We provide heritage and artisan finishes to traditional and listed buildings, having worked on projects with CADW, English Heritage and Historic England, as well as private clients.
With 30plus years experience of working with lime mortars, lime plasters, lime renders and lime pointing, along with clay plasters, natural paints, hemp and woodfibre retrofit insulations and insulated lime renders.
We reinstate traditional moisture-open buildings to their original moisture-open state. We also undertake cosmetic repairs, and restore stone and brick facades to their former glory.
Over recent years we have focused our attention on traditional Victorian and Edwardian housing, using natural permeable materials, applying our knowledge and craftsmanship to restore their natural beauty and sympathetically bring them up to modern day living standards.
Traditional properties were originally constructed from natural permeable materials and designed to be moisture-open. Unfortunately cement based pointing and renders, along with synthetic renders are moisture-closed - they stop the building working as it should. Natural moisture-open materials, such as lime and clay, respect the original building, and can create a healthy indoor environment.
Based in Cardiff, we work throughout South Wales and surrounding areas.
Before
Removed cement mortar, steam cleaned stonework and repointed with a coarse lime mortar.
After
Before
After
Complete overhaul of front facade of an early Victorian property: paint removed, cleaned, stone consolidated and repointed with lime mortar.
Rear abutment wall with cementitious materials causing internal damp. Their removal, followed by repair of stonework and repointing with lime mortar has resulted in a damp free interior.
Impermeable cement mortar sets harder than natural stone, over time this can cause premature erosion and spalling.
To address this, lime mortar with aggregates to match the stone, is brought flush to the face of the stonework to consolidate the façade and prevent staining from leaching pigments.
This property had bad damp issues even though it had allegedly received modern damp treatments. We removed all the impermeable cementitious materials, repointed with lime mortar and finished with a lime parge and clay paint which has rectified the damp problem.
Lime render finish to a medieval farmhouse.
Restoring the natural beauty of an old stone barn. Careful selection of the lime mortar aggregates and binders has brought the original historic character to the fore.
Smooth, contoured lime render given a contemporary edge by crisply finishing it above the floor to create a shadow gap.
Restored medieval inglenook fireplace.
Render finish to infill panels between timber strutting.
Insulated lime render with smooth finish. External insulation helps keep your home warm, while retaining the thermal mass helps buffer the internal temperature.
Internal smooth non hydraulic lime render following the contours of the existing stone walls.
Smooth lime plaster with clay paint finish, and lime pointed exposed brickwork chimney breast.
The original dowel bead is retained giving a soft corner, finished with natural pigmented clay plaster.
Exposed and restored early 17th century inglenook fireplace in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Restored Edwardian chimney stack using lime mortar pointing and flaunching.
Grade II* Listed Building Howells School, Llandaff
Lime render, plaster and stone repairs to tracery windows, transoms, mullions, cills and pointed arches.
Caulking oakum around metal framed windows.
Slaked lime, natural pigments, binders and casein limewash shelter coat finish.
MD Plastering can advise on, and undertake work to your traditional property resulting in a happier, healthier building, inside and out.
