Soft distemper or casein

[vicky whitworth]

Hello, I have lime plastered walls in my parlour and pantry that now need painting. They were plastered six months ago and seem dry. Should I use soft distemper or casein? I need high breathability as the cottage is damp and I'd like that soft, matt finish but I don't want the stuff to rub off if we brush against it. We don't have children or dogs so we're not tough on walls but normal life means the hoover will get bashed up against it at some point (we have no skirting boards either). Any thoughts?
Many thanks, Vicky

 

[skier-hughes]

I don't think any paint will help much with vacuum bashing.
After chatting with our lime plasterers and then rose of jericho, we are going for casein distemper.
A bit more durable.

 

[Carol]

I have used both and been happy with either. Our casein distemper puts up with a fair amount of damp from beneath the cellar walls and still looks ok, except where it has been bashed by me with various tools or pieces of wood. There are a few smell issues with casein though so perhaps that would be worth investigating. A distinct farmyard pong which lasted for a few months but could still be noticed by visitors long after we had lost it.

My current favourite is Amstel soft distemper which looks lovely and smells fine and covered our often dodgy walls beautifully. Available in white or tinted.

 

[AMc]

I've been painting the exposed brick walls of our vinery with distemper from http://www.littlegreene.co.uk/
The walls have been covered with old emulsion, whitewash etc. so something was needed to tidy up the mess.
I was originally recommended to use 4 coats of whitewash by my RICS person who drew up the plans but I found no paint supplier prepared to say it wouldn't dust and all cautioned against using it on interior walls (though I know there are those here who have used it).
Distemper is so far sticking to the brick and not to our clothes - of course new lime plaster and bare soft norfolk brick are different so your mileage may vary but I was reasonably impressed with LG's product from a coverage, application point of view - just wish I'd ordered enough as the last tin took 3 weeks to arrive and I need a bit more to finish the job!