I and R Masonry Cob Repairs
Cob wall repairs, Render and Lime wash.
Cob walls are basically built with earth from the local area and need a breathable lime render with lime wash to protect them.
Over the years some Cob walls have been repaired with modern cement, which does not let water out and can make the Cob unstable.
Cement is also much harder and brittle than a lime mortar.
Lime wash paint can protect by being able to shed some rain and let any moisture escape through it as well.
Cob repair
This wall is Grade 2 listed
Before
Here the render is too hard and brittle for the Cob and has cracked and is falling away, allowing water in, but it does not let it back out which in turn damages the earth wall inside.
The picture above shows we have now put a new Lime render on.
Above shows the finished repair complete with Lime wash paint.
All we have to do is clean up and move on to the next section of this wall, and do the same on the other side.
All finished on this part of the Cob repair, the darker patches on the wall are where the Cob is not fully dried yet, also this picture is showing the reflections and shadows of the bush to the right.
Cob repair Dorset.
This Cob repair, although not listed itself is in the grounds of a grade 1 listed stateley home in Dorset.
Almost falling down, we carried out extensive repairs to this once beautifull wall, finishing it with a hot lime wash.
As you can see, this completed section of this wall is looking back to it's best and how it should be.
Cob wall restoration near Salisbury
This is a very old Cob wall on the outskirts of Salibury in Wiltshire. Unfortunately it has been badly repaired in the past, it has brick panels in areas, obviously the Cob was too far gone to hold itself up so they bricked it up well over a hundred years ago. As the wall is listed we have to repair it like for like. There is also very hard cement render that has to be replaced with lime.
Various stages of repair.
The middle section of this wall had to be replaced as it was holding the weight of the roof. It was decided that we would build a herringbone panel in the center as either side of the panel did not work out as even courses where a poor modern repair was made. We rerendered the Cob panel in the middle with lime mortar.
Below we have taken the modern repair down.
Repair done, all we have to do is lime wash the new render and clean up and install a new Oak beam to replace the rotten one.
