourselves with advice over phone. No, we’ve never used it.
Premixed 3:1 mix crushed limestone/sharp sand/soft sand in a hot lime. A can of ggbs was mixed in just before application.
As dust free as possible. Lots of wetting down.
I’m not sure I’d call it used for plastering, in as much as wall prep. What’s wrong with what we’ve used?
I’ve never seen a method statement for any domestic work we’ve had done. From any trade.
 
In terms of how we applied it, it was built up in about 3 goes filling in holes and securing loose stones. Mostly used a small tool and compacted as much as poss. Can’t remember how much time we left between layers (this was 6 months ago or so now) - kept to what we were advised.

The other layers had either a week of 2 to cure with us damping down and attending to any cracks that formed
 
To put it short- you have plastered over yeast. That’s the closest comparison I can do. And to advise someone who hasn’t used lime before to get his hands on quick lime is beyond me. Most likely is still expanding
 
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