"Slobbered" lime

Whilst trying to find a price for lime work I came across this expression for a type of render.

What is it?

Have a read:

http://www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/planx_downloads/3-2005-0420_678846.doc

Thanks for that link. That was where I first spotted the term.

Do you think it would be a method for a certain type of stone or a method peculiar to an area?

It's most often used I think around the Ribble Valley and that area. It sort of fills in the gaps. Regional rather than type of stone.

Having said that, it's not to say it wasn't used elsewhere. But it is very prevalent in that region. Bucks I think also. Cumbria.

However, it's hard to know at times what is slobbered and what is later messy repair!

I'll delve further when I get a mo.

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=77095&mode=quick

Hmmm it is rather messy. It would look nice limewashed though.

I suspect it mostly was originally. It would smooth the stone and give some protection.

That pic is messy I agree - but it was the privy!

Here's something a little posher:

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=484325&mode=quick

No I think messy but a good way forward for the wall at "her" house.

Certainly less expensive and some stone shapes would still be visible through the limewash.

Very Interesting! Never heard of slobbered lime before but I can think of a lot of old buildings in rural Scotland that used to look just like that (at least until they were bought out and "done up").

I had assumed that this was a result of gradual decay of a previous mortar or harling. I think most of the ones that I can recall have evidence of there having been a limewash layer over the whole lot.

worms said:

I had assumed that this was a result of gradual decay of a previous mortar or harling. .

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Yes, me too.

very much akin to a 'full' pointing technique prior to limewashing flintwork and rubblework.......... as I have treated the walls of my flint house.......I am waiting for the limewash to erode from the noses of the flints to expose them as per other examples in the county. basically rake out, brush and damp down and literally throw th emortar into the joint - whack! - fantastic compaction, then strike off, wait a few hours then tamp in with a churn brush to leave a good key for subsequent coats of limewash...........

Better than a session at the gym then?

certainly more beneficially as far as I am concerned! also, on a more serious note, far easier to do than 'repoint' in the usual sense of the word and certainly far far easier than providing a flat rendered surface - ok, you would need that to replicat stucco - so, get a more appropriate finish far easier.................. no real excuse for the 'improvers'??

I suppose it depends on the original building material.

It's not something used round Northumberland, where in general walls are made of semi-coursed stone with a fairly flat face.

But it does become attractive as it weathers over time.

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=42084&mode=quick


http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=66597&mode=quick


http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=74121&mode=quick

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=74182&mode=quick

(My grandfather came from Shap.)



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=76597&mode=quick





[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]


http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/656828

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/656840


Sadly, I suspect it's not really recognised by many as being a traditional method of mortaring, and as you say, many have 'improved' walls where it has been removed and the rubble carefully pointed, which leaves it all looking very bumpy and odd.

Our west gable wall has been slobbered in this way, but sadly in cement, much to the detriment of the stone, which has of course deteriorated.

When I remove it I may have to 'slobber' it with lime, as the mortar joints and the stone around them have become so worn.

andrew gayton said:

very much akin to a 'full' pointing technique prior to limewashing flintwork and rubblework.......... as I have treated the walls of my flint house.......I am waiting for the limewash to erode from the noses of the flints to expose them as per other examples in the county. basically rake out, brush and damp down and literally throw th emortar into the joint - whack! - fantastic compaction, then strike off, wait a few hours then tamp in with a churn brush to leave a good key for subsequent coats of limewash...........

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good instructions there. I am getting keener on slobbering by the day.

Thanks for those links Ev.

This is all very interesting. I've never heard of "slobbering" as a technical building term - would have thought it was merely a disparaging description of rough work - but our village, in fact VERY close to the Heron Corn Mill, shown in the last posting, and villages round about in South Cumbria, just on the Lancashire border, has a lot of it.
The garden building I use for my workshop, formerly a wash-house, is partly rendered just like the pictures. Most of the old stone walls in the village, and the church and the village hall, and several older houses are very similarly done. It's impossible to tell what is rendering and what is very rough pointing, and most of the stone is visible. No sign of ever being limewashed, though. Some of the houses are painted white (including ours) and of course may have been limewashed originally. The chief building stone here is mostly rough limestone rubble, and very roughly laid/pointed/part rendered over with lime mortar and very coarse aggregate. The old and untouched walls, where the lime is well carbonated, have in places almost congealed into one beautifully textured mass of lime mortar, render and limestone.
Unfortunately, very many buildings have been "tidied up" and repointed with cement, and also a lot of cement render has been used too. Some of it has been done well, with well matched mortar, though some is terrible. One large house, with good quality stone, was being repointed like this over twenty years ago when we first moved here, and the cement pointing actually looks quite good (apologies for the heresy) though probably I would agree with Nemesis that the stone looks a little "bumpy". However, the mortar is very well matched to the limestone - which shows absolutely no sign of deterioration; no cracks in the mortar, nothing. I walk close past it almost every day, and have inspected it closely ever since the "in defence of cement" thread came up here a few weeks ago. But that's another issue!

However, the "slobbering" is plainly traditional around here, and when I come to repoint our garden wall, and the workshop, I will try to do it right.

when I come to repoint our garden wall ... I will try to do it right.

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I've had similar thoughts, but for a plain wall, will it not look a bit strange for the first few years until the mortar weathers? The mortar will appear very white in comparison to the old stone wall.

I have had the same thought as you, Worms. On the garden wall, which is not actually "slobbered" much, but roughly pointed, the aggregate is very coarse indeed, and has a fair bit of soil mixed in, moss etc. growing in it. Here, following Biff's lime recipe of using earth from the garden in the mix seems a good idea. But when re-slobbering the wall of the building (which has previously been patched with cement - now badly cracked) I think we'll have to accept that it will be quite white at first, though here too I don't see any objection to mixing in some earth.

Yes you can have the mix analysed and repeat accordingly.

But in general lime is white!

Limestone and cement:

http://www.lime-services.com/

in general lime is white!

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Yes... What I really meant is that when you repoint in lime, it looks OK because it is obvious that it is new pointing, when you render, the surface is complete and it looks OK, but if you were to "slobber" (without then limewashing the whole wall) it would just look like something had gone wrong with your rendering - at least until a few years had passed and it acquired the grey colour that we associate with old walls.

Earth or local grit in the mix certainly helps tone down the colour, but perhaps ash or charcoal would be the most authentic addition to help make it more grey.