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Where Artistry Begins
Real lime, thinned and brushed on in soft layers. It suits the solid walled terraces and Georgian houses of Reading, and our applicators will brush it on for you.
Limewash in Reading is slaked lime let down with water and brushed onto the wall in thin coats. It is not paint. It suits the solid walled houses Reading has in quantity, because lime lets a wall breathe where a sealed modern paint holds moisture behind a film. Zavoré supplies genuine lime paint with tracked UK delivery, and our own applicators will brush it on. Our nearest showroom and training centre in London is open by appointment. Begin with a sample board.
The oldest buildings in Reading are built of flint and rubble, and the ruins of the abbey and the flint work on St Mary's in the town centre remind you how long lime has been used here. Most of what people live in is later and made of brick. Georgian townhouses near Castle Hill and Eldon Square, Victorian terraces in Katesgrove and Newtown, and Edwardian villas in Redlands and Caversham all have solid brick walls and lime or sand and lime plaster. Walls like these were built to move moisture in and out, and lime does the same.
The common problem is what has already been done to them. Many terraces have been redecorated with vinyl or gloss, or skimmed in sealed modern plaster, and lime will not grip a film. It dusts off. If the wall has been painted in the last few decades, expect to strip it back or use a mineral primer. A quick test is to wet a small patch and see whether it drinks or beads.
Limewash also does not cure damp. A cold, wet wall in a low lying street near the river needs its cause found first. Cold, damp rooms slow the drying, so we plan around the weather and the heating.
Our limewash finishes suit these surfaces.
It is the wrong answer on a kitchen splashback, in a shower or on a wall handled daily, because it marks and is not washable. If you want one perfectly even colour, buy emulsion and be happy.
We survey first. That means what is on the wall, any damp, the access and how the room is used, and we say plainly if the walls need stripping or priming. Photos often answer the small questions.
The sample board comes next, and you should judge it dry and in daylight. Limewash dries lighter than it looks wet and keeps changing as the lime carbonates. Two or three thin coats is normal, and a wall needs a wet edge kept across it.
Where the work needs the team to stay on the job, it is planned in blocks of days so each coat goes on in turn. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. The limewash installation page has more.
Limewash is the one finish we will happily tell you to do yourself. It is brushed, it is forgiving, and a patchy first coat is mended by a second. The shop sells lime paint and a mineral primer for walls that will not take lime alone. Lime is caustic while wet, so wear gloves and goggles.
We would take on height, exteriors and whole houses, where keeping a wet edge matters. Decorators can ask about a trade account, and the limewash course runs at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Limewash sits well beside clay plaster in Reading, which has more body, and marmorino in Reading, which is harder wearing. For a shine, see polished plaster in Reading. Wet rooms call for tadelakt in Reading or microcement in Reading, and a cooler mineral look comes from concrete effect plaster in Reading or liquid metal in Reading. The page for a decorative finishes specialist in Reading covers the lot, and Venetian plastering in Reading covers the classic family.
Not directly. Lime will not grip a painted film and tends to dust off. The wall needs stripping back or a mineral primer first, and we will say which when we survey or see photos.
On sound brick and render it can be, and it weathers and renews rather than peeling. Sealed masonry paint or damp problems change the answer, so send photos.
No. It breathes, but it does not cure damp. The cause has to be found and fixed first.
Lime is caustic while wet, so wear gloves and goggles and keep it off skin. Once cured it is a stable mineral coating.
To talk it through, call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and the postcode. The sample board is the place to start.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Reading and we will come back to you with the right finish and a clear quote.
For a quote, email photos and measurements of your walls to sales@zavore.co.uk or call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
See every area we cover.
Our main services: Venetian plaster installation, limewash installation, every decorative installation, Venetian plastering courses, the limewash course and our decorative finishes.
We also supply the trade by post, wherever you are. The shop ships tracked across the UK, and the Academy teaches the finishes in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
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