We provide conservation-grade lime plastering across Braintree, Essex. Whether you are repairing damp internal walls in a clay lump and cob property, stripping failed cement render, or repointing stonework, our craftsmen work only in lime — the material Braintree's period buildings were originally constructed with.
Exposure matters as much as material. Braintree sits in the dry, cold easterly exposure of the eastern counties, which means external work has to shed water and then dry out again quickly. That is exactly what a correctly built lime render does, and exactly what a sealed cement skin prevents.
Around Braintree you will find timber-framed and pargetted cottages alongside later Georgian merchant houses. 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.
In the dry, cold easterly exposure of the eastern counties, an impermeable render is a liability: water gets in at cracks and reveals and then cannot leave. Lime render on a Braintree wall handles that water, releasing it back out through the surface instead of pushing it deeper into the structure.
Every Braintree job begins with diagnosis: identifying where moisture is entering before any plaster goes on. We then remove failed material, prepare the clay lump and cob, and build the lime up in coats, allowing each one to cure before the next.
Because clay lump, flint and timber frame are common and intolerant of cement, Braintree throws up a particular set of problems. These are representative examples of how we resolve them in lime.
flint barn conversion — Blown gypsum plaster and tide marks on the ground floor of a flint barn conversion in Essex. 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.
market-town shopfront property — Cracked and cement-patched panels on a market-town shopfront property in Essex. Failed infill was cut out, laths and staves renewed where rotten, and the panels made good in haired lime so the frame can move without splitting the finish.
estate farmworker's cottage — Sagging original ceilings in an estate farmworker's cottage near the centre of Braintree. 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.
Yes. We regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across Essex and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for Braintree conservation officers where consent is required.
Yes — stripping failed cement render and replacing it with a breathable lime render is one of the most common jobs we carry out in Braintree. It is usually the fastest way to resolve persistent damp in a solid-wall building.
Every property is different, so we do not publish fixed prices. Cost depends on the substrate, the number of coats, access and whether failed cement has to be removed first. We survey the property in Braintree and provide a written, no-obligation quote.
It depends on the wall and its exposure. For most Essex work we use lime putty with local pit sand, often finished with traditional pargetting, stepping up to a more hydraulic lime only where exposure or the substrate genuinely demands it.
We do. Braintree is one of our core areas and we travel throughout Essex and the surrounding parts of East of England for lime plastering, lime render, lime pointing and heritage repair.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Braintree in Essex and the wider East of England area.
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