Internal Stonework

[Deauville]

I've noticed from most of the discussions on the stone wall renovation/chaum topics that pressure washing and other treatments are required to get a clean finish at the start (as it were) but what about inside walls? We've got what could be a really nice looking wall in the middle of the house that could do with all the ancient render removing to expose the stone beneath, I don't fancy the idea of pressure washing inside so does anyone know of any other method. ALSO - do I use the same mortar as for the outside and is there then any treatment required to seal the stone afterwards to keep down the dust?

[zeb]

We didn't pressure wash the interior walls, just scraped out the old loose muck from between the stones, repointed using Parex (a ready mix in sacks) which included the brushing back process so all the stonework got cleaned anyway. You could use a chaux and local sand mix (cheaper) but make sure you always use the same proportions otherwise, if you do it in stages, you'll get some colour/shade variation.

I don't think it's a good idea to use a sealer over the top as the stonework needs to breathe - that's the whole point of using lime (never use cement). I just run the hoover over the walls occasionally (very occasionally) - for those who know me personally, there should be a smiley here!!!

[cooperlola]

Zeb, presumably from what you say at the end of your reply, the Parex is lime-based?  I understand from other threads that it is the sand which gives the colouring to the finish - what kind of colour result did you get with the Parex?  The OP struck a chord with me as we're about to do the same thing ourselves.

[Chris Head]

Our internal walls were all rendered, we took all the render off and raked out the joints by hand.

I'm using white sand and white cement, 3,5 sand to 1 cement, leaving the render to dry for a couples of hours or so and then brushing back to the depth I want with a not too aggressive wire brush. You can then further brush down with a scrubbing brush to remove the wire brush marks.

The finish is quite light, but I will be sealing, using 60:40 matt varnish to white spirit which will take the shade of the pointing up to what we want.

I'll put piccys up this evening.

[cooperlola]

In my case Chris, cement is not an option because of the "breathing problems" - being a traditional stone house.  I believe a lime-based product is the only option particularly as it's an outside wall - although it's the inside that needs re pointing etc.

[Wozza]

[quote user="cooperlola"]Zeb, presumably from what you say at the end of your reply, the Parex is lime-based?  I understand from other threads that it is the sand which gives the colouring to the finish - what kind of colour result did you get with the Parex?  The OP struck a chord with me as we're about to do the same thing ourselves.[/quote]

We have also just used Parex to do some internal walls. I am pretty sure that it is lime based.

Regarding colour, if you go to your local Brico, they should have a Parex catalogue (there are also cheaper alternatives to Parex) - there is a choice of 40 or 50 colours. With Parex, it is all pre-mixed - you just add water, so sand colour is not a factor. A neighbour in our hamlet just creped the outside of his house with Parex or similar - the colour is best described as tangerine, and he is very pleased with it. I'm glad that we can't actually see his house from here!

Warren 

[cooperlola]

Just in case anybody else was interested in this stuff, there's a good site

http://www.parex.com/Stucco/Finishes.html

Not lime based but acrylic.  However the tech spec does state that it is "not a vapor [sic]barrier".

[sid]

I've used this Parex Parlumiere for outside pointing and it's very easy to use. It's more expensive than mixing your own chaux for example but for me the big advantage is consistency of colour. Once you've chosen your colour (the stockist usually keeps the most popular colours for the area) you can go back in 6 months, a year, whatever, and you get the same results. You can buy in smaller quantities as you need it.

Recommended  ... AAA+++   sorry I've been on Ebay again! [:)]

Sid

[Deauville]

Thanks all. a further Q for Zeb, I don't understand 'includes the brushing back process' is this done after it's all dry or is it a further cleaning process?

[Catalpa]

I'm slightly neurotic about breathing in years old dust from raking out old pointing and - in our case - wire brushing the stone to get the accumulated dust, cobwebs and powdered stone off before repointing. I wore a mask - and as my raking technique is... enthusiastic... I wore safety specs too. It is remarkable how much dust settles gets "breathed in" onto the surface of the mask - I really recommend that anyone doing this sort of job wears one.

[thunderhorse]

@ Deauville - a friend of mine pressure-washed interior walls no problem at all. Of course, the issue will be drainage with copious amounts of water. Do it in the summer, and squeegee the floors, and you really shouldn't have much of an issue.

Whilst the pointing is drying, the whole lot is airing off anyway. Down to individual layout, innit?

[Chris Head]

This is the effect we've finished up with. As I said earlier, we'll be sealing against dust which will tone down the colour to a shade that will work with the rest of the interior.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/DSC01294.jpg[/IMG]

We really did research this and experiment, the Parex products weren't for us, but that's just a matter of taste.

[Dave&Olive]

hi

   ok Chris gob smacked me here..... you a pure-ist using CEMENT... where is the lime.

                     dave

  ps it look T erriffic dave

[Chris Head]

It was a macon that originally suggested it, I know I'm pure Dave, but we all have the occasional hiccup[:D]

[Ianhaycox]

I used thinned down varnish to seal, but someone did suggest using wallpaper paste if you are bothered about a breathable sealant.

[Dave&Olive]

hi chris me too

                        the only time i use pva is in the mixe for this type of work . it stops the motar from dusting,

                                     dave