I have just had a gable end wall rendered in lime roughcast, having taken off all the old cement render. I did this because of damp in the wall.
The other walls all seem to be dry, but have a mix of different renders on them. Some of the render, I think, is early 20thC (cement/lime mix?) and seems in good shape, whereas some later render is more variable. The underlying walls are stone rubble, mostly about 1700. At some time in the past, I think the walls were lime-washed, but more recently they have been emulsion-painted.
All the walls are getting grubby and there are a number of thin cracks which don't seem to be doing much harm at the moment. I am loth to just splash on more emulsion, but certainly don't want the expense of removing all the old render, re-pointing and re-rendering. It has been suggested that I could have them sand-blasted, to remove the paint, and then either lime-wash them straight away or put on a coat of lime render (possibly hydraulic) first. This would fill the cracks with lime and give a consistent finish (as it is now, the different aggregates used for the renders result in "join lines" on the wall).
Does anyone have experience of doing this, or are there other suggestions?
The other walls all seem to be dry, but have a mix of different renders on them. Some of the render, I think, is early 20thC (cement/lime mix?) and seems in good shape, whereas some later render is more variable. The underlying walls are stone rubble, mostly about 1700. At some time in the past, I think the walls were lime-washed, but more recently they have been emulsion-painted.
All the walls are getting grubby and there are a number of thin cracks which don't seem to be doing much harm at the moment. I am loth to just splash on more emulsion, but certainly don't want the expense of removing all the old render, re-pointing and re-rendering. It has been suggested that I could have them sand-blasted, to remove the paint, and then either lime-wash them straight away or put on a coat of lime render (possibly hydraulic) first. This would fill the cracks with lime and give a consistent finish (as it is now, the different aggregates used for the renders result in "join lines" on the wall).
Does anyone have experience of doing this, or are there other suggestions?