DIY Lime Plastering - Part 1: Dubbing Out, Harling & Scratch Coat

[@runezpie]

I am sitting here smiling at your video, I am doing a barn on my property and everything you are experiencing is the same as me even down to your fingers and using your scratcher with the tag still on ,its like watching myself. Cheers and good luck, I look forward to your next video.

[@solway17carlisle]

Ha ha - that’s good to hear. It’s quite a process working with lime. I’ve got my wall finished and will put together the final part. So pleased that you watched it...good luck with your build. You’ll be an expert by the time you finish. All the best

[@talesfromthecaveside]

Hi, that stone wall looks to be construed exactly the same way as our place, even though we are about 2000 miles away in Southern Spain! Over the years the walls have been repaired with cement & various other products which has done it no favours. We are digging it all out, repairing the loose rocks using NHL5 & then spraying the walls with NHL5 mixed with fibres for strength, and then sponging down because we don't actually want a smooth finish.

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - It’s taken me years to learn about the pitfalls of cement and reverting to traditional materials for old houses. My walls are also very rustic ( it’s a peasants cottage after all!). It sounds like you have a good plan for your walls so all the best with your project in lovely sunny Spain.

[@talesfromthecaveside]

@@solway17carlisle thank you for the good wishes!

[@peterridding4874]

Thanks for posting this video . I have a whole cottage to renovate , and it’s absolutely daunting as a newbie ! Just a few questions, why did you harl coat instead of dubbing out and then put a first float coat on ? And did your internal walls not look to be “ tied in “ when meeting other walls ? . Mine don’t look to be tied in and have great big open gaps like yours did ? I’m guessing this was the way internal walls were built two or three hundred years ago . Many thanks for posting, I appreciate your time to bother and your replies to people 👍

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - thanks for contacting. I am no expert, but I wanted to ensure a good fix to the clay backing so used a watery hot lime mix to bond onto the wall - that’s why on exposed clay I took that approach, then subsequent scratch and float coats followed by a thin coat of lime plaster. On the brick sections I just put on a scratch coat first as I got a good ‘bond’ with the lime mortar on brick. Lime can ‘move’ with the movement of the walls so I did nt worry that the walls weren’t tied in. I just filled them up with lime mortar and stone or brick. As you say the cottage has been around for several hundred years despite walls being made of rudimentary materials and not tied in…. I avoid using cement and gypsum plaster wherever possible - I don’t know your cottage but reckon you need to use lime mortar/plaster as well. Try to work out the different limes. with a lot of experts suggesting lime putty and hot lime mortars being preferred to NHL limes long reply - hope it helps! All the best with your project

[@angatherton5236]

I’m renovating an old Manx slate cottage, have great difficulty getting hold of lime plaster in general. Builders merchants here only stock NHL 3.5. Just got hold of 2 bags of NHL 2 from a guy who got it from the UK.

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - ah dear that’s tricky. I think the NHL 2 will be a bit softer for you than 3.5. Pity you couldn’t get some shipped over - got my stuff from Edenhotlime. All the best with your project

[@angatherton5236]

@@solway17carlisle hey thanks for the reply. I’ve been totally shocked that lime isn’t that freely available as the Isle of Man as it is full of these stone cottages. When I was looking to buy a cottage I went in dozens of them that stank of mould as they had been covered in plaster boards and gypsum plaster. This cottage I have was the same. Stripped back to the stone and started again, took 6 months to find a plasterer who would even touch lime, results where not that great either so taught myself to plaster with the help of utube. Most of the interior has been done in NHL 3.5 as that’s all I can get here. I mixed perlite with my plaster for the hurl coat and scratch coat and it works great. The plasterer did my finish coat upstairs but I’ve pretty much done the rest. The NHL 2 is for my finishing plaster on my staircase. The rest of the cottage is add on extensions in brick so used gypsum in newer parts over plasterboard.

[@solway17carlisle]

It sounds like you’ve had a major job there but you’ve certainly made the best of the situation. Well done to you for tackling the job and turning the project around. All the best...

[@emmaearnshaw3282]

try and get hot lime, apart from its transpiration benefits it has a much longer shelf life in powder form and also once mixed it'll be useable for longer. Which will be of use to you i expect pointing up slate. Beware though ph12-14. ML90 is the stuff i use (from Ty Mawr)

[@angatherton5236]

@@emmaearnshaw3282 they won’t deliver here to the Isle of Man. I only have the kitchen to plaster now and found the NHL 2 is fine. I had a bad burn last year, plaster fell into my boot and it burned the top of my foot, took 6 months to fully heal😬

[@Pavlo_S.V.]

Hello Hard work, but great result! Wanted to ask, in your opinion is possible to use cement (for better setting) with hydrated lime and sand (0,5:1:5 ratio) for rendering a brick wall layed with lime mortar, as it is quite difficult to find hydraulic lime in our region? Or even small amounts of cement will trap moisture, make wall unbreathable and ruin the bricks? Thank you

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - Thanks for contacting. Please note I am no expert just a ‘DIY’ amateur doing my best to restore my own property…That said, from what I have picked up it is not recommended to use cement in Lime applications. Perhaps you may need to use bagged NHL 2 lime which may be more available where you live? Also ask local organisations/conservation specialists where you live…My other suggestion would be to leave the brick wall unrendered and restore it with a lime mortar if possible? All the best with the work…

[@tzuno2068]

Hello there, can i plaster with lime mortar over some cement walls that have somewhat some porosity in them, will the lime paste with only sand and some fiber hold on that concrete surface in time?

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - I think you’ll be ok but bear in mind that I used lime mortar on earth cob walls and masonry walls held together with old lime mortar - so using lime in these scenarios made sense. If you have ‘cement’ walls which are damp you may be better using a tanking product. If it’s a brick wall with cement joints, rake out what you can. You need to mist the wall/surface with water if you are covering the wall with a render. I hope that all makes sense - Good luck with your project

[@tzuno2068]

@@solway17carlisle , thank you! I have a few walls from prefabricated concrete, no damp, I was thinking to apply some kind of primer before attempting lime mortar only. The primer I was thinking is a NHL type 2 lime, a weak version of hydraulic lime, what do you say? They compatible?

[@stevenryan6008]

You’re doing a good job of That !!!

[@solway17carlisle]

Thanks - it turned out ok in the end. Thanks for watching 👍

[@Nicefro1976]

Thanks for making this video. Invaluable for me as I’m looking to approach a similar project just the other side of the Solway between Dumfries and Annan. Did you ever consider making your own hot lime mix using quicklime? Again I’m asking as a complete newbie thinking of attempting such. Also, do you have any thoughts positive/negative regarding Eden as a supplier of materials. If I’m looking for quicklime/aggregates to do a lime float coat and finish coat It’s marginally closer for me to get down to Eden than Edinburgh / Fife / Glasgow. Can’t wait to see Part 2.

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi Neil - I also consider myself a bit of a ‘newbie’ to lime but knew I needed a softer more permeable option, so expected to buy lime putty and source aggregates nearer to home. The supplier (Eden Lime) recommended ‘hot lime’ ready mixed delivered to me in a dumpy bag. It’s worked very well from what I can see. I also got some tubs of ready mixed plaster which I’m on with at the moment. The company were very responsive and talked through the requirements and delivery was very quick. I hope to get part 2 completed soon but the drying process has meant this has been a longer project than expected. I hope that helps with decision making. All the best and thanks for your comment & watching.

[@mattnorman4007]

how long does the lime in the tonne bag keep for if unused? can you keep it in a shed and use as and when?

[@solway17carlisle]

Yes, it doesn’t go off like cement. You just knock it up again with a little addition of water. I’m still using stuff that I bought last year.

[@malik51973]

Nice vedio,bro how I can make same plaster at home bye quick lime?what is the recepie for this plaster

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi Malik - you could get the material already prepared as I did. Look for hot lime supplier or get hold of lime putty and add your own aggregate. Final option but not ideal is bagged lime, again adding your own sand/grit mix.

[@malik51973]

@Solway17 thanks for attention, wht you suggest bcz u have experienced,hot lime or lime putty and mixture bye adding 1:3sand is better or clay is better for rainy season and wht ingredients make it waterproofing? Please can you help for lime or lime putty complete recepe for mortar and also for plastering wall

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi Malik - I got the hot lime already mixed with a coarse aggregate from Eden Hotlime (Google them) - might be better to contact them for more detailed advice. I also got the much finer finish or plaster coat from them. In terms of waterproofing lime is a permeable material so it both absorbs and helps evaporate moisture. Old buildings need to breathe so lime is a traditional way of managing the passage of moisture through the walls. I hope that helps - if you are not UK based there will be suppliers of suitable lime based materials where you are..?

[@malik51973]

@Solway17 thnks bro,me from pakistan I can get lime,bro wht about gypsum with clay cow dung etc

[@Jonnysonone]

I think your harling mix was a bit too wet. Great video nonetheless

[@solway17carlisle]

Thanks - hope it helps with your project. Kind Regards 👍

[@clandrabell]

What sort of hair do you use and was it easy to source?

[@solway17carlisle]

Hi - they are plastic/poly fibres ie man made and I got them at the same time as the other materials from Eden Hotlime in Cumbria (edenhotlimemortar.co.uk/products.php)

[@Noon81a]

Not sure if this is useful, but I was told that hair was only needed when plastering on lath to give the plaster some more tensile strength. If going on to brick or stone it's not needed. I didn't find any hair in the old lime plaster I removed and didn't have any issues with putting on a backing coat with out hair.

[@Noon81a]

When I did remove plaster from ceiling and wall laths there wasn't any hair in the original mix either. Mostly the plaster was in reasonable condition and was from 1890 (Bristol Victorian terrace).

[@gypsygem9395]

I suggest visiting a livery yard in the spring. Often horses kept outside will have winter coats. When the warmer weather starts, they'll start to shed these coats, and there can be an awful lot of hair, especially when they're groomed to remove the winter coat!