LIME
Lime plaster, lime mortar, lime putty, lime wash.
My house is built of lime, or at least, stuck together with it, and it's...
Well, off-white actually
Lime, or calcium carbonate when it sets, is everything you want that cement isn't. It's easy to put on, very tolerant of the less skilled, takes long enough to dry that you can correct any mistakes before it's too late. So, you can do a lot of things with it yourself, and it's surprisingly pleasant to use, and in its usual form of lime putty is as safe as cement (quicklime isn't nice, but noone but a professional would be using that).
It does almost everything that cement and ordinary plaster do but with the advantage of being breathable, thus solving a lot of damp problems in old houses. About the only drawback, which is probably why it's not used more in the commercial building trade, is that the setting time is a bit unpredictable since it depends on many things like temperature, humidity, air draughts etc, not usually a handicap for a DIY'er. And just when you think you've run out of praises for it you find it's even recyclable....
So, in theory you can scrape off all your old plaster and mortar, heat it up, slake it and use it again.
This is the book that got me hooked, and is where the diagram above came from, an easy to understand 32 page booklet:
'Lime in Buildings - A Practical Guide' Jane Schofield
(write to Lewdon Farm, Black Dog, Crediton, Devon, EX17 4QQ, Tel: 01884 861181, or get it for £4.50 (1999) from Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Wales)
Click here for:
For a list of suppliers to find one local to you, get the booklet, there are too many to list here.
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last updated 6oct00