Why we still build in lime plaster

Every few months a client asks why we don’t just use paint. It’s a fair question. Plaster is slower, it costs more, and it needs a person who genuinely knows what they’re doing. Here’s the case for it anyway.

Lime plaster is breathable. It lets a wall take on and release moisture instead of trapping it, which matters in an old building and matters more in a humid climate. It also moves — a house settles, small cracks open, and lime is soft enough to absorb that instead of telegraphing every one.

Three coats, three weeks

The finish everyone photographs is the result of three separate coats, each keyed into the last, each left to carbonate before the next goes on. Rushed, it chalks and dusts. Done properly, it hardens for years and only gets tougher.

What it costs to live with

Budget for retouching in the first year while the house settles. After that it is the lowest-maintenance surface we specify: no repainting, no peeling, no yellowing. It just slowly gets better.