Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Crawley and the wider West Sussex area. As an established West Sussex town, Crawley has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from clay tile-hung and timber frame — walls that were designed to breathe. We restore them using traditional lime plaster, lime render and lime mortar, never cement or gypsum.
Whether it is timber-framed hall houses on the edge of Crawley, a terrace near the centre, or a farm building out in West Sussex, each project starts with a survey of the substrate so the lime mix, aggregate and coat build-up are right for that specific wall.
Crawley and the villages around it retain a good deal of clay tile-hung and timber frame. Where that material is soft — as most traditional West Sussex 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 West Sussex walling of clay tile-hung and timber frame 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 Crawley'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 drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs 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 Crawley property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
tile-hung Wealden farmhouse — A commercial tile-hung Wealden farmhouse on a Crawley 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.
timber-framed hall house — A timber-framed hall house being brought back into use outside Crawley. Because timber frame, flint and soft brick dominate the pre-1850 stock, we plastered internally in lime over a breathable insulating background and left the external stonework repointed rather than sealed.
Regency seafront villa — Sagging original ceilings in a Regency seafront villa near the centre of Crawley. 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.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in the drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
External lime work is best carried out between spring and early autumn so it can carbonate before the first frosts. Internal lime plastering in Crawley can be done year-round with adequate heating and ventilation.
We do. Crawley is one of our core areas and we travel throughout West Sussex and the surrounding parts of South East England for lime plastering, lime render, lime pointing and heritage repair.
It depends on the wall and its exposure. For most West Sussex work we use hot-mixed lime or NHL 2 with hair reinforcement for lath and frame, stepping up to a more hydraulic lime only where exposure or the substrate genuinely demands it.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Crawley in West Sussex and the wider South East England area.
Browse all areas we cover across the UK
Get a lime plastering quote in Crawley