The prep work for the first stage of external lime rendering should be finished tomorrow in anticipation of the arrival on Friday of the first delivery of lime mortar. The prep has been pretty straightforward as the lads have tackled such work before but the rendering with lime is another matter altogether. The process of educating the chaps into the mysteries of lime and not Portland cement render has been fraught with difficulty. The phrase " can't teach an old dog new tricks" springs to mind quite often during our little 'chats!' The whole notion that lime only cures after weeks (months) interaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide instead of curing overnight and thus much careful wetting down being necessary is causing some mild confusion and questions such as "are you daft?"....answer...most probably. When we finally do get started the chaps will as usual enjoy the process of using new materials(to them) and relish learning an older more refined way of handling an old building...I hope.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Limeys
The prep work for the first stage of external lime rendering should be finished tomorrow in anticipation of the arrival on Friday of the first delivery of lime mortar. The prep has been pretty straightforward as the lads have tackled such work before but the rendering with lime is another matter altogether. The process of educating the chaps into the mysteries of lime and not Portland cement render has been fraught with difficulty. The phrase " can't teach an old dog new tricks" springs to mind quite often during our little 'chats!' The whole notion that lime only cures after weeks (months) interaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide instead of curing overnight and thus much careful wetting down being necessary is causing some mild confusion and questions such as "are you daft?"....answer...most probably. When we finally do get started the chaps will as usual enjoy the process of using new materials(to them) and relish learning an older more refined way of handling an old building...I hope.
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4 comments:
Great to see a master at work.
How did you get into building ?
(I don't mean by the front door either !)
Kev...Ialways loved history and old buildings as a kid. When older and looking for a place to live old houses in Liverpool were two a penny as nobody luckily had bothered to redevelop the city much (untill lately)A beautiful Goeorgian house could be bought not too long ago for less than a red brick box in many other cities.....so I bought them and always having been self employed I had the time to learn how best to deal with them, now its like an addiction! I may even head down in your direction oneday.
Interesting.
I hope you still have some of your collection in Liverpool.
I still don't understand how you pick up such skills without having served an apprenticeship. Have you ?
Kev...it has been a case of look and learn plus I'm never afraid to show ignorance and ask questions, its surprising how many people are afraid to admit they don't know how to do something etc. The membership of spab etc has also been a help plus just a deep interest in all things building related. It helped everytime that some savages from moss side or toxteth were trying to kill me that I could think the future was filled with stone and wood and nary a tuppence happeny gangster to be seen.
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