What is a lime plaster?
It is a type of plaster composed of sand, water and lime, usually non-hydraulic hydrated lime. Lime rendering is perfectly suited for old buildings and is essential to use lime for restoring a building that was originally constructed with lime render. Lime renders are porous and flexible, allowing water to escape the building. Any fine cracks which develop will self heal, as opposite to cement, which cracks and lets water in. There are two types of lime plasters:
- Natural hydraulic lime
- Aerial lime
Why use Parexlanko Lime plasters?
Respect of the old building
- Low mechanical resistance
- Flexibility and deformability
- Water impermeability but porousity and vapour permeability
- Reversibility of coatings
Qualities of implementation
- Smoothness
- Plasticity
- Attaches to supports
Aesthetics and healthy building
- Brightness
- Respect for regional colours
- Limitations of the appearance of mould, fungi, and micro-organisms
The application of a lime plaster can be done on various supports, such as old masonry of rubble stones, bricks, natural stones including soft stones (chalk, tufa) mounted with low resistance mortar (DTU 26.1) , constructions of rammed earth, adobe, clinker, cob, cob, hemp... For each of our products, you will find all the admissible supports on the technical sheets.
The use of a lime mortar is possible to repoint old masonry. It allows adhesion by molding to preserve the integrity of bricks or stones and dosages in accordance with traditional recipes on site.
Lime brings enormous benefits, which is why it is honoured during renovations of old buildings. Lime plasters and mortars are used for:
- Their respect for old buildings
The microporosity of the lime allows the manufacture of a mortar permeable to water vapour. Lime thus makes it possible to avoid condensation, to reject humidity and thus allows the building to breathe. It also significantly improves interior comfort.
Moreover, thanks to its bacterid properties, it limits the appearance of moulds, fungi and micro-organisms.
Lime is also impermeable to runoff water and thus protects the building from external bad weather.
- Their quality of implementation
Lime makes it possible to produce creamy products that are easy to apply and work with and have good adhesion to substrates.
- Their aesthetics
Due to its luminosity and its characteristics adapted to the specificities of old buildings, lime gives an unequaled decorative cachet to a facade for a lasting restoration faithful to tradition.Finally, associated with other biosourced materials such as hemp, lime has insulating properties, both acoustic and thermal.
Our Range of Heritage Lime Renders
FAQ
Heritage lime render is a breathable, flexible plaster composed of lime, sand and water. It allows moisture to escape, prevents condensation and damage in historic masonry, and self-heals any fine cracks that develop. All of this makes it ideal for restoring buildings originally built with lime renders.
These renders are breathable, flexible, ideally suited to absorb building movement, impermeable to rainfall yet vapour permeable, reversible, easy to work with, limit the appearance of mould and fungi, and compatible with regional colours and textures.
Lime renders adhere best to traditional substrates, such as rubble stone, brick, soft stone, rammed earth, cob and hemp. They are generally not suitable for modern impermeable or cement-based surfaces unless specific preparation steps are taken. For each of our lime renders specific substrate information and preparation instructions can be found on their Product Data Sheets.
Lime render is softer, more flexible and breathable compared to cement render. While cement render can trap moisture and cause damage to historic masonry, lime render moves with the building and allows moisture to evaporate naturally.
Sika heritage lime renders come in various finishes such as float or sponge smoothed, medium scraped, brushed, spray textured and smooth spray textured. They’re available in a range of colours to suit different aesthetic requirements.