Possible Purchase, Question 2

[Penners]

In the pictures in my Question 1 post, you'll see that the rendering on the house that we might buy is painted in a yellow limewash. It's cement rendering, so why it's been limewashed, instead of modern plastic-painted, I'm not really sure - but it has. And the limewash is pretty worn in places - particularly on a wall that faces south-west, for obvious reasons. It's not flaking or dusting - just thin and a bit transparent.

As the cement render (over concrete blocks) makes the breathability of the building irrelevant (unless you have a different view on that) I would be tempted to stray into forbidden territory and, assuming we buy the house, give it a good coat or two of modern weatherproof paint.

My questions are: can you see any detriment to the building in this idea, and will something like Sandtex adhere properly to a previously limewashed render?

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[middi]

First of all I am glad that you are cosidering moving to a newly built house ( a bungalow would have been better!!). The heritage architect that I use ( he's 80 years + old) just moved from a 15thC house, When I asked what "possessed him to "go new", he promptly replied that as much as he has enjoyed living in listed properties all his life they become a pain in the a**e when one get's older, mainly due to maintenance and care that they need.

settlement cracks ar very common on newly built properties, especially on windows and doors openings ( as long as they are hairline cracks only). This can be slightly exagerated as compared brick faced " cracks". As the place is cement rendered the best thing you could do is apply weathershield on it, the problem is it will not stick to limewash ( nothing sticks to limewash exept more limewash.

Check on similarly built properties of same age if they show sign of cracks.

 

[Flyfisher]

It does seem odd to cement-render a property and then use limewash instead of a more modern Sandtex/Weathershield finish - or am I missing something here? Perhaps it was hoped that the more forgiving nature of lime would compensate somewhat for the cracking of the underlying cement render, although I'd guess it would need to be more thickly applied than it looks in the photos for this to really help.

 

[Feltwell]

Penners, a few years ago I had a 1920's ex-council house that had originally been lime rendered and lime washed, then later painted over with a modern plastic masonry paint.

The masonry paint did not seem to have taken to the limewash finish very well - it was patchy, the most exposed wall was best stuck (probably because the original limewash was very thin), on other more sheltered walls it came away very easily.

The render itself was coming away badly from the brickwork anyway, so in the end I had the whole thing re-rendered- in cement based render... then painted it in Sandtex.

I plead ignorance at the time. It shouldn't have done much harm anyway, as the house had cavity walls. I guess it must have been built at the cross-over point in construction techniques - it was built with lime mortar, lime plaster and lathe & plaster ceilings, but had a concrete ground floor, pre-cast concrete soffits and cavity walls.

I stayed there for 3 years after I had it rendered, no cracks appeared. But of course unlike your prospective purchase this house had been sat there for over 60 years already so should have had ample time to settle.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

How bizarre, after spending a wet and miserable day trapped in our rented,'70,s engineer brick, plastic windows and solid concrete floors with nasty nylon carpets I was about to share a moan about the effects of living in a 'modern' plastic building.

Surely an 8 year house, which you actually own can be turned into a healthy breathing home. After all, cracks and faults regularly appear in listed buildings for all sorts of reasons. Without panic, we all seem to diagnose the reasons why, treat accordingly and are happy when the problem is solved so I suppose that is your way forward Penners, depending on the purse strings. Many new builds are perfectly ok, depends who built them!

I have never lived in a property built after 1800 and am struggling with the PVC here . The kitchen surfaces stay damp after cleaning, the two pieces of regency furniture we brought with us are slightly sticky, the two Ryalux velvet rugs we brought are oddly damp and cold, my feet and hands are cold and I have a permanent headache. Worst of all, the loo seats stay damp for hours after I've cleaned them----no comments please!
We keep the top pushout windows open all the time and it's warmer out than in.

Worse still, the three period houses -- 1860,( the best of the lot & where they hope to find the dodo) 1880 and 1930 that we are considering are not listed and they all have the dreaded placcy windows, so my budget for updating is going to go on replacements straight away. There is also the issue of Kardean flooring from top to bottom in one of the houses, presumably covering some really nice wooden floors.

However, understanding the building materials and working with them is the first step to success.

Hey ho!!

 

[Schoolmarm]

To be fair though, my 1750's stone house has been damp, and really horrid this year. I have had constant headaches and everything feels wrong.

No matter how many windows and doors are open it has made no difference.

 

[Pford75]

As others have said, weathershield doesn't take to limewash. The modern builders solution is to either use PVA (not sure on external application) or Sandtex (and others) sell a nasty smelling fluid called 'stabilising solution' which needs to be painted onto the limewash before the masonry paint. This is probably less time consuming than trying to wash the limewash off.

Personally, I would weathershield it

 

[Penners]

Thanks very much for your responses, everyone. Yes, limewashing a cement render does seem an odd thing to do.

It's useful to know that a modern paint won't cling well to a limewashed wall. As suggested, I think I shall Weathershield (or similar) but I'll stabilise the surface first.

Now all we have to do is try to get our offer accepted. Wish us luck!

PS: If we end up buying this 8-year-old house, will you still let me come and play on PPUK?

 

[middi]

Thanks very much for your responses, everyone. Yes, limewashing a cement render does seem an odd thing to do.

It's useful to know that a modern paint won't cling well to a limewashed wall. As suggested, I think I shall Weathershield (or similar) but I'll stabilise the surface first.

Now all we have to do is try to get our offer accepted. Wish us luck!

PS: If we end up buying this 8-year-old house,[ will you still let me come and play on PPUK? ]

Only if you fit oak mullion windows frames and leaded glass in wrought iron casements in the new house :wink:
.

 

[Penners]

Only if you fit oak mullion windows frames and leaded glass in wrought iron casements in the new house

Well, it's funny you should say that. Here's a photo of the sitting room. As you can see, recycled oak beams have been used for all ceiling joists, and the doors are also recycled or newly-made oak ledge & brace.

OK, it's a pastiche, but as you so kindly observed, Middi, at our great age we don't really want to start tearing down walls, or rebuilding roofs!

Oh, and by the way - the windows have steel casements. I hope that will do as a substitute for iron.

Ps: Our offer was accepted. Whahayyy!

 

[MdB]

Ps: Our offer was accepted. Whahayyy!

Congratulations. I hope you got it for a song. It looks very nice too.

 

[Penners]

Thanks, MdB.

A song? I don't think even Lennon & McCartney would have been paid this much for one!

 

[Schoolmarm]

That is gorgeous 8) now don't forget to gazunder just before completion. :mrgreen:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Wow, good find. It will be super!

 

[Flyfisher]

Good news indeed. I hope the chain holds together and moves reasonably quickly.

 

[Moo]

This will be in v. small print, just in case I've missed something :



How's the sale of your own house going?

 

[middi]

That is really cosy Penners ( that woodburner works really well, I have one just like it). Good luck with the purchase

 

[Welsh Builder]

Hope it is not too late to comment on the original question and that Sandtex has not been applied.

It has been proven in tests that several coats of lime wash applied to cement render (roughcast) does have a beneficial effect. The thin covering of lime acts like a poultice and pulls water out of the capillaries in the cement render. It does absorb rain but then releases it once the sun and/or wind dries the surface. Cement render holds water as soon as it finds any way in leading to a saturated wall over time.

Three coats of lime wash should see you right. Goes on quickly and is far, far cheaper than Sandtex. I have applied lime wash to cement render as a damp remedy on some very large listed buildings and expect this to become fairly widespread practice over the next few years.

 

[Penners]

Hope it is not too late to comment on the original question and that Sandtex has not been applied.

No, not too late on either count, WB. Thanks for your observations.

In fact, I have now had an update from the vendor that the rendering, although cement, does have a significant lime content (don't ask me a to define 'significant'). I have therefore negotiated as part of the deal that the vendor will put another coat of limewash on the house. It'll be my first experience of limewash, so I shall be interested to see how it performs and how long it lasts on a lime/cement substrate.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

That is a good bit of negogiating Penners!