Anyone plastered the interior of their old house with lime plaster?

[MinimalistMommi]

That's it really.
Thank you.

[GrendelsMum]

Yes

[MinimalistMommi]

How was it Grendel. Why did you choose lime?

[GrendelsMum]

Ok, I've now seen your other thread. Your house is fairly modern, so I don't think the world will come to an end if you use modern plaster. You'll save a lot of money and you want to have a modern finish rather than a historic finish. I doubt that most people in Victorian houses have bothered to get appropriate plaster on their walls.

[MinimalistMommi]

grendal I don't want to create damp problems in the house by covering the interior with gypsum. I want the house to be able to breathe.

[GrendelsMum]

Yes, but presumably it can breathe from the outside? Plus does it actually have any damp problems? It's just brick, isn't it?

[MinimalistMommi]

Yes it had high moisture content in walls when we moved in.

I don't think it is as simple as breathing from the outside?! Old houses usually rely on the porous nature of the walls to allow water absorbed by the fabric to evaporate out. Gypsum plaster, wallpaper etc stops this from happening.

[MinimalistMommi]

Yes, it is brick btw.

[IloveCheese11]

Yes. The house was an old stone cottage and had terrible damp when we bought it. We were advised to take it back to bare stone and replaster with lime which we did. It was really expensive but we had no further problems after that. Lime plaster never gives an entirely smooth finish. It looks fine in an old house as that is what you expect to see but might look a bit rough in a newer property.

[MinimalistMommi]

Our cottage is 1870 so it is quite old? As it was originally plastered in lime before it was all covered in wallpaper I think it will look lovely, it just wasn't the look I was initially after.
Was it horribly expensive in comparison to normal plastering? Did you lime plaster throughout? I don't know if we will be taking back to brick yet or not.

[MinimalistMommi]

I'm glad you had no further problems btw, that sounds really positive.

[IloveCheese11]

We lime plastered the downstairs and used gypsum upstairs. We had a very good plasterer who was able to smooth from one into the other on the stairs so it isn't noticeable. It wasn't very rough downstairs, more like regular plaster with sand in it. I think the finish looked really nice and fitted with the style of the house. Upstairs was more modern so the gypsum looked good up there too.

It cost about £30/hr for lime plaster instead of £15/hr for the modern plastering (and we were on mates rates). It is pretty unpleasant to work with so you would want to keep kids/pets out of the way. One important point is that you need to use special breathable paint too (sorry if you already know all this). We also had to remove the cement mortar from between the stones on the outside and replace that with lime too to ensure it could breathe from the inside and outside. We had to go back to the base stone as it was the only way to get rid of the old non-breathable layer as the place had been tanked. I think our problem was mainly that the house didn't have any foundations and with the change in the water table over the years, water was seeping in and the old tanking and gypsum meant it just sat there and damaged the structure of the building.

It was expensive but worth it in the end as we felt we had done the right thing and an old building was renovated properly and would hopefully keep standing for many more years.

[RCheshire]

We priced it up for a place we didn't end up buying. It was about 3 times the cost and we wanted to do the whole house. I remember i had to double check my calculations. Can look great in the right house though. Wouldn't do it in an urban/ suburban house, but great in the right country cottage

[RCheshire]

We priced it up for a place we didn't end up buying. It was about 3 times the cost and we wanted to do the whole house. I remember i had to double check my calculations. Can look great in the right house though. Wouldn't do it in an urban/ suburban house, but great in the right country cottage

[MinimalistMommi]

We are urban but it is a little terraced workers cottage. It just seems odd sticking gypsum on top of what was originally plastered in lime if that makes sense? I've heard several neighbours talking about damp issues, I'm wondering if it is because the majority whack gypsum up due to lack of knowledge and not understanding that old houses need to breathe.

R that pricing sounds scary!

[IloveCheese11]

I think it would look nice in a workers cottage. Ours was the same sort of workers terrace but in a country village. I know what you mean about putting gypsum over lime. It seems a shame but you may find you have to go back to the brick anyway as the lime may have 'gone off'. It is worth getting some good advice. Do you mind if I ask whereabouts you are in the country? I might be able to suggest someone if you were near our place.

[MinimalistMommi]

I will pm you with where I live

Can u ask did you use lime putty or hydraulic lime on your home downstairs?

I need to make a decision between the two.

[MinimalistMommi]

...ilove the lime man that came today said that about 30 % of the original lime plaster has blown and de-bonded and will need to be taken back to brick.

[GrendelsMum]

I'm just worried about the extra cost and hassle factor you're going to have, if this isn't the problem after all.

But yes, if its going on top of existing lime, I think maybe you will have to have lime on top.

What exactly are you going to have done? Does the original plaster need replacing, or is it just a case of a nice skim on top?

Pm me with where you are and I can give you the details if who we used.

[GrendelsMum]

Oh dear. Don't forget to get them to quote for removing and disposing of the lime (it is very heavy).

Is there a positive opportunity to include some new insulation if you've got to re plaster the walls?

[Belize]

Can I just ask where you sourced your internal paint from people who have lime plastered inside?

We have one wall that was replaced and done properly but the others haven't been (due to cost). So the other internal walls just have normal paint on - I would like to get a good colour match with the one wall that needs the lime plaster paint on but not sure how to go about it?

Sorry for bit of hijack op but don't often see topics like this coming up!

[GrendelsMum]

We had the same issue, Belize, and used Rose of Jericho distemper on all walls. The colour match is very good.

[Belize]

Ooooh thank you! Do I just google Rose of Jericho? presume they are specialist suppliers or is it a product?

[MinimalistMommi]

grendel I think they the removal of any of the blown original lime will be in with the basic quite. It will be going on top of existing lime, so I wouldn't want to use anything other than a lime product IYSWIM.

The man that came today talked about removing blown areas, filling in and then doing two layers. I'm guessing the majority of the work will be a skim. He says if the original plaster is there and areas are in good shape it is historically better to leave them. He was talking about using hydraulic lime (Unilit to be exact)

Did you use hydraulic lime or lime putty grendel?

[GrendelsMum]

I can't swear but I've just checked, and I think we had lime putty.

Yes, R of J are specialist suppliers and should have a website. based in Dorset, I think

[IloveCheese11]

Minimalist Sorry I've only just seen your replies here but have replied to your PM. For the record, we used hydraulic lime. Our builder decided that for us though so I'm guessing it is the material he preferred to work with.