Limewash? Lumpy walls

[hdenmanuk]

Hello, I am quite new to DIY and in the process of doing up the living room, in my victorian terrace, I found green patches on the walls when the wallpaper was removed. Thinking it was just a paint effect I carried on in the normal way filling the holes with a ready-mixed filler. When I came to paint the walls, with a water-based emulsion, the paint bubbled and was lumpy in some areas.

Is the green effect an old limewash? Please could you give me some advice on how to make the walls good and what I would need to use to paint the walls?

Thanks!

 

[Robbie uk]

Its not lime wash, its Distemper an old form of emulsion paint. it will bleed through modern paints. It needs a coat of sealer like Zinnser or a stabilising solution to seal it back.

 

[hdenmanuk]

Thanks for that. Do I need to somehow remove the filler and emulsion paint that I've already put over the top of it?

 

[thatbloke]

i wouldn't seal your walls if i were you, distemper was used was because your lime plastered walls needed to breath , sealing them could cause issues with damp. if you dont have any issues with damp already you may get away with it but personally i wouldnt risk it. these old walls need to evaporate moisture and sealing the moisture in will only damage the plaster or the wall.
did the bubbles appear over the green stuff or the modern filler that you used?
also , if you need any advice regarding a period property of a more specialised nature (i am not saying the advice from here isnt good advice , ive been helped out here many many times ) you could try here http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=1 , was the green stuff powdery to touch but rigid in the same way as old layers of paint?

 

[Robbie uk]

Its unlikely to be lime plaster to be honest. The distemper was used widely as a colour on walls in the early part of the century, generally red or green with the odd border. There will be no problems with sealing it.

 

[thatbloke]

The distemper was used widely as a colour on walls in the early part of the century, generally red or green with the odd border. There will be no problems with sealing it.

interesting , i never knew that , all or a majority of my experience is with medieval buildings but most of the ones ive worked on had a lot of victorian renovations. why green and red? was there a reason for this or was it just a trend? and why do you think its unlikely to be a lime based plaster? sorry to be a pain , just a genuine interest in these things.

 

[Robbie uk]

I have worked on and lived in a number of victorian buildings, in all of them i have not seen any lime plaster at all. The distemper was generally red top with green bottom and an inch border in between. It does have a tendency to bleed through emulsion paint, hence the need to seal it. I know what you mean about lime plaster needing to breathe etc but in this instance i dont think it is. Early part of the century the horse hair plaster was being used..i think.. as you said the medievil buildings were a lot earlier and used this form of plaster as did many of the farm buidings.

 

[thatbloke]

ive got quite a lot of early victorian haired plaster here in an old extension , its made from lime. portland cement came into being in the early 1800's as people wanted something stronger and quicker drying but the use of lime was still widespread for a long time afterwards , the victorian era was from 1830 something to 1901 and as far as i am aware portland cement was not used until 1840's/50's? so it is very plausible that a victorian house could well be plastered in lime.
medieval plaster as you said would be lime based but i have seen walls plastered with daub , i suppose it all depended on how much money was available to spend , a labourers cottage for instance would most certainly have had a clay plaster or daub , perhaps even a coat and a half of lime where as a large farm house may have had a lime based 2 or even 3 coat plaster , but again it all depended on how much money the occupants had to spend.

 

[hdenmanuk]

Thanks for all of your responses - very helpful and interesting. To be honest I don't really like the idea of sealing the walls. Would the next best option be to use lining paper?

We had to fill quite a lot of areas on the wall so the bubbles/lumps mainly appeared over the filler, however they were only in small areas dotted around.

 

[thatbloke]

its probably a problem with the filler then , if i were you i would call stripper of sudbury http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/ they are a sister company of anglian lime http://www.buildingconservation.com/directory/3j102b.htm , they are very experienced in this kind of thing. they sell pre made distemper (you can only paint over distemper with more distemper) but they will advise you best on whats to do with your walls , explain to them what you have read here and they will point you in the right direction.
an old house like yours really does need specialist care.

it wouldn't do you any harm to read up on things that may concern you and your house , a good place to start would be here.

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles.htm