Lime plastering

[DickyDoDah]

No, quite safe. Cannon wheeled onto a field, Shot at by other sides cannon (blank charges, obviously) ground charges explode around 'stunt' cannon, Crew run away, cannon blows up into bits. Crowd bugger off. Cannon reassembles and wheeled back off.

Ah I see, a reuseable bomb. A very cunning plan

 

[GRW]

First thing is if you've got no dpc then don't even consider anything cement based, you're definitely on the right track using lime.

Interesting! As you mention DPC, then cement on an old stone wall encourages damp???
My folks place (dunno how old but well over a century) is an old farmhouse. So not anything like as well built as the Church Houses in the village where there was a lot more money to put into the building when constructed.

The pine wall is cement rendered (no DPC of course) and damp as hell. I think some changes made to the yard a decade ago have exacerbated the issue by allowing more rainwater runoff to get to the base of the wall.... but it wasn't dry before that.

It's a massive damned wall too with only one small window in it!
Should the house not be cement rendered at all then ??

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I was thinking about conkers the other day, my wife had been with a couple of friends and I collected them, as we pulled into one of them's farm I drove over loads of conkers. When I was a kid there is no way there would have been left to drive over. Even at secondary school there were kids who brought carrier bags full of them in to sell.

I love those conversations where you didn't even know what they were up to, I would love to tell you it gets better or changes but i doesn't. I asked my eldest today why the wheel arch liner was out of his car, he said he'd hit a concrete post and ripped the front off. I guess it was night he was at his mates farm and the parents were away

I often sit in the lounge and watch them pottering around the garden. There's stuff everywhere piles of timber and brick but I haven't got the heart to take it away. There always building or doing something.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I was riding my bike without stabilizers at 3 months old and built an extension on my aunt's house before i was 5. fast learner

Is that a dig?

 

[GRW]

I was riding a unicycle two months before I was born and built a tower block before I was two.

Wouldn't that be a Uteruscycle then

 

[Nomad]

I think the biggest lesson you can learn when your a practical person is not being overly critical of yourself.
It is a bizarre mindset, if you paid someone to tile your bathroom they would do a good job and you'd be happy. If you did yourself it would take longer possibly even do a better job but that one tile that isn't 1000% perfect will always annoy the hell out of you! The reality is nobody will ever be able to see the issue because there isn't one.

That describes me perfectly. I do a lot of DIY / building work, often something isn't right and even when I point it out to somebody they don't see it as important. It still bugs me tho'

I heard recently that the Amish always make a deliberate flaw in every blanket they make just to avoid any debate about "Is it perfect?" Smart folk! https://www.quiltingboard.com/gener...alk-f7/deliberate-mistakes-amish-t264632.html

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I was riding a unicycle two months before I was born and built a tower block before I was two.

Impressive. I spent weeks practicing and only managed half a tennis court. Found it easier to pop the front wheel off my mountain bike and ride around as long as I want

Got two unicycles in the shed if anyone wants em

 

[Neilj]

The pine wall is cement rendered (no DPC of course) and damp as hell.
Should the house not be cement rendered at all then ??

Cement is pretty impervious to water, so if you render a wall externally in it, it stops it breathing. On something like a stone wall without a DPC, the wall under the render will end up soaking wet over time. It can't breathe outwards to release moisture, so it gets released inwards over time and appears as damp.
Of course, one of the many 'damp proofing' companies will quote you thousands to hack off all the internal plaster and re-render with an even more impervious layer to make the damp go away. It might appear to have gone way but it's still there underneath and it will most certainly come back at some point.

 

[armalites]

Cement is pretty impervious to water, so if you render a wall externally in it, it stops it breathing. On something like a stone wall without a DPC, the wall under the render will end up soaking wet over time. It can't breathe outwards to release moisture, so it gets released inwards over time and appears as damp.
Of course, one of the many 'damp proofing' companies will quote you thousands to hack off all the internal plaster and re-render with an even more impervious layer to make the damp go away. It might appear to have gone way but it's still there underneath and it will most certainly come back at some point.

Until people see it in action they won't believe it.

When we moved into our house one of the front rooms had that unlived in feel and a bit damp. It had flag stones directly on soil. The small fire place turned out to be a filled in inglenook. The outside of the chimney had pebbledash and you could see where it had been redone and top was clearly lime. I chipped that render/pebbledash off and the stone underneath was really dark because is was soaked, water had clearly been soaking behind the render. As the days went by you could see that stone breath and there are absolutely no issues in that room now.

This is the bit that amuses me about rising damp, you can build tanks out of concrete because it will hold water yet somehow the cement between a courses of bricks will allow water to be sucked up 3 foot. The reality is it's far more likely to be water getting trapped from above.

 

[Neilj]

The reality is it's far more likely to be water getting trapped from above.

Indeed, leaky gutters and outside ground levels higher than inside are two of the main causes of what people refer to as rising damp. It's not really rising at all!
This is a good website for anyone interested in damp and how to eradicate it:
https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/managing-damp-in-old-buildings.html

 

[roofman]

Is that a dig?

Not at all, stop being so sensitive...look at the narrative of the whole thread and see the funny side.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Not at all, stop being so sensitive...look at the narrative of the whole thread and see the funny side.

Long day. Hateful month. 4 week job started 1st September. One week completed. Bloody insurance companies. Managed to pull work out of thin air to keep me busy

 

[roofman]

Long day. Hateful month. 4 week job started 1st September. One week completed. Bloody insurance companies. Managed to pull work out of thin air to keep me busy

I feel your pain Robin

 

[pedrobedro]

I was riding my bike without stabilizers at 3 months old and built an extension on my aunt's house before i was 5. fast learner

I call shenanigans, who took your stabilizers off at that age. I did some rendering at my mate's house and had to do it badly to match the original stuff, it was really difficult. My favourite plastering trowel at the moment is one some uPVC window fitters left behind, really well worn in.

 

[armalites]

One success with window frames does not make a plasterer, very different, good luck getting the horse hair distributed evenly through out the plaster. I do agree some experts are everything but.

Clearly making windows is completely different to plastering and at no point in the post you have quoted did I say they were the same.

I was simply providing some anecdotal evidence to support my opinion that we shouldn't all follow the advice of neighsayers.

 

[Wozzaaah]

One success with window frames does not make a plasterer, very different, good luck getting the horse hair distributed evenly through out the plaster. I do agree some experts are everything but.