Paint on a Lime Plaster Wall

[aaront]

I have just had several first floor rooms replastered with NHL 3.5 lime plaster and finished with a lime putty.

Farrow and Ball do a casein distemper which is recommended for these walls. They also do an estate emulsion that seems almost identical in performance when it comes to "breathability" - the emulsion having 0.01% vs the distemper at 0.008%. They are both class I in terms of allowing the plaster to breathe. The emulsion is easier to apply and cheaper.

Has anyone used it on lime plaster instead of the casien distemper? Can I use it?

All constructive advice very much appreciated.

 

[Abi Cott]

Hi,
Breathability is a topic that comes up fairly frequently, it's a bit of a conundrum when it comes to paint. I've come to the conclusion that Estate Emulsion probably is good enough. Other opinions may vary.

P.S. Welcome to the forum

 

[steveb]

No experience of the F&B products but we used Earthborn clay paint internally. I don't know how it stacks up cost wise but it's pretty easy to apply and covers well.

Ultra matt so not washable but doesn't seem to fade - we touched up some patches that were first applied 8 years ago with fresh paint and you can't tell where the old meets the new. I was expecting to have to repaint the entire wall

 

[Flyfisher]

No experience of F&B estate emulsion but I have used a fair bit of their caesin distemper in the past. Their lighter colours seem ok but I recently had a poor expeience with a dark colour - even after five coats the coverage was very poor and patchy. I gave up in the end and used a clay paint mixed to the same colour - one coat and it was fine. OK, it had five 'undercoats' of F&B distemper but even so my other experience of clay paints is of very 'solid' colours and good coverage. They are now my preferred paints for walls. I've also found Little Greene distemper to require fewer coats than F&B for adequate coverage, so the price on the tin does not always correlate to the price on the wall!

 

[Kearn]

Another nod for Earthborn clay paint - goes on very easy and flat, plus touch ups are just that, rather than the whole wall needing to be redone. If you’re going straight onto new plaster though, the first coat should be diluted as the plaster will absorb quickly. That’s the only time you’ll really need more than one coat...

 

[88v8]

Another vote for Earthborn clay paint.
I thin each coat about 30%, but our walls are quite ruff so I need it to flow into the nooks.

The need to thin the initial coat of whatever paint is often not appreciated; I'm currently prepping the walls of a room rebuilt in 1993, and the modern emulsion can be peeled off the shiny gypsum plaster with a fingernail. Which is a bloomin nuisance.

In fact, I would say that if the wall has been polished to the point where it's, errrm, polished... then it should be rubbed down with sandpaper before applying the first coat, to create a key.
Although of course in a posh house, one will be applying wallpaper not paint, in which case the polish is helpful and should not be removed.

Ivor

 

[Me!]

Another vote for Earthborn clay paint.

Yes, me too, it is excellent stuff.

 

[malcolm]

I'm quite lucky in my restoration that almost all the walls were originally covered in lining paper. Removing that got rid of the inappropriate finishes and revealed the original lime plaster in repairable condition. The exception was a small spare bedroom the ex got fed up with and painted in some sort of vinyl plastic paint while I was in Sweden. Plaster will need to be scraped off to get rid of that but I'm putting the job off as it will take ages.

I'm putting lining paper on bare plaster before painting. People can paint over it with what they like, and in 100 years time I hope someone will be delighted that they can pull the lining paper off and get back to the original plaster to correct whatever mistakes we make this century.

I did paint the kitchen with clay paint straight on to the new lime plaster. Other rooms will get lining paper first.

 

[overlander matt]

Anyone have any experience of Rose of Jericho paints? Their prices seem good in comparison with F+B, Earthborn and others but how do they perform? The chap on the phone was very helpful too - just need to make a decision on colours. On that note, the range of colours was not as extensive as the other companies but there seem to be a few we will try out.