Limewash picture from Heritage Directory I have spent a lovely few hours yesterday painting the rear of my house using some limewash. I made the limewash using some mature lime putty mixed up with water. The mix is around 60:40 …
When building we use the term ‘sand’ a lot for mortars, but what do we mean by it and is sand what we really need for lime renders and plasters? The picture above shows some ‘soft sand’ on the right …
Thought that this might be of interest as it shows the types of advice given when we do a Home Inspection Report. The winners of the Profiad Ni competition had visits from us for around 2 – 3 hours each …
Lime rendering done by Welsh Lime Works in Cardiff Lime rendering is a specialist trade (not to be confused with lime plastering or cement rendering!) and as such it takes time served craftspeople to do it well and it also …
Readers of this blog will know my views on lots of the energy driven ‘improvements’ that we are blindly doing in the UK at the moment. We are making so many mistakes due to the fact that we are using …
Building Regulations in the UK have been interpreted for years as demanding that refurbished walls need to meet a U value of 0.3. Products have therefore been designed using BR443 and BS5250:2011 to comply with this. Unfortunately, BS5250:2011 states that …
From RIBA The pressure for energy saving in solid walled buildings is real and tangible. Green Deal and rising energy bills are encouraging us to insulate our walls. Where we have external features / facades that we want to keep …
Wood fibre board insulation being used externally Many of you will be aware that I am slightly reticent in recommending certain insulation types on older buildings. This is because of the risks associated with damp, thermal bridging and structural failure. …
How much insulation is it best to use on solid walls? Read more »
Typical streetscape in Cardiff Can you stop stone and brick walls from getting damp? The simple answer is YES, but there are a range of issues surrounding the question and the answer! The main issue around whether a wall is …
Chimneys are a potential source of water ingress and it is quite common to find damp areas around the chimney breast. So what’s going wrong? Well there are a few key factors to bear in mind. 1. Failed pointing. This …
