Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Poole and the wider Dorset area. As one of the larger towns in Dorset, Poole has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from granite and killas rubble — walls that were designed to breathe. We restore them using traditional lime plaster, lime render and lime mortar, never cement or gypsum.
Sympathetic repair in Poole means matching what is already there — the aggregate colour, the coat thickness, the texture of the original float finish. We take samples from the existing granite and killas rubble before mixing so new work sits alongside old rather than standing out.
Poole and the villages around it retain a good deal of granite and killas rubble. Where that material is soft — as most traditional Dorset 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.
In the wet, wind-driven rain typical of the South West, an impermeable render is a liability: water gets in at cracks and reveals and then cannot leave. Lime render on a Poole wall handles that water, releasing it back out through the surface instead of pushing it deeper into the structure.
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 wet, wind-driven rain typical of the South West 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 Poole property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
granite farmhouse — A granite farmhouse in Poole where hard cement render had trapped moisture against cob. 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.
cob and thatch cottage — Blown gypsum plaster and tide marks on the ground floor of a cob and thatch cottage in Dorset. We hacked off the gypsum, applied a haired lime base coat and a lime putty finish, and specified clay paint so the wall could keep drying.
limestone rectory — A limestone rectory being brought back into use outside Poole. Because cob, rubble stone and granite make breathability non-negotiable, we plastered internally in lime over a breathable insulating background and left the external stonework repointed rather than sealed.
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 Poole and provide a written, no-obligation quote.
External lime work is best carried out between spring and early autumn so it can carbonate before the first frosts. Internal lime plastering in Poole can be done year-round with adequate heating and ventilation.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in the wet, wind-driven rain typical of the South West. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
We do. Poole is one of our core areas and we travel throughout Dorset and the surrounding parts of South West England for lime plastering, lime render, lime pointing and heritage repair.
Send us the details of your Poole property through the contact form and we will arrange a free survey. You will receive a written specification and quote with no obligation to proceed.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Poole in Dorset and the wider South West England area.
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