Sam W
Member
- Messages
- 35
- Location
- Shropshire
Hi,
A recent 'quick redecoration' turned into a big job when I started stripping wallpaper in our dining room and found that all walls had been covered in cement render to about 1.5m from floor height, finished with gypsum plaster. Our house was built in 1860, stone walls with rubble fill. Damp is always a bit of an issue, and I was keen to replaster with lime in the expectation/hope that this will be a better long term solution.
After a quote for replastering which we couldn't afford (£5000 for approx. 30m2 of wall) I decided I'd have to do it myself and started researching options. I found it really hard to find a comparison between different plasters, so I hope the table below which summarises my experience of a few different plasters will be useful to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position.
The TLDR version is, I ended up:
Key points to note:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To show the difference in finish between Lime Green Stipple Coat (left hand side) and Reabilita Cal CS (right hand side), look at this.
A recent 'quick redecoration' turned into a big job when I started stripping wallpaper in our dining room and found that all walls had been covered in cement render to about 1.5m from floor height, finished with gypsum plaster. Our house was built in 1860, stone walls with rubble fill. Damp is always a bit of an issue, and I was keen to replaster with lime in the expectation/hope that this will be a better long term solution.
After a quote for replastering which we couldn't afford (£5000 for approx. 30m2 of wall) I decided I'd have to do it myself and started researching options. I found it really hard to find a comparison between different plasters, so I hope the table below which summarises my experience of a few different plasters will be useful to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position.
The TLDR version is, I ended up:
- Using Reabilita Cal CS as a base coat
- Using Secil EcoCork or Cornerstone Insulating render as the scratch/float coat equivalent
- With Ty Mawr Superfine finish plaster as the final coat
Key points to note:
- I'm a very inexperienced plasterer, previous efforts with lime were limited to patching small areas of wall in other parts of the house. I will probably have scored ease of use more highly than ultimate potential finish quality
- Costs are based on the best prices I could find for each product in September 22, but will change over time
- The walls I was plastering were made of very uneven stone. This means final finished plaster depth varied from 60mm to about 5mm over short distances. I pushed beyond recommended depths on the insulating plasters in the deep sections, in the hope that nearby shallower sections would provide support. This seems to have worked out OK, although I will keep my fingers crossed as setting of the plaster continues over the next few week. If I had had more even walls, I would definitely have looked closely at insulating boards e.g. wood wall as an alternative to insulating plaster
Layer | Type | Comments | Pros | Cons | Cost (£/mm/m2) |
Base | Reabilita Cal CS | Instructions recommend use of 40mm mesh, which doesn't seem to be available in UK. A finer mesh on a bumpy wall doesn't work well, makes application of next layer difficult | - Cheap (relatively) - Doesn't drip off wall (but plenty does bounce off and onto floor) | - Doesn't 'splat' much when it hits the wall. Tends to form deep clumps in one spot | £0.84 |
Base | Lime Green Natural Stipple | Pretty runny when mixed according to manufacturers instructions (4-5l water per 25kg bag) | - Easy to get a relatively consistent, joined up layer across the wall | - Messy. Drips off wall, is then hard to scoop up - Expensive - Need to wait 10 minutes after mixing before applying | £1.34 |
Scratch/float equivalent | EcoCork | Nice to use and easy to lay final coat on top. Tends to pull apart a bit when smoothing with float, care needed. Has to be laid on in thinner layers than Cornerstone/Lime Green Ultra, with mesh between layers | - Cheap (relatively) - Light on the hawk and the wall | - Limited maximum depth (Mike Wye advised 30mm) - Requires addition of mesh (additional cost) - Question mark from me about use of cork, which is ultimately a wood, on walls that are often damp | £0.73 |
Scratch/float equivalent | Lime Green Ultra | More expensive than Cornerstone, other than that, I couldn't tell the difference between the two in use | - No maximum depth, although does slump and crack if you get too enthusiastic - Light on the hawk and the wall - No organic content (unlike EcoCork) | - Expensive | £1.34 |
Scratch/float equivalent | Cornerstone Insulating Render | Unhaired. Possibly the same as Lime Green Ultra, but in a different bag. Instructions say it can be applied in a single pass at up to 30mm, but there was quite a lot of cracking where this was done | - Light on the hawk and the wall - No organic content - Generous maximum depth | - More expensive than EcoCork (but cheaper than Ultra) | £1.04 |
Scratch/float equivalent | Lime Green Duro | An honourable mention after I ended up having to use some Duro (non-insulating) plaster on an internal wall after both I and the builders yard ran out of insulating plaster when I was half way through a wall | - Cheaper than Lime Green Ultra (but more expensive than Cornerstone/EcoCork) | - Maximum depth 10-12mm per coat - Unhaired - Heavy. Holding a hawk full of it while balancing on a ladder quickly gets tiring | £1.25 |
Finish | Lime Green Fine Stuff | Non-hydraulic. Very runny. I just mixed up everything that was in the pot, possibly surface water should have been poured off? I'm a little sceptical about the claimed coverage, suspect it doesn't go that far | - Comes in an airtight tub | - Expensive - Runny | |
Finish | Ty Mawr Superfine finishing | Non-hydraulic. Comes in 25kg bags, much cheaper per m2 than alternatives | - Cheap - Easy to get a smooth finish | - None | £1.02 |
Finish | Reabilita Cal AC | Hydraulic. Couldn't find anything to say whether this could be sponge floated and then trowelled, so I didn't. Left me with a smooth, textured finish | - Easy to use - Comes as powder, so transit costs are lower than a non-hydraulic lime | - I didn't like the finish, but do recognise this could be my fault | £1.06 |
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To show the difference in finish between Lime Green Stipple Coat (left hand side) and Reabilita Cal CS (right hand side), look at this.