Lime Plastering is a specialist lime plastering contractor working throughout Wokingham and the wider Berkshire area. As an established Berkshire town, Wokingham has a large stock of pre-1919 property built from soft red brick — walls that were designed to breathe. We restore them using traditional lime plaster, lime render and lime mortar, never cement or gypsum.
Whether it is timber-framed hall houses on the edge of Wokingham, a terrace near the centre, or a farm building out in Berkshire, each project starts with a survey of the substrate so the lime mix, aggregate and coat build-up are right for that specific wall.
Wokingham and the villages around it retain a good deal of soft red brick. Where that material is soft — as most traditional Berkshire 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.
Solid-wall buildings in Wokingham were designed to absorb and release moisture. Lime keeps that cycle working; cement seals it in. That single difference explains why so many Berkshire homes develop damp after a modern refurbishment.
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 drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs 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 Wokingham property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
tile-hung Wealden farmhouse — Sagging original ceilings in a tile-hung Wealden farmhouse near the centre of Wokingham. 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.
oast house conversion — Consented repairs to a listed oast house conversion in Berkshire. 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.
flint-and-brick cottage — A flint-and-brick cottage in Wokingham where hard cement render had trapped moisture against soft red brick. 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.
Lime cures slowly by carbonation. Allow roughly a week per coat as a guide, and longer in the drier but wind-driven weather of the South East coast and Downs. We protect the work and control drying so the finish cures evenly rather than cracking or dusting.
Yes. We regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across Berkshire and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for Wokingham conservation officers where consent is required.
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 Wokingham 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 Wokingham in Berkshire and the wider South East England area.
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