Prices for chaux work

[lost in espace]

Has anyone had lime plastering done and can comment on the price we've been quoted, please?

We're trying to renovate part of a two storey stone house in the Drome.  Well, it was two storey but we've taken out the upstairs, so at the moment it's one space approx. 7m square with just a new beam and joists installed for the new upper floor.  We've realised rather late (doh!) that the walls really need replastering and that chaux is the thing to use but are dismayed by the devis we have received.

The walls add up to 128 sq.m and we've been quoted E22.00 per sq.m. to take off the crumbly old chaux and odd bits of concrete and polyfilla that's on them now, and E55.00 per sq.m. to lime plaster them anew, three coats.

On top of this are charges for protection of the huisserie (door and window frames?), temporary boarding of the joists, taking debris to the dechetterie, a compresseur (not sure what that is), 8.5 tonnes of sand, some lime, and TVA of course, all of which brings the actual cost to E34.50 sq.m. for removal of the old plaster, and E81.00 sq.m. for putting on the new, E115.50 sq.m. altogether.

Does this seem a bit excessive, or is lime plastering just expensive?  Thanks!

Jacqui

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

I can't comment on the actual plastering cost in France, but my UK reference suggests about €15 a square metre for 2 coats -- render & skim. French artisans tend to be more expensive but €55 sounds like a lot. You could try looking at the various Bricos to get a rough idea of the material cost of chaux compared to other materials. All the other costs presumably would be the same regardless of what you render with.

 

Are you in a position to do some of the work yourselves? If you can do the preparation yourselves you'd save a pretty big chunk. For that matter, you could consider doing the base coat yourself -- any minor imperfections will be covered over by the finish coats. Chaux takes a long time to harden so it's quite forgiving  -- you can go back over it to smooth bits out.

The preparation costs you quote (including a compressor) sound like they include sand blasting -- I can't see you needing 8.5 tonnes of sand for the actual rendering and the protection for the huisserie points that way too. Without seeing it I'd guess that a Karcher water jet plus a hammer and chisel for tough bits would probably handle what you need, even though it would probably take longer.

[magaret]

[quote user="lost in espace"]

Has anyone had lime plastering done and can comment on the price we've been quoted, please?

We're trying to renovate part of a two storey stone house in the Drome.  Well, it was two storey but we've taken out the upstairs, so at the moment it's one space approx. 7m square with just a new beam and joists installed for the new upper floor.  We've realised rather late (doh!) that the walls really need replastering and that chaux is the thing to use but are dismayed by the devis we have received.

The walls add up to 128 sq.m and we've been quoted E22.00 per sq.m. to take off the crumbly old chaux and odd bits of concrete and polyfilla that's on them now, and E55.00 per sq.m. to lime plaster them anew, three coats.

On top of this are charges for protection of the huisserie (door and window frames?), temporary boarding of the joists, taking debris to the dechetterie, a compresseur (not sure what that is), 8.5 tonnes of sand, some lime, and TVA of course, all of which brings the actual cost to E34.50 sq.m. for removal of the old plaster, and E81.00 sq.m. for putting on the new, E115.50 sq.m. altogether.

Does this seem a bit excessive, or is lime plastering just expensive?  Thanks!

Jacqui

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Why not dry-line it your -selves a english couple we know did,and very cheap is was.

[lost in espace]

Thank you for the info and advice, Albert.  It was very, very helpful, and encouraged me to email the artisan with some detailed questions about the devis and the work he's proposing.  I'd love to be able to do some of the work ourselves, but unfortunately it's not possible at the moment.  Thanks again!

[lost in espace]

Margaret, We've thought about it, but we'd lose the feel of the stone, and the unevenness of the walls is quite nice.  Also the upstairs rooms won't be huge, and we think they'd be really boxy with all placo walls.

[dr orloff]

To hack off a square metre of crumbly old chaux in our house took me a few minutes. Quote seems extortionate.