Lime Plaster | Heritage Restoration | Historic Plaster | Gauged Lime finish

Project; To repair and replace existing historic plaster. This particular historic plaster had unfortunately been damaged in a recent fire. 

Project location; Craigflower Manor house (Historic plaster restoration of 1853 Canadian National Historic site) Victoria, Vancouver Island, British columbia

Description; There was a fair amount of historic plaster and wooden lath to remove and replace on this historic plaster project, most of the historic plaster was damaged by the firefighters who had no option but to open up the walls. Generally the old historic plaster mixes were a mix of lime putty and appropriate aggregate that we were required to match. The traditional material we chose to use was a blend of hydraulic and non hydraulic lime mortar and aggregate, to replace the existing  historic plaster in the alotted time frame . The application went well and our fresh material blend bonded very well to the old historic plaster. Unfortunately on this particular project there was a degree of difficulty working around the existing chard historic woodwork and  historic plaster, so appropriate measures were taken to ensure the existing  historic plaster was well protected and a careful eye and hand, prevented any further damage.

After the application of our new traditional plaster material to the existing historic plaster, the hallway was painstakingly cleaned up and prepared to receive new woodwork and wallpaper. One outstanding thing we noticed about this particular historic plaster system was its nominal thickness, on average around 3/4 inch. This is very reminiscent of the coating thickness back in the UK, but not so common for solid wall/ceiling historic plasters here in N.America.