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Where Artistry Begins
Real slaked lime, brushed on in thin coats, for Glasgow tenements, villas and converted buildings. Try it yourself with our materials, or have our own team lay it.
Zavoré supplies and installs limewash in Glasgow. It is real slaked lime thinned with water and brushed on in thin coats. It is not paint. The lime soaks in, carbonates back to stone and leaves a soft, cloudy, matt wall that breathes, which is why it suits the old sandstone city so well. We are based in Birmingham and our own applicators travel to Glasgow for the bigger jobs. Limewash is also the one finish we will cheerfully tell you to try yourself, and a sample board is the place to start.
Glasgow is a long way from Birmingham, so where we do the work it is planned in blocks of days.
Glasgow was built in sandstone, and the walls inside are solid. Older tenement flats and Victorian villas in Pollokshields, Kelvinside and Dowanhill have thick stone walls with lime plaster on them. A wall like that has to let moisture move. Limewash is vapour open, so it lets it. A modern acrylic emulsion forms a film and holds moisture in.
The west of Scotland is a wet climate, and old walls feel it. Limewash will not cure damp, and a wall that is wet at the source needs that put right first. Where the wall is simply old, mineral and a little damp prone, a breathable finish is the kinder one. Lime is also mildly caustic while wet, so gloves and goggles are not optional, and cold, damp rooms slow drying. We would keep gentle heating on through a Glasgow winter job.
The catch is what is on the wall already. Lime needs a mineral, absorbent surface. Bare lime plaster, old render, brick and unsealed clay plaster take it well. Vinyl silk, gloss, oil paint or a sealed skim do not, because the lime has nothing to grip and dusts off. Many Glasgow flats have been repainted in emulsion several times, so assume a painted wall needs stripping back or a mineral primer first.
Our limewash finishes soften rooms where flat paint looks dead.
Colour comes from a palette that runs to earths, ochres, umbers and soft greys. Be ready for limewash to dry lighter than it looks wet, and to keep shifting for a few weeks as it carbonates. In a city with short winter days, judge the board on a dry afternoon rather than a wet wall. Limewash is not for kitchen splashbacks or showers, because it marks and is not washable. For those, look at tadelakt or microcement.
This is the finish where buying the material is a genuinely good idea. It is brushed, it is forgiving, and a patchy first coat is fixed by the second. Our shop sells real lime paint, a mineral primer for chalky or previously painted walls, and fine lime plaster if you want more body. Everything is sent by tracked delivery to Glasgow. If you are a decorator adding lime to your work, ask about a trade account.
Where we would take it on is height and scale. A tall tenement hallway or a whole flat is a different job from one bedroom, because you must keep a wet edge across a long wall or a join left to dry mid wall will show for good. Call us and we will say honestly which of the two you have.
We start with photographs and, where needed, a survey. We check what the walls are made of and what is on them, then flatness, cracks, damp, movement, how the room is used, access and protection. In a tenement that includes the common stair. We say plainly if a wall needs stripping back or a damp problem fixing first.
A hand finished sample in your colour is agreed before work starts, and the colour is tinted before it leaves Birmingham. The wall is damped, then limewash goes on in two or three thin coats, each one dry before the next. The process is set out on our limewash installation page.
Limewash sits well beside its mineral cousins. clay plaster in Glasgow gives a similar matt wall with more body, and marmorino in Glasgow is the lime choice for whole rooms. For bathrooms look at tadelakt in Glasgow. Smooth and reflective walls are covered under polished plaster in Glasgow, and cool grey ones under concrete effect plaster in Glasgow. For seamless floors there is microcement in Glasgow, and for one glowing wall liquid metal in Glasgow. The full range is under decorative specialists in Glasgow, and our Venetian lime plasters are covered in Venetian plastering in Glasgow.
Not directly. Lime needs an absorbent mineral surface, and a vinyl or acrylic emulsion gives it a film to sit on, so it dusts off. Strip back to bare plaster or put a mineral primer down first. If you are unsure what is on the wall, wet a patch and see whether it drinks or beads.
Yes. It is vapour open, so a solid stone wall can let moisture move rather than trapping it behind a film. It will not cure damp that has a source, so any leak or rising problem is fixed first.
Two as a minimum and three most of the time. Each coat is thin, much thinner than paint, and the colour builds slowly. Let each coat dry fully and judge the colour only when the last one is dry.
No, and nothing sold as washable limewash is really lime. It marks if you rub it, but it repairs by being painted again, so a thin coat blends where emulsion would leave a patch. For a splashback or shower, ask us about tadelakt or microcement.
Talk to us about your walls on 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and the postcode. A hand brushed sample board in your colour lets you judge the movement dry.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Glasgow 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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