I am about to do my first real lime plastering job for a customer. Up until now I have done veneer plaster and limited gypsum 3 coat work.

I noticed that some of you in this forum have experience with lime plastering. I hope to get some help.

The substrate is brick partially coated with an aborted white portland attempt by a previous handyman. The building is an old barn being restored into a spa, probably over 100 years old. What I would like to do is plumb / square up a wall using 3 coat lime plaster so that this exterior brick wall can still breathe properly. Paint, if any, will be limewash.

My questions:

What type of lime to buy?

What type of sand to buy?

How much lime & sand us generally used per square foot?

I read in another post about using darbies and plumb bobs to plumb/square the wall. Could somebody elaborate on this method step by step?
I've also heard of a method called dot & screed - but i've never seen this process done.

If any of you has detailed knowledge on this process and would be willing to talk on the phone for a quick Q/A session that would be a wonderful help. Please email your phone# in that case to jbologna@gmail.com with times that are ok to call.
Otherwise I will ask all my questions in this forum (which is ok, but i need the info pretty quickly)

Thank you in advance for your help,

David Smith & Jesse Bolognini
Specialty Plaster LLC

For the lime plaster you will need 2 parts sand 1 part lime.
The mix should be "dry" or it will crack. when you lay your layers, do them (build them up) in 2 wet-into-wet passes, meaning

lay first pass and float it with a small float and in about 15min lay another one over - that will be one coat.
as oppose to trying to lay one thick one.

let dry and go to the next layer, if the wall is small (can do the whole layer in one day, you can work the whole thing wet-on-wet (3 doublecoats in 3 days).

search online for Niagara Lime Putty - this one is not good for fresco (has a lot of magnesium) but for lime plaster wall will be just great - little easier to work for conventional plastering. They also have own datasheet with ratios.
http://www.graymont-ut.com/prod_niagara_lime_putty.shtml