Lime Plaster

[Marie]

I live in a Victorian terrace house dripping with original features (skirting boards, original half-glazed doors etc.) and it has not been renovated so has lime-plaster ceilings (downstairs) and walls. However when I stripped out the awful polystyrene tiles from the ceilings, and 10 layers of wallpaper from the walls, I found areas of spongy plaster.

I've asked a number of plasterers for quotes but nobody does "lime plaster" anymore......it appears it was "bad for the lungs" to be using the stuff longterm and all the masters of the craft have passed on!

However I don't think I'd lose my health by mixing up a few buckets of the stuff to repair the worst bits of the walls, and would prefer to use lime-plaster as it is softer than modern mixes, so the acoustics are nice in those little cottage rooms.

Does anyone know what proportions/materials I need to make this kind of plaster?

 

[sueellen]

"Bricklaying is very skilled work"

Marie,

Don't take me up wrong here I'm not trying to be smart but plastering is a very tricky/highly skilled job. I know you say you have found it nigh impossible to get anyone to do the job but you might just be causing a lot more problems for yourself by attempting to go down the DIY road as you quoted above in the bricklaying thread.

A carpenter friend of mine always says he loves DIY people because he invariably makes a fortune out of repairing their botched jobs.

Hope some of the contributors here might be able to give you some good advice and hopefully a different avenue to pursue.

Good luck with the job.

 

[ajapale]

There was a thread here in Novembe 03 concerning lime mortar and lime plaster. I think "heinbloed" a regular contributer made some suggestions. I'm almost sure the office of public works use lime plaster for authentic resroration work and that there was a guy in Wicklow or Wexford who makes the stuff. If I find the original post Ill repeat it here.
Ajapale

 

[Marie]

The gimlet eye of Sueellen!

Hi Sue - nothing gets past that scrutiny :eek Awesome! You are right - and I was only resorting to a "bodge" in the complete absence of anyone who can do it. As usual the plasterers who quoted (one of whom is terrific at 'contemporary' work and did very skilled work on my kitchen/bathroom extension) all want to 'rip the whole thing down' because it's 'old' and replace with plasterboard with a nice skim and a bit of Artex! Hence my desperate decision to do something I'm not trained at. Though in self defence, I DID spend 4 years training as a professional sculptor, and have spent many a happy day bespattered with the White Stuff!

Ajapale thank you for that. Hopefully Heinebloed will have time to reply.

Best wishes to you both and thanks again for your help :hat

 

[effortless]

marie,

i too had the same problem house built in 1860

lime plaster with a mix of horse hair which was on to battons ,

you dont need to put back do the repair in lime plaster,the best method is to seal around the damaged area with unibond first and then remove the damaged area and replace with plaster board backing.

then you need to mix 8 parts lime to 1 part water.2 parts sharp white sand

hint add some poly bond to mixture and leave for a few hours till tacky .

polybond the backing plaster board backing and then apply.

hope you can follow this

 

[Marie]

AAM has the most knowledgeable skillful folk all in one place that I've ever experienced! Effortless, thank you so much for those instructions. Very clear and helpful and sincere thanks.

 

[heinbloed]

Hi Marie !
I haven't got a clue about lime plaster and how to get some but isn't it the same stuff that farmers use when one of their unrecorded cattle dies? They used to dig a hole ,sprinkle some chalk ( was it "hydraulic chalk"?) into it and then dumped the carcass into it followed by more of that material and than covered the grave of the unknown with soil . During the last foot and mouth hype
that material was advertised by the farmers Coop as an effective disinfectant together with a statement of the Dep. of Agr. saying that it was allright for the purpose.
So I would check the Coop and ask for it .Get the correct name of it and than you know more,it could be a total different material.All I know is that both - lime plaster and that disinfectant -are very corrosive , be cautious when mixing with water. That would match the upper post where the plasterers wouldn't touch it any more because of its ( lung-) destructive property .
4 years as a sculpturer - waow!
Good luck.