Painting back of inglenook, covering old tar.

[88v8]

Sorry, I'm sure this must have been covered before but the Search....
Paint... tar....

The back of our smaller inglenook, for 200 years an open fire, into which we are now putting a new woodburner, has an encrusted/embedded coating of tar we can't entirely remove, interspersed with some lime repairs to the mortar. Without the fire furniture, it looks pretty awful.
The sides have some light staining but we can live with that.

The wall backs onto a lean-to, so has no exposure to rain, but inevitably there will be a modicum of 'rising damp', even though there is nothing visible.

I have decided to whiten the back of the inglenook, leaving the sides alone. Ideally, the paint will be breathable - I have some clay paint I used elsewhere in the house - but I need to seal the tar or it will bleed through. Perhaps bleeding and sealing are incompatible.

Can anyone kindly recommend a product for the sealing?

Ivor

 

[LadyArowana]

It really doesn't look too bad in the picture, but I suppose now that you have removed the grate etc, more is visible. How much will be covered up by the new woodburner? My totally inexpert opinion is that trying to seal/ cover up with white might eventually leave more of a mess as the brown stuff bleeds through over time. Rather than having an honest fireplace that shows evidence of it's previous life you end up with something stained and unsightly and are fighting a losing battle tring to keep overpainting. If I wanted it to look neater I would be tempted to go with a darker colour at the back.

 

[Gervase]

At the risk of uncorking some old jokes on this forum, I'd recommend parging with cow dung. I've done it many times on old fireplaces and chimney breasts and it works. It's not as noisome as it sounds, and allows for breathability and movement in the underlying stone.

 

[worms]

At the risk of uncorking some old jokes on this forum, I'd recommend parging with cow dung. I've done it many times on old fireplaces and chimney breasts and it works. It's not as noisome as it sounds, and allows for breathability and movement in the underlying stone.

And Gervase described exactly how to do it, on the downsizer forum a couple of years ago!

 

[tobydog]

I'm slowly winning Mrs. T round on the merits of breathability and natural products in our early 1600's house. In fact she was even lecturing her mother at the weekend which is a brave thing to do. Our inglenook is badly sooted / tarred but unfortunately I think I might be back to square one with both of them if I even suggest to her the obvious benefits of parging with cow dung :shock: . I may stick with Lady A's approach for a while and call it character. In all seriousness though, unless it is actually causing any damage, I don't think I would want to remove 400 years of 'character' especially when you think how much is made of the soot and tar that stains on the rafters and thatch in many old houses from the time before chimneys.

 

[worms]

I might be back to square one with both of them if I even suggest to her the obvious benefits of parging with cow dung :shock:

Hey, count yourself lucky! I'm still at the "Why can't we have some nice new uPVC windows" stage! :roll:

 

[88v8]

At the risk of uncorking some old jokes on this forum, I'd recommend parging with cow dung. I've done it many times on old fireplaces and chimney breasts and it works. It's not as noisome as it sounds, and allows for breathability and movement in the underlying stone.

And Gervase described exactly how to do it, on the downsizer forum a couple of years ago!

Gosh... ask and ye shall be given. Thankyou.
I can get dung by hopping over into t'field, so having done the deed, can I paint on that with clay, or does it need to be (lime) plastered?

Ivor

 

[LadyArowana]

At the risk of uncorking some old jokes on this forum, I'd recommend parging with cow dung. I've done it many times on old fireplaces and chimney breasts and it works. It's not as noisome as it sounds, and allows for breathability and movement in the underlying stone.

:lol: it would need to attract pink flying unicorns bearing gifts beyond measure before I could do that, for "breathability and movement" not a chance! Will be interested to hear how it works out though.

 

[AMc]

Ideally, the paint will be breathable - I have some clay paint I used elsewhere in the house - but I need to seal the tar or it will bleed through. Perhaps bleeding and sealing are incompatible.

Can anyone kindly recommend a product for the sealing?

Ivor

As I see it If you seal the bricks then the breathability is going to be moot. If you seal the surface to prevent the tar from leeching then it seems to me you can't leave it water vapour permeable for breathability. I guess water molecules are smaller than tar, but I'd be surprised if you could find a microporous sealant that would work on sooty brick?

We have a similar inglenook with a woodburner in it. I've left the bricks in their sooty state as I can't see any way to cover them satisfactorily and in the end I think it looks OK. The burner has been in place for several years so there is no significant dusting or black dirt coming off and around the woodburner is always a bit grubby.

If you really don't like the sooty bricks and depending on your clearances then you could perhaps panel or board leaving an air gap for ventilation?

 

[MdB]

When I rebuilt the back of our fireplace, I reused the blackened stone. It seemed appropriate even though the new lime was rather white in comparison.