Traditional lime plastering in Lisburn and across County Antrim. Working on Victorian brick terraces 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.
Whether it is rubble-stone farmhouses on the edge of Lisburn, a terrace near the centre, or a farm building out in County Antrim, each project starts with a survey of the substrate so the lime mix, aggregate and coat build-up are right for that specific wall.
Lisburn and the villages around it retain a good deal of basalt and whinstone rubble. Where that material is soft — as most traditional County Antrim 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.
Lime is flexible, breathable and self-healing. On Lisburn properties built from basalt and whinstone rubble, it moves with the building instead of cracking away from it, and it protects the masonry rather than the other way round.
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 persistently wet, mild Atlantic weather 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 Lisburn property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
Victorian brick terrace — A Victorian brick terrace in Lisburn where hard cement render had trapped moisture against basalt and whinstone rubble. 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.
basalt-walled outbuilding — Cracked and cement-patched panels on a basalt-walled outbuilding in County Antrim. 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.
whitewashed country cottage — A commercial whitewashed country cottage on a Lisburn 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.
Every property is different, so we do not publish fixed prices.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 Lisburn and provide a written, no-obligation quote.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our Lisburn workload — raking out hard cement pointing and replacing it with a softer, sacrificial lime mortar that protects the masonry face instead of eroding it.
We do. Lisburn is one of our core areas and we travel throughout County Antrim and the surrounding parts of Northern Ireland for lime plastering, lime render, lime pointing and heritage repair.
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 Lisburn project so breathability is not lost at the final coat.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Lisburn in County Antrim and the wider Northern Ireland area.
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