Hi there,

Does anybody know where to get high quality hydrated lime, ideally close to Toronto? I'm trying to stucco an exterior brick wall which was already badly textured and painted (otherwise I would not stucco brick!). I think doing the quicklime -> lime putty thing is a little more than I can deal with a the moment, though I'd like to try it some day. All this is pretty new to me and it's a bit of work to sort all this info out. Portland VS lime VS 'S' VS 'N' etc etc.. Needless to say I am not a pro, but I am hard working and like my research :) This is part of the research... Sooo, anybody know where to get straight hydrated lime? And I need it to be white- not grey. Also looking for a good place to find a fine grained sand for the finish coat (I'm on the scratch coat now, the brown is next). Finally how about minerals or different things to add to a finish coat? Ground seashells or something interesting. In short- where do all the "natural" finish type people get their stuff?

Thanks all!

Yaleh.

I've gotten hydrated lime (white) at the local agriculture / feed store before.

Oh, that's interesting.. So that's the same? It will harden up? Just want to make sure there would be no difference in qualities before I apply this to my wall..

Thanks for the info.

I have purchased lime at the local feed store, also. Remember, you MUST tell them "hydrated lime" - big difference between that and non-hydrated. You might try a local chemical company. I have used play sand when I needed sand that was fine (some localities call it beach sand).

You might find shells at a craft store - don't know the quantity you need. Same thing for smooth pebbles. I try to find things that are local; from the forest, from the side of the road or the driveway. You might be able to impress a leaf into the finish then remove it.

Have fun and please let us know how your project came out!

richm

I went through the same struggle to find it to repoint some antique brickwork a while back. Hardware stores just don't carry it anymore. Try brick, block, and masons supply yards, theres gotta be a few in Toronto. Don't bother with concrete suppliers, they only sell in bulk. I've got three concrete plants in my town, smallest quantity they would sell is 17 cubic yards 200 bucks plus delivery. Instead I had to drive an hour and a half, to the nearest brickyard, and paid 45 dollars for a fifty pound sack. heck of profit magin they've got there.

Thanks gspike ,

I did finally find it at a masonry supply yard. Only found a couple of places that carry it. Was called Ivory (not the colour- that's the product name) finishing lime. Manufactured by Graymont. It worked very well for me.

I also learned a bit about sand. The first sand I tried was "construction" sand. Not too good, but luckily this was only with the scratch coat over metal lath. If anything it's probably very strong, but it is irritating as heck to work with because of all the pebbles that ride over the lath. Next I tried a "play sand" which was mentioned. Pretty good, but still not fine enough. Then, when I bought the hydrated lime, I also bought some silica sand. The salesman said it was "the right stuff" but even then I felt that was not likely as it looked to be all one size of particles. I tried it and was right. You really need multiple sized particles probably from the size of almost dust to even smaller than the silica sand.. It is nice looking though- pure white. In the end I hand sifted the play sand from before (I used an old window screen I had lying around). This seems to work pretty well- still I'd like a bit finer, and I think I'll hunt around for marble dust too next time I try this.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the results so far. The finish coat is done and I have done a white wash. The stucco is "fairly" straight , and I didn't want a perfect finish actually. On the other hand I don't want it to look like a hippy hut either. There's a fine line..

Now I'm looking to finish it with a tinted white wash (maybe iron sulphate)- just a tad to warm it up. Also I want a bit of texture and lightly burnish down the high spots. might use a furry roller, then come back with a trowel. If anyone has any good info on stucco finishing techniques, I'd really appreciate it.

I'll post images when it's all done,

Thanks,

Yaleh.