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Non-hydraulic | Breathable | Extraordinarily Flexible | Sustainable | Traditional | Beautiful
Limecote is based on a lost English medieval lime plaster recipe, once used commonly, particularly on timber framed buildings. It can still be easily found in 15th to 18th Century buildings – from the humblest thatched cottage to the grandest, high status mansions. It is highly likely that the recipe was used for one of the most extravagant buildings Europe has ever seen: Nonsuch Palace, Henry VIII's grandest and most elaborate building project. The building was timber framed and was decorated with 700 high relief stucco panels depicting classical scenes. This recipe has its roots in the Stucco mixes used in the classical world from 3,500BC. The connecting thread through history is the use of calcium carbonate instead of sand, be it marble dust, powdered limestone or crushed chalk.
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The fact that the plaster can still be commonly found is testament to the robust and tenacious nature of the lime plaster mix.
These qualities were undoubtedly there by design. When dealing with timber framed buildings, especially built with green oak, there can be a phenomenal amount of background movement as the timber dries out. This movement would have been too much for the far more rigid, heavy sand based mixes and would have (and still does) result in failure.
Limecote is a non-hydraulic plaster made using East Anglian chalk and Derbyshire lime. It sticks to most surfaces, is phenomenally flexible, and can be used internally or externally, for anything from a thin finish coat over historic plaster to heavy relief pargetting.
Limecote is packaged in 25kg recyclable LDPE bags.
MIXING: Pour no more than 7 litres of clean water into a mixing tub. Gently add Limecote, mixing with a plasterer's paddle. Do not add all of the dry plaster at once, bring gradually up to the required consistency. If necessary, add more water. There is no 'right or wrong' amount of water to add, it can be used at whatever consistency best suits the job, be it thinned down for spraying, or thick enough to hand mould into heavy relief as with modelling clay.
Once the Limecote is uniformly mixed, gently add the fibres from the small bag and mix thoroughly. Limecote does not need to stand, it can be used straight away. Ensure that the background is clean and free from loose and friable material. Lightly damp down, avoiding a film of water on the surface. While Limecote will adhere to practically any background, it doesn't contain any hard, sand aggregates. When it dries, it won't crack, but may pull back into the substrate. In a raking light, such as low sun or artificial up/down lighters, variation in background from lath, block mortar joints etc. may show through. For this reason, it is worth applying a scratch coat of Warmcote onto these backgrounds first.
Caution: Calcium Hydroxide is an IRRITANT.
We have no minimum order quantity: you can order as many or few bags as you like. We can deliver to the whole of the UK. For a smaller quantity (1-3 bags), we would normally despatch these in boxes via Parcelforce/DHL. The cost is generally governed by the number of packages. Anything more than 1-3 bags would go onto a pallet, up to a maximum of 40 bags per pallet (1 tonne). This will be a tail lift delivery, effectively dropped at the kerb/lorry side where safe.
Please advise us of any special delivery instructions, as we will not be held responsible for any issues arising at the delivery point. The drivers will work with you to get your pallet delivered safely and effectively. Pallet delivery costs are priced per pallet and are postcode driven, and we can offer additional services such as AM delivery and timed delivery. All are chargeable extras. This is a service that we pass on the cost that we pay - we do not make any money out of this service and we do not charge for the pallets. The other option is collection from us in Haverhill: again, this needs to be booked in. Because of lead times and safety concerns, we cannot currently accept walk-ins due to the current situation.
"Limecote and Warmcote are ideal products for use on timber framed buildings and low strength substrates with their excellent flexibility, bond, and light weight compared to sanded plasters. Being dry bagged makes it easy to transport and store, with the added advantage of being able to adjust the mix to suit thin or very thick coats without compromising the product, or the quality of the finished work."
"Best Lime plaster system on the market!! I found this accidentally due to the coronavirus pandemic as stocks of everything ran out, and it's changed the way all of the plasterers in our area are now plastering conservation listed buildings as well as new builds... due to its unique formula and characteristics of extremely quick application, drying, workability and breathability. It's rare to find such a great product and more importantly a great level of customer service in the build industry."
"As self-builders of a very large community project, Limecote has been an outstanding product, making all the difference to our progress. It keeps well in sealed bags even outside; it mixes easily and safely; being half the weight of sand-based products, it is easy to carry and apply to the walls; excellent adhesion mean that less is dropped and wasted... and not having to constantly limewash going forward make it a no-brainer."