Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Rushden and the wider Northamptonshire area. As a smaller Northamptonshire town with a high proportion of older property, Rushden has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from ironstone and limestone rubble — walls that were designed to breathe. We restore them using traditional lime plaster, lime render and lime mortar, never cement or gypsum.
Many properties in and around Rushden sit within conservation areas or carry listed status, so finishes must match the original construction. We work regularly with Northamptonshire conservation officers and typically specify NHL 2 or hot-mixed lime with aggregate matched to the local stone colour.
Rushden and the villages around it retain a good deal of ironstone and limestone rubble. Where that material is soft — as most traditional Northamptonshire 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 moderate but frost-prone Midlands winters, an impermeable render is a liability: water gets in at cracks and reveals and then cannot leave. Lime render on a Rushden 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 moderate but frost-prone Midlands winters 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 Rushden property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
limestone village cottage — A limestone village cottage in Rushden where hard cement render had trapped moisture against ironstone and limestone 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.
converted stone barn — Sagging original ceilings in a converted stone barn near the centre of Rushden. 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.
Georgian rectory — A Georgian rectory being brought back into use outside Rushden. Because banded limestone and ironstone walling needs a soft, sacrificial mortar, we plastered internally in lime over a breathable insulating background and left the external stonework repointed rather than sealed.
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 Rushden project so breathability is not lost at the final coat.
Yes. We regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across Northamptonshire and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for Rushden conservation officers where consent is required.
Yes. We take samples of the surviving mortar or plaster from the ironstone and limestone rubble 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 Rushden in Northamptonshire and the wider East Midlands area.
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