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Where Artistry Begins
Real slaked lime brushed on in thin coats, applied by our own team from our Birmingham base or supplied for you to brush yourself.
Limewash in Birmingham is real slaked lime thinned with water and brushed onto a wall in two or three thin coats. It is not paint. Zavoré is based in Birmingham, so when you want us to apply it, our own applicators start from our Birmingham base, and if you would rather brush it yourself we sell the lime and tint it here first. A sample board will show whether the soft, cloudy movement is what you want.
It is the one finish we are happy to tell you to try on your own, and the one that suits the oldest walls in the city very well.
Limewash needs something mineral and absorbent to grip, and it is vapour open, so it belongs on walls that need to breathe. In Birmingham that points at the older housing. Terraces and villas built before the First World War usually have solid brick walls, often with lime plaster inside, and in a house like that limewash lets moisture move instead of trapping it behind a film.
Older still are the timber framed buildings around the village greens of Kings Norton, and the former village centres that the city grew around, such as Moseley and Harborne. Plaster, brick and stone in places like that take limewash very well.
The same city also has a lot of 1930s semis and newer homes, where walls have been skimmed and painted in vinyl silk for decades. There the answer is different. Lime has nothing to grip on a film and dusts off, so those walls need stripping back or a mineral primer, or they are better suited to something else.
Inside, limewash suits period cottages and solid walled houses, hallways and stairwells that want texture rather than sheen, and bedrooms and snugs in earthy colour. Big areas where flat paint looks dead are the other good use, because the brush strokes carry movement across the wall.
Outside, brick, render and stone take limewash well, and it weathers instead of peeling, so it is redone every few years rather than stripped. Our page on limewash finishes sets out the palette, which runs to earths, ochres, umbers and soft greys.
It is not for kitchen splashbacks, showers, or any wall that gets handled every day. It marks and it is not washable. And if you want one perfectly even colour, emulsion is the honest answer.
For a limewash job we begin by finding out what is on the wall. Bare lime plaster, old brick and unsealed plaster are straightforward. Anything painted in the last few decades may need stripping or a mineral primer, and we say so after the survey. Small questions can often be settled from photos.
The sample board is an easy decision here. Lime dries lighter than it looks wet and keeps changing as it carbonates, so you judge colour dry and in daylight. Material is tinted before it leaves Birmingham, and limewash comes in its maker’s own colour range.
Our applicators earn their keep on height, exteriors and whole houses where a wet edge must be kept across long walls. As our team is based in Birmingham, there is no need for the block of days away that a distant job would involve. See also our limewash installation page.
If you want to do it yourself, buy a board, try it, and you will know within an hour. We sell real slaked lime paint, a mineral primer for chalky or painted walls, and a fine lime plaster if you want more body, all tracked across the UK from the shop.
Limewash courses are joining our Training Academy in Birmingham, so ask about dates on the training page. Decorators and builders can ask about a trade account. Remember lime is caustic while wet, so gloves and goggles are not optional.
Limewash sits well beside other lime finishes. For a smoother, chalky wall look at clay plaster in Birmingham, and for honed stone grain marmorino in Birmingham. For something that reflects there is polished plaster in Birmingham.
Wet rooms are a different job, so see tadelakt in Birmingham or microcement in Birmingham. We also lay concrete effect plaster in Birmingham and liquid metal in Birmingham. The full range is at decorative specialists in Birmingham, and the classic finish is at Venetian plastering in Birmingham.
Solid brick and old lime plaster are exactly what limewash likes. Painted brick or sealed render needs stripping or a mineral primer first, and we would check which you have at the survey.
Not directly. Lime needs an absorbent mineral surface, and emulsion gives it a film to sit on, so it dusts off. Strip back to bare plaster or put a mineral primer down first.
Two at least and usually three. Each coat is thin, the colour builds slowly, and it looks streaky until the last coat is dry. Judge colour only when it has dried fully.
Not for the shower or a splash zone, because it marks and is not washable. Tadelakt or microcement are the better choices there, and limewash suits bedrooms, halls and living rooms.
To find out what is on your walls, call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos and your postcode. Order a sample board and judge the lime dry and in daylight.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Birmingham and we will come back to you with the right finish and a clear quote.
For a quote, email photos and measurements of your walls to sales@zavore.co.uk or call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
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We also supply the trade by post, wherever you are. The shop ships tracked across the UK, and the Academy teaches the finishes in Birmingham.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
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