painting the hen-house

[d16lev]

hi all
             I am about to paint the inside of the hen-house with a hot lime mix like we used to do with the old shippens ( cow shed )   .  It  used to be an old stone pig sty but have put  on a new roof and new concrete floors in .  Now ready for the finish ,we used to slake quicklime in a metal bucket until it stopped boiling, then drop in an old WW 2 stirrup hand-pump  and he presto 2 of you could do a vast area in no time , but alas now no pump . so any ideas what i could used instead , I know you can still get them on ebay for a few quid but at £39 postage to France it`s a no no , I have tried a paraffin spray gun to no avail ,with a brush it`s going to take an age to do the old stone work .
           so suggestions welcome
                          Dave

[merkland]

Depends on how big your old pig sty is but I never found limewashing with a brush slow. Make sure you have a decent size brush - used to use one about 8" wide, or if you are stuck for a brush a soft floorbrush makes a good substitute the long handle means you can get a good way up a wall before you need to stand on something!

merkland.

[noelsquibb]

Back in the sixties, we used a mixture of quicklime, sump oil and water to create a very cheap whitewash emulsion.
It was great to watch the chemical reaction but we had to protect our eyes even then  ( the good ole days before danger got invented )

I recently inquired about the availability of quicklime and was told that it was not available cos it had got a bit of a reputation for burning flesh and bones  ....

I now use 1:1 hydrated lime and cement and mix it in a wheelbarrow to either create a 'porridge' for infilling and smoothing, or a sloppy mix for brushing on with a floor brush. It dries a bluish white that is pretty acceptable for animal sheds and a very cheap filler / basecoat for new roughcast.

A further application of hydrated lime, is to mix it with the paint your wall is coated with and brush the coloured porridge into cracks up to 6mm wide. The paint 'dries', yet the lime remains semi set, allowing the cracks in the walls to do whatever they want to do, whilst remaining filled and the right colour. Deffo better than any gun seal products, that usually look like snail trails after painting and shrink back over time.

I used this idea on cement based roughcast that was covering cob, as the alternative was a complete stripdown of the house and replace with lime mortar. Took the subsequent owner 5 years to notice a slight darkening in the lime/paint filler.

noel

[oliver90owner]

So what has stopped you using your original sump oil mix?

Hydrated lime is quicklime combined with water, which would have been your 'reaction' back in the sixties.

Regards, RAB

[d16lev]

So what has stopped you using your original sump oil mix?

Hydrated lime is quicklime combined with water, which would have been your 'reaction' back in the sixties.

Regards, RAB

               Hi OK
                          Sorry but the above is not totally true.....  when quicklime  ( calcium  oxide   CAO  ) is mixed with water  ( Slaked )   it produces a violent reaction i.e. the water will boil,and will produce lime putty (calcium hydroxide ( CA (OH)2 ) if an exact amount of water is added so that all the water boils off hydrated lime is produced,a totally useless substance for purist site like this

                                Dave

[noelsquibb]

Dave

Can you get quicklime ? If so where do you get it ?

Why do you consider hydrated lime to be a totally useless substance ?

Ok hydrated lime mixes do not have the same plasticity as proper lime mortar but they do seem to offer some of its qualities and because of its cheapness and availability its well worth experimenting with.

It will only cost a tenner to make up several gallons of 'not quite white' that will give you a good base layer on your stonework or new roughcast. Compare that to buying 5 litres of outdoor masonry paint.

Its easy to be a purist if you are only contemplating how things should be done.
Reality can sometimes spoil things when cost / availability and time start to bite.

For spraying heavy / lumpy mixes like my lime cement jollop, Ive used an underseal gun ( driven by approx 7cfm compressor) with the pickup tube extended a few inches to suck from a small bucket.  Its not a lot better than the soft sweeing brush but it does blast the mix into nooks and crannies whilst creating runs that stripe all the way down to the floor if you slow down for any reason.
No rules really, just use what youve got and make the best of it.
I bl00dy hate painting or buying paint and will spend hours trying to fine alternative ways.

noel

[d16lev]

hi OK
           I get the lime from the farm shop .... agricultural lime ...
    
           I can see you have never used lime putty or you would not be asking  the question  ,, plus ,, when lime putty  dries out it absorbs co2 i.e. in a mortar or render mix ,      bagged lime does not
                    Dave

  ps  good point about the underseal spray gun though

[noelsquibb]

I get the lime from the farm shop .... agricultural lime ...   I can see you have never used lime putty

blimey do the fields start frothing when it rains after lime spreading ?
What do the worms and other useful bugs in the bio active layer make of it ?

I kind of assumed ag lime was hydrated, as they don't seem to be too fussy about where it goes when they spread it .
Never assume eh ?

And yes, you are right I have not used lime putty because the quotes from the specialists to re coat our old cob place,  or even to just supply lime putty, were a bit frightening, so Ive used hydrated lime as a poor mans alternative ever since.

1:1:6  (OPC / hydrated lime / yellow sand )  my all time favourite creamy lime render.    mmmmm

noel

[d16lev]

hi ok
             just a thought ..... you do know I live in France

    Dave
 

[noelsquibb]

you do know I live in France

err ... do now. 

I do recall a vaguely similar codename posting in the 'show us yours' department with a substantial array of solar tubes and a  1000 litre plastic heatstore.  My apologies for not making the connection.

Im even more confused now because you seem to be suggesting that  French farmers use something different to perk up the ground.

Is bagged lime in France the stuff that fizzes when water is added or are there three different kinds of lime ?

[Justme]

Farmers use hydrated lime in the UK for cubical care.

http://www.bolshaws.com/hydrated-lime.html

For spreading on fields they use Calcium and Magnesium compounds. These materials include limestone and chalk, quicklime, hydrated lime, marl, shells and by-products such as slag.

http://www.aglime.org.uk/faqs01.htm

This site tells you what you need to know about building & painting with lime

http://www.jjsharpe.co.uk/material.html

[noelsquibb]

thanks justme

Like all trades, theres always a lot more to it than the 'headline' info.

It was jjsharpe and their North Tawton outlet who managed to scare me away from the traditional lime materials.

Its something retired bankers would probably specify for their barn conversions, (often grant aided by DEFRA ) but  'us locals' will muddle through with inferior materials and regular patching.

noel

[d16lev]

hi ok
              Just watching a Pembrokeshire  Farm ..... and they are brush painting the out side with hot  lime.

                              Dave

               ps   it`s on BB2   Wales    ..... we get the Welsh prgrammes in France  b4 u ask