Simulating Limewash

[Nigel Watts]

My builder manager to mix some paint for my front garden wall which looked very like the limewash on the house. I have repeatedly asked him for the specification and he keeps promising to give me it but so far has not come up with it. I think he put some dry yellowy red pigment into a modern emulsion paint, probably Magnolia. When applied, it produced a non-uniform finish very similar to my copperas limewash. The render on the wall needs patching up in places and I need to reproduce the colour. Any ideas?

I cant limewash the garden wall because it has previously been painted in a modern paint and I dont want to have to strip it off.

 

[worms]

Could he have been using a standard trade emulsion as the base?

Personally I would just try using lime wash. I have successfully lime washed my house and garage without first stripping off the masonry paint. I didn't know any better but it doesn't seem to have been a problem!

 

[lou]

Hello
I'm no expert but I tinted my own limewash (putty added to water) with strong red (little goes a long way) and warm yellow ochre pigment from Ty Mawr. It's come out a very strong terracotta not unlike the houses I've seen that have been washed with copperas. I don't see why modern water based paints shouldn't be tinted likewise - it might be worth a try as the pigment samples are very cheap and even a whole litre pack costs under a tenner. Ty Mawr, Mike Wye or maybe rose of Jericho may advise. Out of interest, I have found that a thickish mix of lime wash covers all sorts of paint quite well. I would have attached a pic but can't seem to do it from iPad.

 

[Nigel Watts]

A belated thanks to all who gave advice. I have now concluded that I should strip all the modern-emulsion-imitating-limewash and just apply limewash. A tub of stripper should be arriving from Sudbury today.