Insulating a Solid wall with Lime Hemp Plaster



We decided to use lime hemp plaster on the external walls of the house, this was so we could restore the house walls to be …

36 Comments

  1. Hi @therestorationcouple. I have hygroscopic salts around my chimney breast in my Victorian terrace. Would you say that following your method of lime plastering could solve the issue of the salts 'blooming' or do you think this would happen if I simply just applied lime plaster over it (with the damp having dried out as much as possible of course)

  2. Would you guys please speak ENGLISH…. 😳… jk.. actually wondering if there is an USA 🇺🇸 equivalent for this product? Curious about the r value when using it as an insulator.. thinking of building a stone house that can breath… don’t want to wrap it In styrofoam ya know?
    Thanks..

  3. Hi guys, great content. I hope you have time to answer my question. I have wattle and daub wall with lime plaster render, the plaster is blown and crumbling, the wall is situated in the upstairs hallway where the banister is, an internal wall. I was thinking of treating it with bonding, fibre glass mesh to fix the broken areas then apply multi-finish to skim coat the entire area, as bonding and multi finish plaster in not really breathable material to use. Is it important to have interior walls breathable? 😊

  4. No thermal value gained by using hemp plaster it is only lime NHL2 or 3.5 with hemp fibres over priced mortar, get equally as good results using appropriate hydraulic lime, with good quality coarse sand and well fibered with hair or sisal. Or use premixed lime mortar with salt inhibitor added. More expensive but no fear of efflorescent salts, finish with putty lime 2-1 silver sand or premixed finish

  5. Have you found that the lime/hemp plaster actually provides some insulation? I have an old stone cottage with 2 foot thick walls and want to maintain the breathability but not have huge heating bills!!

  6. Hi, great video, I have had a dilemma in that I bought a house for my family, Victorian mid terraced, 1900 build, the property was allowed to get into disrepair and empty for a while. I have since stripped every wall back to brick, removed all flooring ground floor and all ceilings, in effect the house is a shell. I have been told I have rising damp, which is not noticeable on the brick work only the metre that they use. I am replacing all the sash windows to new timber double glazed, and a number of plasterers have suggested 20mm cement render then 5mm skim plaster for all walls, then by others been told to plasterboard dot and dab, concerned on renovating the entire house then have issues, so would you recommend hemp for front and back and cement and skim for internal walls, also on internal wall there are couple of chimneys what would you use on them?

    Not sure whether to do damp proofing treatment since I have already stripped back to brick anyway.

  7. Hi. I have been trying to find out more info on this . I have a Scottish house mad of flag stone . Walls are 3 feet thick. Where can I find more info. Is it a good insulater?

  8. Hi Tim, I'm currently renovating a 1900 Victorian property in South Wales. I'm looking to repair and replace the old blown and cracked plaster on both external and internal walls.

    What lime hemp plaster did you use, as in hydraulic vs non hydraulic, medium/fine etc

    I'm looking on doing the scratch/float coats myself and getting a professional for the final skim

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated

  9. Tim, if you don't mind me asking, how much was this lime plaster to the wall you are showing? I am plastering my country cottage soon so it would be great to know as was planning on gypsum skim until I saw your video!

  10. That looks a great job, it's good to see someone doing it properly. My customers are constantly asking why their 100+ year old houses are damp, I always tell them the same, modern materials used in the wrong way. Gypsum and cement pointing cause so many problems.

    I'm sure you'll have hear of Keim mineral paints by now, but if not look them up. Acts like modern paint but 100% breathable, and not that expensive. And you don't need 10s of coats as with limewash, and you can have almost any colour.

  11. Great Video, I am doing something similar with my 19th century cottage, just wondering did you install any vents in the external wall? I'm tempted to knock a hole through just to give the room some additional ventilation, thanks

  12. use a concrete chain saw and fit a plastic damp proof course right through the walls in 1m sections and overlap. Water fed no dust best possible solution. Do the same with internal walls 8mm cut so no problem with movement if re pointed properly in 1m sections with gun. Cuts like butter . Diy job £2000 for machine sell it on when done. Don't buy the cheap chains . £300 each
    Not expensive as it will be a proper cure for rising damp. Penetrating damp, point outside brick work, ventilate house every day for 2 hours open a few windows to get the draft through, morning best before heating goes on. fit proper water covering cowls to chimney to prevent rain getting down the chimney and open up closed off fireplaces. natural ventilation. Use Lime wash and lime render after removing waterproof render or none porous painted render. as it keeps condensation in walls and stops the house from breathing vent the tumble dryer outside. Fix the gutters. Clean out the drain traps. Dig a french drain around the hose and fill with large pebble. Let the sun see the walls remove trees etc that block the sun. Lower soil levels that are above floor level. If you have green mold it's not rising damp as the salts in the ground water rising up from the ground would prevent the growth of mold. Green/ black mold is penetrating damp or usually just condensation from lack of ventilation. Phil

  13. Good work! However you cannot speak of insulation when the layers of hemp/lime is that thin. The U value is ridiculous so is the R value. However that texture will give a warm feel which will increase the confort.

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