he past becomes the future as the resurgence of traditional building practices and materials. McErlean Plastering was tasked with this specialised lime restoration of the listed National Trust property - Lissan House in Cookstown, Northern Ireland.

This listed building has been the subject of a long, detailed and exacting restoration to bring it back to its former glory. McErlean Plastering was contracted by the developer in charge to restore and replace over 1000m2 of lime plastering to this grand country property, steeped in Northern Irish history. One of the biggest challenges the team faced on the restoration of Lissan house was the sheer depth of lime plaster to be applied to building in order to level up extremely old and uneven stonework. This had to be carried out in 6 coats of lime plaster allowing extra time for proper curing between coats.

Our largest project using Natural Hydraulic Lime to date; this property had to be completed to the very highest of standards expected by the specialists leading this restoration. Our team faced the challenge of creating and keeping the correct atmospheric conditions to ensure correct curing of the lime plaster. A building-wide microenvironment had to be created using hanging hessian cloth maintained at a constant level of moisture to create the conditions which would allow the plaster to correctly set.

The experienced plasterers at McErlean Plastering showed on this project that the challenge created in the use of traditional render products in the modern era can be achieved and left to the high standards demanded by today’s construction industry.

On listed and historically important structures such as Lissan house traditional lime renders are very important to the finished appearance of the building but they also play a functional role. Never fully hardening this lime render flexes with the old stonework and allows the building to breathe. The skills and handling for this more traditional method of plastering were all but lost in more modern times but the team at McErlean Plastering are vastly experienced in their handling and use in an environment where experience counts. Now with modern advances in building materials and sustainable and environmentally sound building practices the use of natural hydraulic lime and lime-based renders have come back to the fore due to their moisture handling facilities and traits which lend themselves well to high specification modern homes.

The project finished in the summer of 2011 on an 8-week contract. All of the plastering work was completed on time and well within the budget.