Float coat update #1

well today went very well indeed.

The first of 3 days off work dedicated to getting the top coat of render on and i met my target.

I wanted to get the front rendered from the left side to the drain pipe - that was a suitable stopping place as the join will be hidden, and i accomplished it. I started at about 8am and wrapped up at 7 ish. If there were 2 people on it it would have been a one day job to get it all done but hey hoo.

It was still a lot quicker than anticipated, and while the finish is far from pro, i like the 'character' it. Looks authentic old! The look of a lime render is just..... nice. I'm excited to get it lime washed and get the hessian down so i can take a good look at it!

I decided the lack of hair in the mix made a significant difference to time. It takes about 10 minutes (optimistic) to hair the mortar in the mixture. If you do nine loads a day, that's an hour and a half - that's a lot of time. The top coat doesn't have hair and so I find myself with a bit more of a leisurely pace to attain the same coverage.

Also, The mix for the top coat is 1.5 nosterfield, 1.5 leighton Buzzard and 1 lime. The fine Leighton Buzzard sand makes the mix much more workable, and gives a very nice finish. I had some really nice fatty mixes today which went on like a dream - as they say.

Any hoo. Not taken any snaps today, but will update tomorrow.

The plan is to finish the front - this will be done by about lunch time i hope. The afternoon will be spent prepping the back - something needs to be done with the drain pipe!

Wednesday will be a hardcore day of getting the float coat on the back in one go - but we got the scratch coat on in one day and i think that took 10 mixes, so that is 110 minutes more time I'll have this time around. Also, the drain pipe won't be there - and that was very fiddly to work around. So all good.

It's more than nice having the end in sight. I really hope it looks ok and doesn't fall off - the thought of the wasted effort is dreadful.

Peace Out.