kilnfield

Hi, I know you've had some replies to your question but I'd just like to add a bit more. It's easy to be confused by crepi because the term is used for two entirely different products. In the supermarkets and DIY stores you will see 5 & 10 litre buckets of "crepi"  which has the appearance of very thick emulsion and which you can spread, brush or roller on your walls and create a textured finish (a bit like artex).      The other product is a mixture of chaux (lime) and sand and this is used as a form of roughcast render which is generally thrown onto the walls from a trowel. the type of finish you end up with depends on the chaux (de paviers or blanche) and the coarseness of the sand. A nice smooth finish needs the sand to be sieved through a fine riddle. Also, when using chaux blanche for  your exterior work the colour of the finished job depends on the colour of sand that you use. The same materials are used for building with stone or block instead of using cement. Hope this hasn't added to your confusion. Regards, John

Maybe I'm a bit late adding to this topic but would like to mention some of the tips I picked up from a neighbour who is a macon. Mix is better loose than dry, it sticks much better. Try throwing the mix from your trowel into the joints rather than pressing it in, over a couple of square feet and then remove the excess ith the edge of the trowel. If you place a board or a piece of plastic sheet under where you are working you can recycle all of the mix that falls off (you will need to add extra water to it), The chaux is ready to brush when you can just press a fingernail into it, if you are getting wire brush marks it could be because the surface is not quite dry enough or you are being heavy handed. After wire brushing the excess you can "paint" over he chaux with a wet paintbrush. This will make the larger grains in the sand shine. finally, if you have to leave a part mix in your auge for any reason, add more water and keep it in the shade, it should then rework when you come back to it rather than going hard.