av price for lime plastering - North West - stone former farmhouse 1600s

[lis_999]

Hi, my first post! I have been told by one specialist to work out the quote myself to base it on £180 per metre sq of the walls. This means for a relatively small room we are probably looking at over £4500! I have no idea what is on the walls at the moment. Almost every room in the house has lining paper and then painted, but I am not sure what the lining paper is covering!

Debating currently whether to investigate under the paper to see whether by some miracle it has already been lime plastered (i suspect not, as the external pointing is cement i think).

We are expecting our second baby in Dec and this will be the baby's room once decorated. Obviously we don't want to throw a ton of money at this when we also need to generally decorate that room, carpet and buy furniture and fund my mat leave as the higher earner. Also none of the other rooms in the house have been decorated yet...

Would be grateful for any advice, thank you.

 

[Drayton]

You will definitely need to find out what is under the paper first - right round the room as it might vary. The pointing may have needed renewing, especially if the house is at all exposed, while the internal plaster may have been left alone.

However, unless there is an obvious problem in the room, given we are heading into August and the baby is due in December you'd be better off concentrating on decorating, carpeting and furnishing that room as is, then you can concentrate on renovations in another room. Just finding someone to do the work, if it is required, could take months?

 

[Tilly71]

Get atleast three quotes!

 

[malcolm]

That sounds expensive. But more importantly if you have lining paper on there chances are you still have the original plaster underneath. What's the problem you need to fix with re-plastering?

On most of my upstairs I found the original plaster under lining paper. It needed a little patch up which doesn't need to be done brilliantly when you put lining paper over it.

The new lining paper smooths off uneven surfaces, is breathable with cold water paste, quick to apply, and very importantly it means the next owner can apply modern emulsion paints and someone more sensible in the future will still be able to strip the wall back to the original plaster. Paint directly on the plaster and it's dead.

 

[Stevers]

Learn to patch plaster, it will save you a fortune, and don't worry about papering over a few tiny cracks - that's what lining paper is for. Think of it as an opportunity to preserve the historic original fabric of the building. Above ground in this 1879 stone house I've used Thistle One Coat without any issues, but lime plasters are also available. It's amazing what Polyfilla, lining paper and a coat of paint can achieve between them, and conversely what a patchy mess can be found behind nice smooth looking wallpaper.

 

[lis_999]

Hi all, thanks so much for your responses.
Just to clarify, we aren't intending on renovating any other rooms before baby, that will be a post maternity leave issue, we have been in the house for 2 years already.

Can I ask - is the suggestion to remove the existing lining paper and replace with new lining paper, or just leave it well alone, add polyfilla where necessary (e.g. where I have removed old curtain poles) and just go ahead and paint.

It is not in awful condition, I think I just liked the idea of going back to stone, putting fresh plaster on, and perhaps keeping one wall exposed stone if it was in good enough condition (with repointing etc) and being satisfied that the wall could breathe. We do have damp in some of the rooms in the house (not that one) so I had assumed that under the lining paper it wasn't original or lime plaster, but perhaps the damp is explained by the fact that the mortar is cement. However, if under the lining paper is likely to be original plaster (it is lumpy, so it definitely suggests that it is not modern plaster), then I am happy to leave alone and just paint.

 

[Cubist]

If the existing lining paper is generally in a good condition and seems well adhered to the wall below then you can leave it alone. Just patch any areas where the plaster may have failed and apply patches of new lining paper if you can or, if you're worried that the patches may be too obvious after painting remove just the damaged strip and replace that.

 

[Kearn]

Seems like you may be looking for expensive, time consuming and very messy work that possibly doesn’t need doing…!

The quote sounds a touch high for your location, but only by a max of £50/m2. I would clarify, but that figure is likely for 3 coat replastering, NOT stripping back the walls to start. That’s relatively easy to do, IF it needs doing. Lime plastering is massively skilled and time intensive, therefore it is relatively expensive compared to someone throwing a gypsum skim on in a day or so then moving in. Three visits to plaster, over 3-4 weeks, plus subsequent tending after to look after it as it carbonates at the right rate, huge amount of materials to mix on site… the cost can easily be justified for what you get. Probably the reason so many of us go on courses and do it ourselves, it’s remarkably forgiving to work with, especially pre mixed lime and you can achieve a decent finish quite easily, but getting a perfect finish is where the huge skill comes!

If there’s lime there, you’d be amazed at just how repairable it is… pictures would really help. If you have lining paper, there’s a great chance it’s over lime. It’s also normally easy to peel off the paper to investigate. But, just do a small test area - if all is good, you’ll want to leave the paper on. It does an amazing job of protecting the plaster from future errors. Sounds like you may have a found a good ‘un!

You’re probably out of time also to get this all done and decorated before the baby, even if you had a plasterer who miraculously had immediate availability - and that in itself would be a red flag. You would expect to wait probably 3-6+ months if not a lot longer for a capable trade. Then 4+ weeks after finish coat before decorating, unless you’re limewashing.

Have you got issues currently? If so, what are they?

 

[Stevers]

If the existing lining paper is generally in a good condition and seems well adhered to the wall below then you can leave it alone. Just patch any areas where the plaster may have failed and apply patches of new lining paper if you can or, if you're worried that the patches may be too obvious after painting remove just the damaged strip and replace that.

Use a torn edge when overlapping lining paper - unless you're lapping into a corner when it's not really necessary.

I would definitely want an improvement to the house from that sort of expense, that a future buyer would appreciate and pay for.

 

[Lacan07]

Hi, my first post! I have been told by one specialist to work out the quote myself to base it on £180 per metre sq of the walls. This means for a relatively small room we are probably looking at over £4500! I have no idea what is on the walls at the moment. Almost every room in the house has lining paper and then painted, but I am not sure what the lining paper is covering!

Debating currently whether to investigate under the paper to see whether by some miracle it has already been lime plastered (i suspect not, as the external pointing is cement i think).

We are expecting our second baby in Dec and this will be the baby's room once decorated. Obviously we don't want to throw a ton of money at this when we also need to generally decorate that room, carpet and buy furniture and fund my mat leave as the higher earner. Also none of the other rooms in the house have been decorated yet...

Would be grateful for any advice, thank you.

Hi, where is this room located? You don't have to lime every wall in your house, many people compromise by gypsum skimming the upper floor internal walls and sometimes even the external facing walls. Lime is usually reserved for the ground floor where the risk of damp issues are higher. An even cheaper alternative is to remove the current wall paper (just a bit of elbow grease required) and replace with breathable lining paper as recommended above. Any imperfections can be fixed with Easifill which is a doodle to use.

Renovating an old house is often a compromise between the past and the new. Btw, what was that quote for exactly, sounds expensive especially for a skim.

 

[Stevers]

My parents put lining paper up in their bathroom, and then gloss painted it - twice I think - that wouldn't be very breathable. I'm guessing that Slik bathroom and kitchen paints not all that breathable either. A few coats of vinyl matt emulsion, as would normally be found, would be unlikely to make the paper completely impervious to moisture. Contract emulsion and F&B estate emulsion and their ilk ought to be considered breathable. One could say (in general terms) the less cleanable - the more breathable.

I couldn't think of a lining paper that isn't breathable prior to painting, until I remembered that I still have a roll of polystyrene veneer (to put under wall paper) that I have yet to find a legitimate use for.

 

[lis_999]

Thanks again!

We weren't necessarily wanting the room done by the time baby came - they won't be sleeping in that room until probably June next year but it would be nice if it was done by approx December time. We had our first 6 weeks after moving in (!) and so did not finish his room until he was 10 months old! Mainly because (as you can probably tell) I am a bit of a perfectionist and I insisted on us sanding everything down including the floorboards and the massive fitted wardrobes because previous occupants clearly had just applied layer over layer over layer for a hundred years!

The room is upstairs, only one wall (width not length) is an external wall. One length wall does however share a wall with the old 1606 chimney. I am swiftly coming around to the proposal of leaving well alone, repainting in a clay based paint straight onto the existing lining paper. The only areas that need touching up are where there are holes e.g. from the old curtain pole. Further fact: we are likely to need to move within 8 - 9 years to get into a decent catchment area so I think perhaps I will save the lime work for the rooms that are very obviously damp downstairs (and get more quotes!) for when we eventually tackle those rooms.

Just for info - I think the quote was for three coat plastering, he certainly mentioned that, but I also mentioned about leaving one wall exposed (he said that if an external wall it would make the room quite cold???). I just think whilst there are a lot of beams in the house which are an obvious original feature, it is made of beautiful sandstone and would be nice to expose some of that internally but again perhaps I leave that for downstairs when there is less time pressure!

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Kearn]

but I also mentioned about leaving one wall exposed (he said that if an external wall it would make the room quite cold???).

You’d probably regret that in time! The stone would never have been dressed to be un plastered internally, and if you leave it that way, visually it may suit, but beware the amount of dust and dirt that accumulates in all the little uneven horizontal surfaces! You may also get some dust from stone/pointing to add to the clean up mix.

I can’t agree with their logic regarding cold - yes internal plaster, especially with hemp or similar insulating fibres added won’t make the room colder, but it’s the very thin end of the wedge compared to the solid stone wall and it’s far superior thermal mass. Assuming the stone is externally line pointed / rendered and the most importantly a dry mass.

We moved into our latest project in Jan, smallest one is now 14 months and god we need to get him into his own room… but it’s the least finished one in the house. For now that is, until we remove the entire 3 storey gable wall… and it becomes relatively habitable in his room