removing hard lime plaster from internal stone walls

[fieldfare]

Hi folks we have an internal stone wall and would like to clean the lime plaster off the surfaces and leave it unplastered- the colour and shape of the stones are really beautiful. In some places (particularly where the wall has been damp) this has become very hard and very laborious to remove. For the time being we have been chipping it off carefully with chisels etc. My dad has mentioned that a soft wire brush attached to a drill bit may be a good tool. Any thoughts on this and how we should go about doing this without damaging the stone.

cheers

 

[borischarlton]

Crikes!! your going straight to hell for that one!!! I am sure you will find that there are some that would call that vandalism.
However, I to have one wall in my lounge that is bare stone and although it would not have origonally been that way it looks stunning. In my limited experience I would say that what you describe as hard lime is in fact cement based render. My wall was similar and it was stuck fast! The only way I could remove it was with a bolster, very carefully. I found that a wire brush on a drill was just too difficult to control.
Good luck
Rob

 

[Tom]

I had to remove a houseful of hard cement render from the inside of our house :evil: ...and still have the outside to do!!

A tip: Try to avoid working 'over' the stones. Instead, work the bolster along the mortar line, horizontally. Try starting at the bottom of the wall, doing one course of stone. Locate the next mortar line up and work along that. If you're lucky, as you break through the render if will fall off the course of stones below. The problem with working 'over' the stones is that, if you slip, you risk damage. If you slip over a mortar line, who cares?

For any particularly stubborn bits, try leaving for a couple of weeks and have another go. Ours seemed to lose its grip as time went on and the wall itself dried out.

Good luck!

Jaqy

 

[Nemesis]

I was today in York at a wonderful church in the care of the Churches' Conservation Trust, and discussing the removal of plaster from walls which should be plastered... in the case of that church, sad that it happened and history should have prevailed. Even more sad that the people who left the walls bare stone pointed with cement, which is now causing serious problems.

http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/FeaturedChurch.asp?ChurchID=f_139


Internal, and many external, walls were in fact meant to be plastered.

At the very least it will give some small form of insulation.

Let's hope that it's not in fact historic plaster which is being junked. but you never know.

 

[fieldfare]

Hi chatters, just to clarify the plaster was TOTALLY shot, falling off and powdery (this wall was very wet and most has just fallen off leaving just 'dirty' stones with ahard deposits on). Elswhere in the house we have REALLY dodgy bits that I have saved and patched up with lime plaster. We were 'umming' and 'aaahing' about whether to re-plaster knowing that is its original state but EVERYONE who had a look kept saying that we should keep the wall un-plastered. The wall needs repointing at some later point so we decided to go the extra mile and clean the stones. I can sleep at night as we can always re-plaster later if necessary

The plaster that we are having problems with is lime (it was the original plaster I'm sure). But in some parts it has gone really hard on the face of the stone- possibly because of the damp and now having time to dry and turning more calacreous?

Have tried a wire brush on an electric drill (works fine for some bits) and a chisel for the remaining. Laborious but I think we will get there. These methods seem to be OK and I am not marking the stones in any way.

Anyway, thanks for the info!

 

[Nemesis]

Give it a few years, and everyone will be telling you how old fashioned the seventies pub look is, and asking when you are going to plaster.

The whims of fashion etc...

 

[fieldfare]

Hi Nemesis, I do understand what you are saying but I wouldn't call it a whim of fashion- rather an appreciation of the underlying craftmanship, structure and organic nature of an old stone house. Now that I have uncovered this (definitely by accident rather than design in preparation for replastering) I quite like it and see no reason to re-plaster it- at least for the time being :lol: Note that I do fully agree and have been working with the ethos that if it is anything but totally powedery and goosed then don't remove it. But when you uncover something really structurally beautiful wouldn't it be more of a crime to hide it again in a hurry and not appreciate it?

BTW What does a 1970's pub look like? :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

A bit like your house.

Don't collect horse brasses for Gawd's sake.

 

[borischarlton]

Fieldfare, I couldn't agree more and in any case its your house to do what you want with. Also people have been following ( or creating ) fashions for centuries. Can't see the problem myself.
Rob

 

[Nemesis]

I'm sure he will. Hope it's not listed though.

(Actually - there are such things as planning laws and building regs and building control so no buildings aren't really the owners to do exactly what they like with. But that's a different issue.)

 

[fieldfare]

A bit like your house.

That's actually VERY funny

Nemesis, I realise that because of fashions a lot of our heritage has been lost and I guess we only own them for a short time in the life of the house. I'm now actually thinking that maybe I should replaster it once we have the dampness sorted :?

 

[Nemesis]

This may be of use though...

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/70s/70s_drinks.html


Red Barrel. Oh dear.