Traditional lime plastering in Cardiff and across South Glamorgan. Working on slate-hung cottages and other solid-wall property, we specify hot-mixed lime, lime putty and natural hydraulic lime to suit each individual wall rather than applying one standard mix to everything.
Many properties in and around Cardiff sit within conservation areas or carry listed status, so finishes must match the original construction. We work regularly with South Glamorgan conservation officers and typically specify hot-mixed lime, often finished as roughcast or limewashed for weather protection.
Cardiff and the villages around it retain a good deal of cob and clom in the west. Where that material is soft — as most traditional South Glamorgan 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 South Glamorgan walling of cob and clom in the west 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 Cardiff'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 some of the highest rainfall and wind-driven damp in Britain 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 Cardiff property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
slate-hung cottage — Sagging original ceilings in a slate-hung cottage near the centre of Cardiff. 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.
clom-walled smallholding — Peeling modern masonry paint on a clom-walled smallholding in South Glamorgan. The impermeable coating was removed, minor render defects were patched in lime, and the elevations were finished in several thin coats of limewash.
stone longhouse — A stone longhouse in Cardiff where hard cement render had trapped moisture against local rubble stone and slate. We stripped the render back to bare wall, allowed the masonry to dry, then rebuilt the finish in three coats of lime and limewashed it.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in some of the highest rainfall and wind-driven damp in Britain. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our Cardiff 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, 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 Cardiff project so breathability is not lost at the final coat.
Where damp is caused by trapped moisture in a solid wall — very common in older Cardiff properties — replacing cement or gypsum with lime allows the wall to dry out. We always identify the source of moisture during the survey before recommending work.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Cardiff in South Glamorgan and the wider Wales area.
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