I have seen so many amateur DIY folks with burns on their feet due to not wearing wellies and the lime getting through the leather boots or trainers while concreting.
Hi, next time use an NHL, as cement isnāt compatible with natural materials. It makes them too hard, which upsets the āorganicā aspect.
You will notice that old estate walls, which often go for a mile before the next opening without any expansion joints. Clay, adobe, cobb etc donāt behave the same way as Portland products.
With powder lime, the first coat is three water to one lime. With putty/pate lime you reduce the water by one, as the lime is already wet.
Lime paint/wash only works on absorbent surfaces, and before applying any wash, you need to dampen the wall.
Donāt be alarmed by the finish, which looks like crap until it dries: suddenly it becomes opaque!
Some of the āecoā depots that sell all kinds of materials very often charge over the odds for plain non hydraulic lime. Itās cheaper to order it through a normal yard.
Saint-Astier (Dordogne 24) make putty/pate, but I donāt know what it costs to have it delivered if you are nowhere near.
A friend of mine bought some Greek putty from an eco depot near Bordeaux, which came in 4 kilo bags and cost more than the 30kilo buckets supplied by yards!
I must admit, Iāve never seen one of those before! A friend of mine has an Italian pan mixer with rollers and scoops and a side door, which when opened ejects the mix.
The Victorians only used steam pan mixers and thereās a good book published in 1905 by an officer in the Royal Engineers, which shows sketches of some quite bizarre looking devices!
Lime concrete is best mixed in a rotary mixer, as it needs to be āstiffā when used, somewhat like a āsemi driedā mortar, which is often used for laying tiled floors. Lime concrete, despite comments by some builders is just as good as Portland and can be laid at your leisure! Also, it doesnāt require a plastic sheet, as it doesnāt react with calcites.
Thereās a good video from Bristol Uni, which shows a lime concrete lintel/beam on top of a wooden one with a hydraulic press pushing down: guess which beam cracks first?
Sadly you cant tell Barry anything, he was taught by his father who also went about it in the wrong way.
I came across some plasterers using gypsum multi finish, I explained to the owner that the Tudor wall required lime plaster. The plasterers chucked a couple of shovels of hydrated lime into the multifinish. I left the scene.
Good tips and photos James. We have done lots of this. We used to sing along to our favourite music while we worked. Itās all done now thank goodness! In one case where the stones were mixed, scrappy and small, it worked very well to finish the wall with an off-white lime wash, to even out the colour.
Not only burns. OH finished up at A&E on a drip because he had been removing old lime render and didnāt realise he was allergic to it. He was given strict instructions by the doctors to go nowhere near lime again - difficult when you live in a 350 year old house.