Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Durham and the wider County Durham area. As an established County Durham town, Durham has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from soft brick — 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 stone-built pit cottages on the edge of Durham, a terrace near the centre, or a farm building out in County Durham, each project starts with a survey of the substrate so the lime mix, aggregate and coat build-up are right for that specific wall.
Durham and the villages around it retain a good deal of soft brick. Where that material is soft — as most traditional County Durham 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 County Durham walling of soft brick 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 Durham'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 cold North Sea winds and hard winter frosts 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 Durham property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
Tyneside flat — A Tyneside flat being brought back into use outside Durham. Because soft sandstone erodes fast when hard cement pointing forces water into the face, we plastered internally in lime over a breathable insulating background and left the external stonework repointed rather than sealed.
coastal sandstone cottage — Consented repairs to a listed coastal sandstone cottage in County Durham. 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.
whinstone farmstead — A whinstone farmstead in Durham where hard cement render had trapped moisture against carboniferous sandstone. 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.
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 Durham and provide a written, no-obligation quote.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in cold North Sea winds and hard winter frosts. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
Yes. We regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across County Durham and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for Durham conservation officers where consent is required.
Yes. We take samples of the surviving mortar or plaster from the carboniferous sandstone first, then match aggregate, colour and texture so the repair blends into the original rather than patching over it.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Durham in County Durham and the wider North East England area.
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