lime plastering

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oasis

oasis

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just wondering if any one here has had a go at lime plastering ..got asked to do a listed house top to bottom!

shame i have no experience in any thing like that..i was wondering can u over go old lime laster with new stuff or do u have to go back to the timbers and re lath the wall then add that lime stuff?god nows how u do it..must be 2 coats of that lime on the laths..intresting dow.
 
has the customer given you an idea of how they'd like it? or would they go down the modern route?
 
no was just a general call

i guess its a specialist job reali no need for a spread to no any of that..
 
oasis said:
no was just a general call

i guess its a specialist job reali no need for a spread to no any of that..
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Your right better off calling a landscape gardener or social worker more their field ;)
 
oasis said:
just wondering if any one here has had a go at lime plastering ..got asked to do a listed house top to bottom!

shame i have no experience in any thing like that..i was wondering can u over go old lime plaster with new stuff or do u have to go back to the timbers and re lath the wall then add that lime stuff?god nows how u do it..must be 2 coats of that lime on the laths..intresting dow.
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Oasis

Had a similar job myself a while back and was in the same boat but decided to go in at the deep end and it turned out really well.
The customer had already got the materials there which was a pre mixed lime plaster bagged up, just piss it down with a bit of water to a spreadable consistency.Answer to your question can you spread over existing lime plaster ?? Yes you can, soak the wall first to kill a bit of suction, dont PVA as you will defeat the object of using Lime "it needs to breath" over-skim with the pre-mixed Lime, let it pull in got loads of time, then use spray bottle on wall enough to lubricate your trowel,it will bring off a milky fat same as when you finish normally.
Also if theres any board there you can spread Lime onto that also,Heritage recomended one coat of a gypsum based plaster ie multi onced trowled up but with still plenty of moister in the wall repeat the same process as before with the Lime.
Seem to remember that Church is quite clued up on Lime plastering might be worth dropping him a line. all the best.
 
wow thanks for the reply.

i guess if u start form scratch u have the go back to timber and add new laths and then do it that way..or take back to brick .so is the stuff a finish coat and a backing coat in one? or do u add finish gysum to the top coat to finish it off? and is adding it to laths a difrfent plaster all to gether.
 
oasis said:
wow thanks for the reply.

i guess if u start form scratch u have the go back to timber and add new laths and then do it that way..or take back to brick .so is the stuff a finish coat and a backing coat in one? or do u add finish gysum to the top coat to finish it off? and is adding it to laths a difrfent plaster all to gether.
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Sorry mate cant answer that first question only over-skimmed onto existing Lime and onto board but guess if you had to start from scratch you would go back to the timbers,then you would need to use haired scrstch plaster.
The stuff i used was called unhaired finish plaster,The multi is only applied to board in one coat as a backing for the un haired lime finish plaster. £4.90 a bag.
The company that the kit came from is called INGARSBY CONSERVATION (01162595580) www.ingarsbyconservation.co.uk
loads of other products on the site dead helpful.

let me know how you get on ?
 
It's big money if you can do it. If the place is listed, then the conservation people will want it done properly. Look up The Cornish Lime Company website, there's some info on there. It's a slow process though.
 
done a lime job in potton up the a1 there, a burn out, thatched roof fooked the hole of the place, grade 2 listed, new roof thatch,rafters joists great job, every thing put back to original, www.old house store.co.uk suplyed all the lathe nails and lime stuff.
 
hi there
I only started plastering about a year ago but I work for a company that just does period properties. So 70% of my work so far has been lime and hair. I understand what you guys are saying about being crap. Panels falling off every 5 min, stings like a b***h when you get it in your eyes. Having said this, its not a particularly difficult skill once youve got going. We get all our lime from jewsons, gets dropped off in ton bags straight to the job ready mixed. You can get it in buckets but its more economical to get it in bags. One thing to remember is that you cant mix the base coat up with a mixing drill as it takes all the hairs out. Although I havent got years of experience a few notes to remember are:
-Make sure if you are going onto laths that you put lots of preasure on the base coat so that the lime is forced between the laths, in total we put it on about 7mm thick.
-Remember that lime takes donkeys years to go off. We try to leave it atleast a week between putting base coat on and top coat.
-With period propertys cutstomers tend to be collect antiques so make sure you take precautions, as lime is a pain to remove. Ccurrent job involves knocking up outside then carrying in buckets up scaffold and through the window. After last incident of dropping a trug full onto the customers "extremely expensive" victorian waredrobe.

Best of luck mate. An dont worry bout trowelling base coats up. Just slapppp it on. Hope this helps,

Rob
 
wow thanks..is the base coat just 1 coat? and do u use a stright edge with it 2 get it level?

and is the top coat done in 2 coats?
 
Well the way ive been taught, and that was from someone whose been doing it for 40 odd years is one base coat then one top coat, never had any problems with it. Although another plasterer i was talking to said hes always dont 2 backing coats then 1 finish.
No straight edges arent used, a majority of our customers want it done the traditional way which means a lot of it is done by eye. The tradional way to do it was just using a trowel and following the curves in the beams etc. We normally just fix battons to the side of the rafters, set back so that the plaster will finish about 5 mm back from the front of the joists etc then lath it. What you will find with old houses is over the years the joists/rafters have bowed and you will need to discuss with the customer as to whether they want the plaster to be fairly straight or parellel with the face of the beams. Might sound pretty obvious but customers can be fussy about them sort of things.
 
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