Traditional and Natural Paints featured in LPOC magazine
A Case Study: Using traditional and natural paints in the conversion of The Aisled Barn at Halifax into a home.
The Aisled Barn which sits in the upper part of the Shibden Valley in Halifax comprises of a sixteenth century oak timber frame and thick stone outer walls some of which were rebuilt in the late eighteenth century.
It has been sensitively converted to a home, retaining all the original timber frame, conserving the fabric of the barn and retaining as much of the character and history within the building as was possible. New green oak was introduced to carry out structural repairs and new oak cantilevered steps and doors where fitted.
It was essential that the old, abused, dried out and neglected oak frame and new wood that was introduced was protected, feed and provided with a traditional finish. The owners chose to use Aglaia completely natural wood primers and finishes. These plant oil and tree resin based finishes ensured that the wood was naturally brought back to a healthier and good looking condition. A tradition historic finish was achieved because these same natural linseed oils and tree resins where used historically in the care of exposed timbers.
The conversion also required the owners to plaster and insulate the previous barns old thick stone walls whilst retaining their breathability. A lime render under coat was applied to the uneven internal walls, before mechanically fixing vapour permeable soft wood fibre insulation boards and finally applying a one coat lime plaster reinforced with mesh.
The owners were keen to avoid problems seen elsewhere where plastered walls have been covered with modern acrylic base paints that prevent the walls from breathing. They chose to use Aglaia natural emulsions supplied by Womersley’s Ltd, from their historical colour range. These paints are water based but bound by plant oils rather that synthetic acrylics ensuring that they are 10 times more vapour permeable than even matt trade emulsions and are close in recipe to the paints used by decorators from the 17th to first half of the 20th century
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