We provide conservation-grade lime plastering across Ayr, South Ayrshire. Whether you are repairing damp internal walls in a harled rubble walling property, stripping failed cement render, or repointing stonework, our craftsmen work only in lime — the material Ayr's period buildings were originally constructed with.
Ayr's building stock reflects the history of Scotland, and traditional harling in lime is the historically correct external finish. Applying gypsum or cement to these walls traps moisture; lime lets it evaporate freely, protecting the fabric of the building for decades.
Around Ayr you will find tenement blocks alongside later Georgian New Town townhouses. Both were built with lime, and both suffer when a modern impermeable finish is applied over the top — the moisture has to go somewhere, and it goes into the masonry and the timbers.
Using lime in Ayr is a conservation requirement as often as a technical one. It keeps the property eligible for heritage consent, preserves original detailing, and gives a soft, hand-finished surface no modern board can replicate.
Every Ayr job begins with diagnosis: identifying where moisture is entering before any plaster goes on. We then remove failed material, prepare the harled rubble walling, and build the lime up in coats, allowing each one to cure before the next.
Because traditional harling in lime is the historically correct external finish, Ayr throws up a particular set of problems. These are representative examples of how we resolve them in lime.
New Town townhouse — Persistent ground-floor damp in a New Town townhouse in Ayr previously treated with injected DPC and waterproof render. Once the real moisture path was identified, the walls were replastered in lime and the damp resolved without chemical treatment.
converted steading — A converted steading being brought back into use outside Ayr. Because traditional harling in lime is the historically correct external finish, we plastered internally in lime over a breathable insulating background and left the external stonework repointed rather than sealed.
sandstone tenement flat — Blown gypsum plaster and tide marks on the ground floor of a sandstone tenement flat in South Ayrshire. We hacked off the gypsum, applied a haired lime base coat and a lime putty finish, and specified clay paint so the wall could keep drying.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our Ayr workload — raking out hard cement pointing and replacing it with a softer, sacrificial lime mortar that protects the masonry face instead of eroding it.
Yes. We take samples of the surviving mortar or plaster from the Scottish sandstone first, then match aggregate, colour and texture so the repair blends into the original rather than patching over it.
Yes — stripping failed cement render and replacing it with a breathable lime render is one of the most common jobs we carry out in Ayr. It is usually the fastest way to resolve persistent damp in a solid-wall building.
External lime work is best carried out between spring and early autumn so it can carbonate before the first frosts. Internal lime plastering in Ayr can be done year-round with adequate heating and ventilation.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Ayr in South Ayrshire and the wider Scotland area.
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