Example Limewash Projects in Cedar Park

Scope of work

Covers for the floor, shelves, cabinets and wood beam mantel; a ladder or platform for the upper stone; dust and soot cleaning; a water test on several stones; dampening before each coat; a thinned first coat and a fuller second coat; a clear protective topcoat on the hearth top on a return visit; clean-up. The firebox stays bare and the mantel keeps its wood finish.

Project overview

In this example, the owners have moved to lighter, cooler floors and walls, and the yellow-cream stone fireplace now looks out of step with the room. Refacing it would mean demolition and dust through the house. Limewash changes the color and keeps the stacked stone.

Bare limestone usually soaks lime in well, but a sealer from years back would stop it, so a few stones get a water test first. The thinned first coat takes the yellow out; the second coat brings it to a soft warm white, brushed lighter on the stone edges so the stacking still shows.

The goal

The goal is a soft warm-white fireplace that rises to the beams and sits with the new floors and walls, with the outline and shadow of each stone still visible.

Process

1. Before work Two sample boards, warm white and greige, held against the floor and sofa in daylight and lamplight.
2. Day one Floor, shelves and mantel covered, stone dusted and cleaned, water test, then the stone dampened and the thinned coat brushed on.
3. Day two Second, fuller coat, lighter on the stone edges, and clean-up.
4. Afterwards The color dries paler over several days. The fireplace can be used again once the product’s cure time has passed.
5. 10 to 14 days later A clear topcoat on the hearth top, where people sit and set things down.

Planning right

• Stone hardens more slowly than brick indoors, so the hearth topcoat waits 10 to 14 days.
• Nothing goes inside the firebox, where fire chars the lime and soot covers it.
• Soot left on the stone shows through a pale white as a gray shadow, so the area over the opening is cleaned twice.
• Hold the boards against the floor you have now, not the old one. Limestone color changes a lot next to wood or tile.

Scope of work

Covers for the tile floor, windows and door; dusting and cleaning; a water test across the whole wall; a bonding primer on the sealed lower courses; dampening; two brushed coats; clean-up.

Project overview

In this example, the brick is the darkest surface in a bright breakfast nook with tall windows, and the owners want it lighter without a flat painted look. Warm white limewash lets the brick shapes and joints show through.

The water test changes the plan. The upper brick darkens and drinks the water in, but on the lower courses it beads, a sign someone sealed that part years ago. Limewash cannot soak into those bricks, so they get the bonding primer the product calls for before the first coat.

The goal

The goal is warm white brick that brightens the nook while every brick and joint still reads, with no line between the primed and bare parts.

Process

1. Before work Water sprayed on the brick at several heights, and two boards in warm white and chalk set beside the table.
2. Day one Covers on, brick dusted and cleaned, and the bonding primer brushed onto the sealed lower courses.
3. Day two Brick dampened and the first coat brushed on in the morning; the second coat in the afternoon, once the first has dried.
4. Afterwards The white keeps lightening for several days as the lime hardens.

Planning right

• Spray water on the brick before you ask for prices. If it sits on the surface instead of soaking in, the wall needs a primer or extra preparation.
• Plain limewash is dusted, not scrubbed. If chairs rub the wall, a clear topcoat on that band can be added about two weeks later.
• The primed lower courses take the color a little more evenly than bare brick, so the second coat is brushed to blend the two.

Scope of work

A water test for old coatings; low-pressure washing; filling hairline cracks; covers for the limestone base, entry arch and piers, windows, doors, roof edge and plants; dampening before each coat; two brushed coats applied wall by wall as each falls into shade; a final walk-round.

Project overview

In this example, the stucco has faded unevenly over 20 years, darker under the eaves and chalky on the sunniest walls. The owners want a warm off-white with soft movement, and the limestone base and entry arch left as they are.

Heat sets the schedule more than rain. Most limewash makers put their limit between about 80°F and 90°F and rule out direct sun on the wall, so the job is planned for a mild, dry stretch in fall, starting early each day and coating each wall while it is in shade.

The goal

The goal is a soft off-white house with gentle mottling across each wall, and the limestone base and entry arch standing out against it.

Process

1. Before work Water test for old coatings and a sample patch on a side wall. If the house is in an HOA, the color goes to them first.
2. Day one Low-pressure wash; the walls left to dry.
3. Day two Hairline cracks filled; limestone, windows, doors, roof edge and plants covered.
4. Days three and four First coat on dampened stucco: the west and north walls in the morning, the east wall once the sun has moved off it.
5. Days five and six Second coat in the same order, covers off and a walk-round.

Planning right

• A wall in full sun runs hotter than the air around it. Ask how the crew plans to keep coats in the shade.
• Turn off lawn sprinklers that reach the walls. Makers want the new lime kept dry for anything from 12 hours to a week.
• Cracks wider than a hairline can mean the wall is moving. They are repaired before any lime goes on.
• Limewash will not soak into stucco that was painted or sealed. Test before it is priced as bare stucco.

Scope of work

Cleaning and spot-patching; the primer system the product needs over latex, tinted toward the gray; staging on the curved stairs; covers for floors, treads, balusters, handrail and baseboards; two brushed coats; touch-ups after the staging comes down.

Project overview

In this example, the entry still has the flat paint the house was built with, scuffed where people carry things up the stairs. The owners want walls with some depth that still feel light, and the same pale gray running from the front door up to the balcony.

Limewash will not grip latex paint by itself, so the job starts with the primer the product names. The curved stair wall decides the layout of the staging, because each tall wall has to be brushed in one go from top to bottom to avoid lap marks.

The goal

The goal is a pale gray that moves softly up the curved stair and carries into the living room through the arch without a hard line.

Process

1. Before work Three boards in pale gray, greige and chalk, looked at from the front door and from the balcony.
2. Day one Covers and masking, scuffs cleaned, dents filled and sanded, staging set up on the stairs.
3. Day two Primer on every wall, tinted toward the gray.
4. Day three First coat, finishing each wall before starting the next.
5. Day four Second coat, starting with the stair wall.
6. Day five Staging down, touch-ups, masking off and a last look in evening light.

Planning right

• Ask for the primer to be tinted toward the finish color, so any thin spot does not show white.
• The balcony is seen from the front door with the stair wall, so both are coated in the same session.
• Limewash hides scuffs once they are cleaned, but not dents. Those are filled first.
• Gray limewash dries lighter than it looks wet. Judge the boards once they are fully dry.