We provide conservation-grade lime plastering across East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire. Whether you are repairing damp internal walls in a harled rubble walling property, stripping failed cement render, or repointing stonework, our craftsmen work only in lime — the material East Kilbride's period buildings were originally constructed with.
Exposure matters as much as material. East Kilbride sits in Scotland's cold, wet and wind-driven weather, 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 East Kilbride you will find tenement blocks alongside later Georgian New Town townhouses. 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 Scotland's cold, wet and wind-driven weather, an impermeable render is a liability: water gets in at cracks and reveals and then cannot leave. Lime render on a East Kilbride wall handles that water, releasing it back out through the surface instead of pushing it deeper into the structure.
Every East Kilbride job begins with diagnosis: identifying where moisture is entering before any plaster goes on. We then remove failed material, prepare the harled rubble walling, and build the lime up in coats, allowing each one to cure before the next.
Because traditional harling in lime is the historically correct external finish, East Kilbride throws up a particular set of problems. These are representative examples of how we resolve them in lime.
New Town townhouse — Salt-contaminated plaster around a reopened fireplace in a New Town townhouse in East Kilbride. We removed the affected plaster, applied a salt-tolerant lime build-up and finished flush with the surrounding original work.
converted steading — Eroding masonry faces on a converted steading in East Kilbride caused by hard cement pointing. We raked out by hand to the correct depth and repointed in a soft lime mortar matched to the original aggregate and colour of the Scottish sandstone.
granite villa — Owners of a granite villa in South Lanarkshire wanted warmer rooms without sealing the walls. We installed a woodfibre or cork-lime background and finished in lime plaster, improving comfort while keeping the wall vapour-open.
External lime work is best carried out between spring and early autumn so it can carbonate before the first frosts. Internal lime plastering in East Kilbride can be done year-round with adequate heating and ventilation.
Yes — stripping failed cement render and replacing it with a breathable lime render is one of the most common jobs we carry out in East Kilbride. It is usually the fastest way to resolve persistent damp in a solid-wall building.
It depends on the wall and its exposure. For most South Lanarkshire work we use hot-mixed lime harling, applied in successive thrown coats and limewashed, stepping up to a more hydraulic lime only where exposure or the substrate genuinely demands it.
Where damp is caused by trapped moisture in a solid wall — very common in older East Kilbride 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 East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire and the wider Scotland area.
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