Traditional lime plastering in York and across North Yorkshire. Working on sandstone farmhouses 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 gritstone weavers' cottages on the edge of York, a terrace near the centre, or a farm building out in North Yorkshire, each project starts with a survey of the substrate so the lime mix, aggregate and coat build-up are right for that specific wall.
York and the villages around it retain a good deal of soft handmade brick. Where that material is soft — as most traditional North Yorkshire 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.
Using lime in York is a conservation requirement as often as a technical one. It keeps the property eligible for heritage consent, preserves original detailing, and gives a soft, hand-finished surface no modern board can replicate.
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 cold, exposed and often driving rain of the Pennine slopes 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 York property — the building types and problems vary, but the answer is always breathable lime rather than cement.
Victorian millowner's villa — Sagging original ceilings in a Victorian millowner's villa near the centre of York. 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.
gritstone weaver's cottage — Consented repairs to a listed gritstone weaver's cottage in North Yorkshire. 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.
Yorkshire sandstone farmhouse — Weather-facing walls of a Yorkshire sandstone farmhouse taking the full force of the cold, exposed and often driving rain of the Pennine slopes. We specified hot-mixed lime with coarse grit aggregate to suit hard-wearing stonework, built the render up in generous coats and protected the work while it carbonated to avoid shrinkage cracking.
We do. Lime repointing is a large part of our York workload — raking out hard cement pointing and replacing it with a softer, sacrificial lime mortar that protects the masonry face instead of eroding it.
Yes. We regularly work on listed and conservation-area properties across North Yorkshire and can supply mix specifications and sample panels for York conservation officers where consent is required.
We do. York is one of our core areas and we travel throughout North Yorkshire and the surrounding parts of Yorkshire and the Humber for lime plastering, lime render, lime pointing and heritage repair.
Our lime plastering, render and pointing teams also cover these towns and cities close to York in North Yorkshire and the wider Yorkshire and the Humber area.
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