Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Blackpool and the wider Lancashire area. As one of the larger towns in Lancashire, Blackpool has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from Lakeland slate and rubble stone — walls that were designed to breathe. We restore them using traditional lime plaster, lime render and lime mortar, never cement or gypsum.
Sympathetic repair in Blackpool means matching what is already there — the aggregate colour, the coat thickness, the texture of the original float finish. We take samples from the existing Lakeland slate and rubble stone before mixing so new work sits alongside old rather than standing out.
Blackpool and the villages around it retain a good deal of Lakeland slate and rubble stone. Where that material is soft — as most traditional Lancashire walling is — the mortar and plaster must always be softer than the masonry, so it wears sacrificially instead of eroding the stone or brick face.
Softness is the point. Traditional Lancashire walling of Lakeland slate and rubble stone is weaker than modern cement, so a hard mortar concentrates stress and moisture into the masonry face. Lime is deliberately the weaker material, and that is what makes it correct for Blackpool's older homes.
Once the survey is agreed, we protect the site, strip back the failed finish, and apply lime in successive coats with proper curing between each. In the high rainfall and constant damp of the North West we control drying with damp hessian or sheeting so the work carbonates evenly rather than cracking.
The jobs below are typical of the work we carry out on Blackpool property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
slate-rubble barn conversion — A commercial slate-rubble barn conversion on a Blackpool high street within a conservation area. Decayed render and mouldings were reinstated in lime, run in situ to the original profiles, and finished to match neighbouring frontages.
Lakeland stone farmhouse — Sagging original ceilings in a Lakeland stone farmhouse near the centre of Blackpool. Sound laths were retained and re-keyed, missing sections re-lathed in riven timber, and the ceiling made good with haired lime plaster to match the surviving profile.
millworkers' terrace — Consented repairs to a listed millworkers' terrace in Lancashire. Sample panels were prepared for the conservation officer, mortar analysis informed the mix, and the historic surface was conserved and patched rather than replaced wholesale.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our Blackpool 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 regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across Lancashire and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for Blackpool conservation officers where consent is required.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in the high rainfall and constant damp of the North West. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
Yes, but it must be finished with a breathable product such as limewash, clay paint or mineral silicate paint. We advise on suitable finishes for each Blackpool project so breathability is not lost at the final coat.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Blackpool in Lancashire and the wider North West England area.
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