Damp, insulation, and a 1600 Farmhouse

[Wren]

Forbes and Lomax light switches. Yes they are very pretty aren't they.

I took the decision the other way around. I want lime plaster walls, the fancy light switches require a deep box. Therefore I can't have fancy light switches. Probably was money I shouldn't have been spending anyway.

Have put in low profile white plastic light switches. As unobtrusive as possible. They were very cheap so if do ever decide to upgrade I won't feel guilty about ditching them.

Am happy to add my name to a petition to Forbes and Lomax along the lines of:
Your light switches are great but just won't work in my beautiful old property. Can you redesign them please!

 

[Alex F]

Hi, still working on this property, things are moving a long fairly well lately although no progress for several weeks around xmas.

The lime plastering started about two weeks ago and is almost complete. (about 75m2). I expected it to take much longer as the plaster in many places is very thick. As much as 50mm think in some places and certainly an average of 35mm possibly more as I wanted straight walls.

In view of the thick amount required they decided to add hemp to the mix to pack it out and reduce the weight of the plaster.

They also put mesh over the cable conduits as apparently this can show later.

I am hoping not to apply a limewash to the plaster at all and leave it natural. The plasters have mixed in crushed slate in to the plaster which looks interesting.

On the whole it all looks fanatic at the moment ( a little grey in colour but am told it will go a lot paler).

I had thought there would be more layers and waiting between layers.

Are there any particular concerns I should be aware of for areas where the plaster is exceptionally thick

On one wall which was plaster board we have lime plastered over the plaster board (the plaster was adamant that while not the convention is can be done, no problem. He used hesian on the joins). He seems to know what he is doing, but I am certainly no expert to judge that.

Would welcome your thoughts. Thanks

Alex

 

[Penners]

On the whole it all looks fanatic at the moment

Hideous, staring eyes and a slavering mouth? :wink:

 

[Gervase]

Sounds good so far. I like the idea of colouring the plaster with slate - I was talking to a French friend who is a lime plasterer a week or so back, and they often use colourants in the plaster and leave the finish unpainted. The commonest is plain ochre - but natural ochre in France costs about a fifth of what it costs us in the UK, and Michel buys it (and other earth pigments) by the 25 kilo sack.
And your plasterer is quite right, you can plaster over plasterboard without any worries provided the joints are taped. I usually put a couple of coats of PVA on the board as well to help adhesion.

 

[Essex]

Please, please go the lime route. Also, with regard to heating, insulating the roof, at ceiling level (make sure loft above can breathe) and floor has made a great difference to our house, like you insulating the walls would have been difficult.
We dug the concrete slab out and replaced with LECA, limecrete, underfloor heating and then stone (no dpm's or dpc's). We are warm as toast and our heating bills, for the size of house, are reasonable.
Also consider adding seals to doors and windows. Although a breathing building needs a reasonable amount of air changes, most older houses have far more than they need, and are a major source of heat loss.