Damp, blown plaster and failing render are common complaints in Southampton's older housing. Because so much of it is built from clay tile-hung and timber frame and exposed to the drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs, the fix is nearly always breathable lime rather than another coat of cement. We deliver that work throughout Hampshire.
Exposure matters as much as material. Southampton sits in the drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs, 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.
The older parts of Southampton are dominated by timber-framed hall houses, Georgian townhouses, flint-and-brick cottages. These are solid-wall constructions — there is no cavity, no damp-proof membrane and no vapour barrier — so the wall relies on evaporation through the plaster and render to stay dry.
Lime is flexible, breathable and self-healing. On Southampton properties built from clay tile-hung and timber frame, it moves with the building instead of cracking away from it, and it protects the masonry rather than the other way round.
You get a single point of contact from survey to final coat. We agree the specification for your Southampton property in writing, prepare and apply the lime in the correct build-up, and advise on breathable decoration once the work has cured.
Every Southampton property is surveyed individually, but these examples show the kind of Hampshire buildings and use-cases we are called to most often.
Georgian townhouse — Blown gypsum plaster and tide marks on the ground floor of a Georgian townhouse in Hampshire. 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.
flint-and-brick cottage — Consented repairs to a listed flint-and-brick cottage in Hampshire. 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.
oast house conversion — Eroding masonry faces on an oast house conversion in Southampton 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 soft red brick.
Yes. We take samples of the surviving mortar or plaster from the soft red brick first, then match aggregate, colour and texture so the repair blends into the original rather than patching over it.
Yes — stripping failed cement render and replacing it with a breathable lime render is one of the most common jobs we carry out in Southampton. It is usually the fastest way to resolve persistent damp in a solid-wall building.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our Southampton workload — raking out hard cement pointing and replacing it with a softer, sacrificial lime mortar that protects the masonry face instead of eroding it.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to Southampton in Hampshire and the wider South East England area.
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