NEW SKILLS CONTINUE - Feb 2015

The most recent new skill is 'lime hemp plastering'. 


Having been advised that lime hemp plaster would be the best type of finish for our ceilings as far as insulation, breathability and damp reduction goes, we decided to give it a go, starting with the porch ceiling.

As new skills go, this has to be the worst! It's certainly not as boring as paint-scraping or trench-digging, but it's probably the hardest thing I've had to do. 

Lime hemp plaster looks, feels and smells like tuna fish paste with a bit of shredded wheat thrown in for good measure!

There are some jobs that need an artistic hand, and those such as decorating and pointing up seem to fall into that category. This is my area. There are others which fall into the category of 'brute force and physics'. Plastering I have decided, falls into this category and is where Will come in useful!

Here is Will's first attempt after about an hour (or two) ...

and here is my attempt ...

And the finished job ...

All hail Will !!!

So, as you can tell, I can't really treat this as a 'new skill'. More a complete failure as far as I am concerned. So I have gladly demoted myself to that of 'preparer' - laying down protective sheeting, and 'finisher' - removing said sheeting, clearing up spillages and cleaning dirty windows. I can live with that!




Next blog - Dr Doolittle has nothing on me!