Lime wash and gypsum plaster

[Lacan07]

I may be way behind the curve here but it seems the 'look' of Lime is no longer the preserve of old houses. Having watched a few Youtube videos this last week it appears many designers are lime washing their modern walls (with the use of a primer) to achieve that 'textured' look. A German company called Bauwerk seems to be a major player. It only caught my interest because the upper floor of my house is a mixture of lime plaster (external walls) and gypsum. Soon I'll be painting and I've been wondering how to breach the gap between the two finishes, if at all possible. Has anyone here applied lime wash to a gypsum wall?

 

[a twig]

I had the same in my place- lime wash looked noticeably different but earthborn clay paint worked well on both and by the end one couldn’t tell visually which wall was which

 

[noj]

If it helps I've limewashed over both trade Matt (IE no vinyl) emulsion and claypaint with success.

One of the brick inglenooks had been painted multiple times already, gave it a couple of coats of emulsion to even things up after the wood burner was replaced and then limewashed. No flaking or dusting and it's been about 7 years - about ready for a refresh.

We've also got one plinth internally under a replacement sole plate that's covered in very hard cement render which it would be potentially destructive to remove. I painted that with spare claypaint before the limewash and it really looks no different to the other lime plastered ones.

Plenty of gentle misting seems to be the trick to end up dust free.

I think you just need to prime with something quite thick and porous. DG27 would be far too textured.

 

[Lacan07]

I had the same in my place- lime wash looked noticeably different but earthborn clay paint worked well on both and by the end one couldn’t tell visually which wall was which

Thanks Twig, does the clay paint dry completely? I know you can't rub it with a wet cloth, etc.

 

[Lacan07]

If it helps I've limewashed over both trade Matt (IE no vinyl) emulsion and claypaint with success.

One of the brick inglenooks had been painted multiple times already, gave it a couple of coats of emulsion to even things up after the wood burner was replaced and then limewashed. No flaking or dusting and it's been about 7 years - about ready for a refresh.

We've also got one plinth internally under a replacement sole plate that's covered in very hard cement render which it would be potentially destructive to remove. I painted that with spare claypaint before the limewash and it really looks no different to the other lime plastered ones.

Plenty of gentle misting seems to be the trick to end up dust free.

I think you just need to prime with something quite thick and porous. DG27 would be far too textured.

Thanks, that's interesting. I saw a video last night where a woman was complaining that her lime wash (on to dry wall via primer) was coming off with the slightest of rubbing. I guess stat's what happens if it can't sink in to the substrate.

 

[a twig]

I had the same in my place- lime wash looked noticeably different but earthborn clay paint worked well on both and by the end one couldn’t tell visually which wall was which

Thanks Twig, does the clay paint dry completely? I know you can't rub it with a wet cloth, etc.

It did in our case, I did three coats over the course of a month or so, small stains could be very gently rubbed off with a damp cloth as there was enough paint “underneath” as it were and on the odd occasion our daughter had really gone to town with crayons etc I had made sure to order an extra tin which was used for future touch ups etc

Clay paint definitely blends more easily when touching up in my experience so we kept the tin under the stairs with an emergency paint brush

No issues with dusting or the paint coming off on clothes etc

 

[Lacan07]

I had the same in my place- lime wash looked noticeably different but earthborn clay paint worked well on both and by the end one couldn’t tell visually which wall was which

Thanks Twig, does the clay paint dry completely? I know you can't rub it with a wet cloth, etc.

It did in our case, I did three coats over the course of a month or so, small stains could be very gently rubbed off with a damp cloth as there was enough paint “underneath” as it were and on the odd occasion our daughter had really gone to town with crayons etc I had made sure to order an extra tin which was used for future touch ups etc

Clay paint definitely blends more easily when touching up in my experience so we kept the tin under the stairs with an emergency paint brush

No issues with dusting or the paint coming off on clothes etc

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but just wanted to ask Twig, or indeed others, if you've had any experience of using / painting corner beads?

I'll need to apply beads to both gypsum and lime plaster walls, I got some standard aluminium beads from Wickes the other week and I understand it the corner rim is left proud after a skim and is then painted over. I guess I was wondering if clay paint would take to this, i'm pretty sure lime wash wouldn't.

 

[a twig]

When using gypsum I've never left any beading proud, always made sure there was at least a few mm of plaster covering all the metalwork. When doing lime I didn't use beading at all and just rounded off the corners instead - not really much help, sorry