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Where Artistry Begins
Real slaked lime, brushed on in thin coats. Breathable colour for Liverpool's older homes, to buy for your own decorator or to have our team apply.
Limewash in Liverpool is slaked lime thinned with water and brushed onto the wall in thin coats. It is not paint. The lime soaks in, hardens back towards stone, and leaves a soft, cloudy, matt surface that shifts with the light. Zavoré supplies real limewash and installs it, and we are based in Birmingham, so our own team travels to Liverpool for the bigger jobs.
Limewash is also the finish we are most happy to see people do themselves. Buy a board, try it, and you will know within an hour whether the movement is what you want.
Liverpool is a brick city. Victorian terraces run street after street, and most older houses have solid walls with no cavity. Those walls need to let moisture move, and a plastic film of acrylic paint works against them. Limewash is vapour open, so it lets the wall breathe instead of sealing it in.
The Georgian houses around Canning Street and Rodney Street, and the Victorian and Edwardian villas of Mossley Hill and Aigburth, often still carry lime plaster in places. Bare lime plaster, old lime render, solid brick, stone and unsealed clay plaster all take limewash well. If you own a listed house or live in a conservation area, check what is allowed before you change anything on the outside.
The catch is paint already on the wall. Lime needs something mineral and absorbent to bond to. It will not stick to vinyl silk, gloss, an oil painted surface or a sealed skim, and it dusts off. If a wall has been painted in the last twenty years, assume it needs stripping back or a mineral primer first. A good test is to wet a patch and see whether it drinks or beads.
Limewash is mildly caustic while wet, so gloves and goggles are not optional.
The finish suits rooms where soft, uneven colour is a pleasure, and surfaces that can breathe.
Keep it away from kitchen splashbacks, showers and any wall that is handled every day. It marks and it is not washable. The upside is that it repairs by being painted again, with no flaking, because there is no film to lift. You can see more on our limewash finishes page, and the colours run to earths, ochres, umbers and soft greys.
For a single room, most people will be happy to do it themselves, and we will say honestly which camp you are in. Where we would take it on is height, exteriors or a whole house, where keeping a wet edge across long walls matters. We survey the walls first, looking at what is on them, how absorbent they are, and any damp.
Colour is agreed on a hand finished sample. Limewash comes in its own colour range and will dry lighter than it looks wet, so judge the board dry and in daylight. Three coats are usual, each one thin, and the colour keeps settling over a few weeks.
Liverpool is away from our Birmingham base, so a larger job is planned in blocks of days with the team staying on site. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. The details are on the limewash installation page.
If you would rather brush it on yourself or with your own decorator, the shop has real slaked lime paint, a mineral primer for chalky or previously painted walls, and a fine textured lime plaster if you want more body. It ships with tracked delivery across the UK, and a sample board comes in your colour. Trade buyers can open a trade account.
Limewash is not the same as the chalky emulsion sold as limewash paint. Real limewash looks patchy and alarming wet, dries pale and takes a fortnight to settle. In exchange it ages instead of peeling.
If you love the old wall feel but want a little more body, try marmorino in Liverpool or clay plaster in Liverpool. For a polished hall in a Georgian house, look at polished plaster in Liverpool. Wet areas need tadelakt in Liverpool or microcement in Liverpool, limewash being the wrong answer there. A cooler, modern wall is concrete effect plaster in Liverpool, and a shimmer is liquid metal in Liverpool. Everything else we install is under decorative specialists in Liverpool, and the area guide is Venetian plastering in Liverpool.
Not directly. Lime needs an absorbent mineral surface, and a vinyl or acrylic film makes it dust off. Strip back to bare plaster or brick, or put a mineral primer down first. Wet a patch to see whether the wall drinks or beads.
Yes. On brick or render it works well and renews itself, and it wants redoing every few years rather than being stripped. If the building is listed or in a conservation area, check what is permitted before you start.
It is a natural partner for older buildings, especially where the walls are lime plaster. We approach period and listed properties with care for what is already there. Tell us about the house and we will advise.
No. It is a soft mineral surface and it will mark, and a wet cloth on a scuff tends to leave a paler patch. The trade off is that it repairs by brushing a thin coat over. For a splashback or a bathroom, ask about tadelakt or microcement.
To talk about your walls, call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos and the postcode. A sample board in your colour is the plainest way to see how limewash behaves in your light.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Liverpool 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.
See every area we cover.
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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