Paint for newly lime plastered walls?

[Ellie Holding]

We're renovating our Victorian house and have had the inside of all the external walls plastered in an insulated lime plaster with a smooth lime plaster top coat. Now we're ready to paint them but am so confused as to which paint to use. Obviously we need a breathable paint, however I don't particularly want to use a limewash as we are a busy household and I feel as though it will rub off too easily and it won't achieve the desired colour or look. I like the COAT paint colours and their clay paints are supposedly suitable for lime plaster. I've read so many mixed reviews on COAT paints, Farrow & Ball paints, Earthborn paints etc. Does anyone have any experience with any of these or any suggestions as to which paint brand would be suitable?

 

[Flyfisher]

I've used various clay paints and caesin distemper paints on lime plastered walls (old and new) and all have worked well. Many suppliers will colour-match their paints, so it's not usually neccessary to choose a brand for their colour card. I recently used Lakeland to colour-match a Dulux colour very successfully and have previously used Edward Bulmer to colour-match F&B.

As for performance, I can't honesty say I've noticed much difference between brands as far as durability is concerned but none of them are as 'scrubbable' as a modern vinyl paint and therein lies the rub (if you'll excuse the pun). The vinyl makes the paint 'tough' but kills breathability. It's just the way it is.

 

[Lacan07]

We're renovating our Victorian house and have had the inside of all the external walls plastered in an insulated lime plaster with a smooth lime plaster top coat. Now we're ready to paint them but am so confused as to which paint to use. Obviously we need a breathable paint, however I don't particularly want to use a limewash as we are a busy household and I feel as though it will rub off too easily and it won't achieve the desired colour or look. I like the COAT paint colours and their clay paints are supposedly suitable for lime plaster. I've read so many mixed reviews on COAT paints, Farrow & Ball paints, Earthborn paints etc. Does anyone have any experience with any of these or any suggestions as to which paint brand would be suitable?

I've been mulling over this very subject for some time now as I have several plastered walls waiting to be painted. You'll find plenty of threads discussing this but unfortunately there's no clear pathway to an answer. Lime wash is indeed considered the gold standard but has its complications. I'm still at the point where I'm just soaking in as much information and opinion on the subject as I can (one painted room in 3 years), and at the moment, after a brief conversation on another thread, I'm leaning toward casein distemper from Inglebys, who can colour match btw which I think is quite important.

 

[Flyfisher]

I've often wondered about the use of limewash on internal plastered walls, perhaps because all my internal walls are a lime-chalk mix rather than lime-sand and also because most of the house is timber-frame so it does 'move' slightly from season to season. The chalk-lime plaster readily accomodates any small movements without cracking, as does clay and distemper paints. So all is well.

But I wonder about limewash, which I think of as being basically a thin layer of limestone once it is fully carbonated and thus quite 'brittle'. I'm certainly not against limewash and have used it extensively on the outside of the house, but where there has been slight movement the limewash does crack, though it is easily filled with another coat of limewash.

I have used limewash internally on a brick chimney that was originally external but became internal when we added a kitchen extension and, to be fair, it has lasted well so perhaps I'm over-thinking things. After all, limewash seems as durable as clay or distemper paints, perhaps more durable, and is definitely cheap-as-chips if DIY, even allowing for initially needing more coats. Perhaps it's all down to colour choice and ease-of-application?

 

[a twig]

Agree - for most people it’s the faff of 3-5 coats required, and the fact you can’t just grab a tin from your local shelf in the exact designer colour that is currently in vogue.

Then you get the “re-apply every few years” that you get told about using it externally which people think applies internally as well.

And that’s before you get into “dusting” which is entirely down to bad mixing and application, but again requires thinking.

Having extensively used both clay paint and limewash, I’d go with the limewash in future. The fact that it helps to “heal” any cracks etc in the lime plaster underneath is an added bonus

 

[Flyfisher]

I agree that colour is a big issue with limewash. i tend to overlook that as I've only ever used it as plain white so choosing and matching isn't a problem

I can confirm that the 'every few years' thing definitely doesn't apply internally. My limewashed internal chimney brickwork is still in good condition after 10 years and I'm not rushing to recoat it.

 

[Kearn]

I've been mulling over this very subject for some time now as I have several plastered walls waiting to be painted. You'll find plenty of threads discussing this but unfortunately there's no clear pathway to an answer. Lime wash is indeed considered the gold standard but has its complications. I'm still at the point where I'm just soaking in as much information and opinion on the subject as I can (one painted room in 3 years), and at the moment, after a brief conversation on another thread, I'm leaning toward casein distemper from Inglebys, who can colour match btw which I think is quite important.

What I’d say from my experience of both Ingibly and RofJ, is that if you’re using it straight away, then go for Ingilby - cheaper, will colour match and I personally found it a thinner consistency, so went on easier without dragging.
However…as distemper has a relatively short window of usage, 3-6months unopened, and about 4 weeks opened. The Ingilby distempers I have around the month mark since first use are on the turn, size is still ok and they haven’t broken down physically, so still ok to adhere to the wall and bind pigment, but, they’re starting to smell. Whereas the RofJ product, bought and opened exactly the same time are the same as day 1. Think it’s down to the gelatin source used in the size, Ingilby smells fishy, and think they use fish bones, whereas RofJ is bovine or vegetable based which ate allegedly better. The smell should dissipate after a few weeks on the wall, time will tell….

 

[Lacan07]

What I’d say from my experience of both Ingibly and RofJ, is that if you’re using it straight away, then go for Ingilby - cheaper, will colour match and I personally found it a thinner consistency, so went on easier without dragging.
However…as distemper has a relatively short window of usage, 3-6months unopened, and about 4 weeks opened. The Ingilby distempers I have around the month mark since first use are on the turn, size is still ok and they haven’t broken down physically, so still ok to adhere to the wall and bind pigment, but, they’re starting to smell. Whereas the RofJ product, bought and opened exactly the same time are the same as day 1. Think it’s down to the gelatin source used in the size, Ingilby smells fishy, and think they use fish bones, whereas RofJ is bovine or vegetable based which ate allegedly better. The smell should dissipate after a few weeks on the wall, time will tell….

Do you apply distemper with a brush Kearn, how is this affected by brush marks, etc?

 

[Kearn]

Do you apply distemper with a brush Kearn, how is this affected by brush marks, etc?

Synthetic brush or roller. I’ve not used a roller yet as I’m still doing panels… 10-20% water to the first coat on new lime helps and to be honest I’ve used that for the second too as it’s helped get a smoother application.