View Single Post
  #4   Report Post  
Posted to uk.d-i-y
[email protected] meow2222@care2.com is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,560
Default Lime wash on beams or ping Anna Kettle:-)

Tim Lamb wrote:
I am *still* renovating a Victorian timber barn. When it was used as a
dairy for milking cows hygiene regulations required that the interior
was finished in white. As a consequence there is a generation or two of
flaky white lime attached to the beams.

I horrified the Architect by mentioning grit blasting. He strongly
advocates using a wire brush!

I tried a well worn semi-cup brush at low speed in the ...wait for
it.... angle grinder and was rather disappointed with the result. Soft
patches are still excavated, grain is still raised and there was some
evidence of blackening where I paused for too long.

Is there a best wire wheel type for this job? Presumably radial fine
wire rather than stiff wire cup?

Speed is also at issue. I would be surprised if the grit blaster could
not do the job in a long day (ground floor only 5mx10m) whereas wire
brushing might take a week or two!

The down side to grit blasting is the tendency to strip areas weakened
by woodworm, gouge holes where nails have been removed and leave sand
embedded in the wood which falls out over the next ten years.

Any advice?

regards


A wire brush in a drill would be more appropriate. A nylon brush in a
drill might be even better. You can also get nylon mesh wheels for use
in a drill.
Grit blasting does a lot of damage, its really not suitable
I'd be very tempted by the pressure washer suggestion, no experience
of that though


NT