Edwardian Renovation - Help

[REZ]

Hello,

I received the keys to my dream forever home 2 months ago, a detached Edwardian blonde sandstone. I'm currently living in a rented property until the renovation is complete, I set a 6-month timeframe but I highly underestimated what would be involved in this renovation and the time to find contractors who are willing to renovate this type of property. Everybody I speak to wants to plasterboard and gypsum skim everything. I'm not going to let that happen.

I'm now focused on completing four rooms so I can move in as costs are spiralling: Kitchen, Bathroom, Master Bedroom and Living Room.

The property required a re-wire, which is done, but the electricians have taken the path of least resistance to get wires in chasing everywhere, and I've resided myself to the fact I'm going to have to sort most of the plastering myself as I can't find anybody to do lime plaster that is in my budget, even those that are expensive have 8-12 month timescales. I have absolutely no plastering skills and only basic DIY skills, but needs must. I've read as much of this forum as I could and watched lime plastering videos on youtube.

I've stripped back all the wallpaper in the house, some with 6 layers of wallpaper and woodchip wallpaper everywhere. In some rooms the plaster work is ok, in others, some very bad DIY has ruined large areas of the lath and plaster. i.e. I pulled out a gas fire and fake wooden lintel from the living room and I'm left with a giant area of lath/plaster missing 2m x 0.5m. In the kitchen, on one internal wall, I am back to brick as the plaster crumbled when the cupboards and tiles came off.

My plan is to patch repair what I can and use Erfurt Variovlies Plus lining paper which somebody on this forum recommended, then paint in breathable paint.

To try to get started if anybody can help me with the following questions, it would be greatly appreciated:

• I'm was thinking of using wood wool board where I need to "patch" large areas in lath walls. Can you dot dab wood wool board directly to a brick wall? I need to keep the thickness aligned with the lath otherwise the 15mm board will be set too high. Can I just use finishing lime plaster over the wood wool board?
• Usually when close to a fireplace you would use fire-resistant plasterboard, should I keep wood wool board away from those areas? I want to reinstate an original Edwardian cast iron fireplace that will function. If so how do I plaster up to those areas where the lath is damaged?
• Can you "skim" with lime finishing plaster over the existing lime walls or is it best just to patch burst areas? If so how should I prepare the wall before skimming?
• For large areas to patch plaster do you recommend fibreglass mesh with lime plaster or is this a no-go?
• What do you do in areas where Artex was used? I'm worried about asbestos if I tried to remove it, normally you would gypsum skim over it, can I do the same with lime plaster?
• For filling the chased areas of walls, what is the best route to fill these as its deep into the brick behind?

I want to retain as much of the originality of the property as I can, but with budget and timeframes an issue I'll take any advice from people who have been through it before. I feel I'm living in a nightmare at the moment but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[paulc]

I'll try to answer some of your questions as best I can...

• Woodwool boards can be dot & dabbed, but you still want to use mechanical fixings just in case. They can be skimmed over, although others will have to give advice about the optimum thickness.
• Fire resistant plasterboard will have the same issues as regular plasterboard when it comes to heat. Over 50°C, the stuff starts to break down, and the paper facing can still scorch/burn. Depending on how close you are getting to the fire, I'd recommend using cement board - Blue Grit will give you a decent grippy surface for the lime to adhere to.
• Yes, you can use lime to skim over the top of older lime plasters. Make sure the wall is clean and free of any old wallpaper adhesive. It may also pay to give the surface a once over with a coarse sandpaper (not too much, you only need to give it a key). But the old plaster will suck the moisture out of the skim coat, so you need to wet the wall first, and then work pretty quick - You can get a fine acrylic gritty bonding coat, but it is expensive, and I'm not sure if its use would be frowned upon here. But it does reduce suction.
• For thick areas of plaster, one would traditionally mix hair in to the mix for the base layers - A modern alternative is polyester screed fibres.
• For filling chases, Wack in lime plaster/mortar, building it up in layers. As it dries, cracks may form, but if you press it down whilst still green, the cracks will close up - I've used a stiff hand brush to beat mortar up in the past. They call it a "churn brush" if you want to go looking for videos on using one.

Lime plastering isn't too difficult, and with a bit of patience, you can get a pretty decent finish. If you use a lime putty based mix, as long as it remains damp, it doesn't go off.

 

[REZ]

I'll try to answer some of your questions as best I can...

• Woodwool boards can be dot & dabbed, but you still want to use mechanical fixings just in case. They can be skimmed over, although others will have to give advice about the optimum thickness.
• Fire resistant plasterboard will have the same issues as regular plasterboard when it comes to heat. Over 50°C, the stuff starts to break down, and the paper facing can still scorch/burn. Depending on how close you are getting to the fire, I'd recommend using cement board - Blue Grit will give you a decent grippy surface for the lime to adhere to.
• Yes, you can use lime to skim over the top of older lime plasters. Make sure the wall is clean and free of any old wallpaper adhesive. It may also pay to give the surface a once over with a coarse sandpaper (not too much, you only need to give it a key). But the old plaster will suck the moisture out of the skim coat, so you need to wet the wall first, and then work pretty quick - You can get a fine acrylic gritty bonding coat, but it is expensive, and I'm not sure if its use would be frowned upon here. But it does reduce suction.
• For thick areas of plaster, one would traditionally mix hair in to the mix for the base layers - A modern alternative is polyester screed fibres.
• For filling chases, Wack in lime plaster/mortar, building it up in layers. As it dries, cracks may form, but if you press it down whilst still green, the cracks will close up - I've used a stiff hand brush to beat mortar up in the past. They call it a "churn brush" if you want to go looking for videos on using one.

Lime plastering isn't too difficult, and with a bit of patience, you can get a pretty decent finish. If you use a lime putty based mix, as long as it remains damp, it doesn't go off.

Thanks Paul, can't thank you enough. This is a huge help.

 

[noj]

All good advice.

If depth is an issue for woodwool then a bundle of new laths isn't expensive (time consuming but strangely satisfying).

Near a fire - if a wooden fire surround is ok then lath or woodwool will be fine too.

Absolutely go for a putty based plaster as a newbie, the work time, re-work time and go back a couple of days later and work again time is great. Worth buying a pre-mix too.

Might be worth looking at the lime hemp plaster for your base coat work (I liked it, others differ). Can be applied in one thick coat, just requiring a finish coat rather than traditional three coat work.

A cheap(ish) dedicated paddle mixer is a worthwhile investment for knocking up.

DG27 is the expensive stuff suggested to add a key before skimming. Supposed to be breathable but does kill the suction and in my limited experience needs applying over the new and old plaster to make the top coat behave.

 

[REZ]

All good advice.

If depth is an issue for woodwool then a bundle of new laths isn't expensive (time consuming but strangely satisfying).

Near a fire - if a wooden fire surround is ok then lath or woodwool will be fine too.

Absolutely go for a putty based plaster as a newbie, the work time, re-work time and go back a couple of days later and work again time is great. Worth buying a pre-mix too.

Might be worth looking at the lime hemp plaster for your base coat work (I liked it, others differ). Can be applied in one thick coat, just requiring a finish coat rather than traditional three coat work.

A cheap(ish) dedicated paddle mixer is a worthwhile investment for knocking up.

DG27 is the expensive stuff suggested to add a key before skimming. Supposed to be breathable but does kill the suction and in my limited experience needs applying over the new and old plaster to make the top coat behave.

Thanks noj that is great. When you say a putty based plaster, I'm assuming I can buy a ready mix I just add water too?

I'm a bit confused between hydraulic and non hydraulic so need to do some more reading I think to understand the best choice.

I noticed lime stuff have a simple mix called coarse, medium and fine. That might be my best option as it makes sense what I'm buying.

 

[noj]

Hydraulic lime (Natural Hydraulic Lime, NHL) comes in three strengths and in dry powder form only. Behaves like cement (albeit slower) and will set underwater, cures by reacting with water. Pre-mix plasters available.

It becomes unworkable in hours and is least forgiving for the inexperienced.

Putty is a wet mix, cures by absorption of carbon dioxide over time - carbonation. Whilst protected from the air it will not 'set' and can be kept for years. AKA air lime, fat lime or (confusingly) non hydraulic lime, which is the opposite of NHL!

Softer and more breathable than even the weakest NHL.

This is workable for days and pretty user friendly. Pre-mix plasters come in tubs or sealed bags, ready to use once they've been knocked up (stirred) with maybe a tiny amount of additional water.

One extra confusion - there's also hydrated lime - this is a powder form of non hydraulic, can be made into putty and for your purposes probably best ignored...

 

[REZ]

Hydraulic lime (Natural Hydraulic Lime, NHL) comes in three strengths and in dry powder form only. Behaves like cement (albeit slower) and will set underwater, cures by reacting with water. Pre-mix plasters available.

It becomes unworkable in hours and is least forgiving for the inexperienced.

Putty is a wet mix, cures by absorption of carbon dioxide over time - carbonation. Whilst protected from the air it will not 'set' and can be kept for years. AKA air lime, fat lime or (confusingly) non hydraulic lime, which is the opposite of NHL!

Softer and more breathable than even the weakest NHL.

This is workable for days and pretty user friendly. Pre-mix plasters come in tubs or sealed bags, ready to use once they've been knocked up (stirred) with maybe a tiny amount of additional water.

One extra confusion - there's also hydrated lime - this is a powder form of non hydraulic, can be made into putty and for your purposes probably best ignored...

Basically I need to find a store that sells lime putty pre mixed in a bag/tub.

I looked at my local store called Masons Mortar and I'm clueless on the acronyms, they sell MMFHLP and MM PRF in the lime plaster section.

Think I'll find a more well known brand and just buy online. Thanks again for the help.