Older properties / Lime plastering
Breathable lime plastering in a Victorian property
Two coats of Breathaplasta applied to the walls of a Victorian building, leaving a breathable plaster finish ready for the next stage of decoration.
- Location
- Victorian property
- Service
- Lime plastering / breathable plastering
- Type of work
- Older properties / Lime plastering
01 — The problem
This is a Victorian building, so a breathable, lime-based plaster finish was the appropriate choice for the walls rather than a dense modern gypsum finish.
02 — What we did
We applied two coats of Breathaplasta to the walls. Breathaplasta is a lime-based, breathable plaster system we use on older properties where a lime-compatible finish is suitable.
03 — The result
The walls were left with a breathable plaster finish, ready for the next stage of decoration. Whether a breathable system is right for any particular wall depends on the background and its condition, which we always look at first.
Older properties
Why use breathable or lime plaster in an older property?
Traditional solid-walled homes were built to handle moisture differently from modern cavity-walled houses. A lime-compatible finish is often chosen for that reason.
Lets moisture vapour move
Breathable finishes can allow moisture vapour to move through the wall build-up, rather than trapping it behind a dense, impermeable finish.
Sympathetic to old construction
Where keeping the breathability of traditional construction matters, a lime-based system is generally more sympathetic than a modern gypsum skim.
Still a practical finish
Systems such as Breathaplasta can be finished smooth, so you get a normal, decoratable wall rather than something that looks unfinished.
None of this is a cure for damp and it isn't a guarantee against mould. A breathable plaster is one part of how a wall performs — it doesn't make a whole wall build-up breathable on its own, and it isn't always the right system.
Is it right for my property?
The wall has to be looked at first
Before we recommend a lime or breathable plaster, we look at the background: what the wall is built of, what's already on it, how sound the existing plaster is and whether there's anything going on that needs sorting before plastering at all. A breathable finish over the wrong background, or over an unresolved problem, won't do what people hope it will.
If your home is Victorian, Georgian or otherwise solid-walled, send us photos of the walls and we'll tell you honestly whether a lime-based system such as Breathaplasta is worth considering, or whether a standard plaster finish is fine.
Reviews
What our customers say
Live Google reviews from homeowners around Bath, plus video testimonials filmed after real DSB jobs.
More work
Other jobs we've written up
Read how we approached different walls in different properties.
Areas we cover
Working across Bath and the surrounding towns
Bath is our main patch. We also work out into the nearby Somerset and Wiltshire towns and the villages between them.
- Bath
- Warminster
- Frome
- Trowbridge
- Bradford-on-Avon
- Keynsham
- Radstock
- Midsomer Norton
- Corsham
- Chippenham
- Devizes
- Melksham
- Wells
- Shepton Mallet
Request a quote
Need a plasterer, or help with a cold wall?
Tell us about the work and upload a few photos through the quote form — it takes a couple of minutes and gets you a proper answer.