Loving my Whitewash

[Daisy8s]

I have been doing the white wash thing for years (same as my grand father before me). My grand father had 22 children and worked a family farm he made his own butter, soap, grew his own vegetables (basically a Mennonite in lots of respects).

Thanks for sharing. I was satisfied with my whitewash before however now I know it will perform even better (no salt in old recipe).


I saturate everything as well in May and never had any issues with chemical burns on my hens.

More shockingly...your GRANDMOTHER had 22 children?!?

I'm curious about your old recipe that you used. Did you use a fat such as milk? It wasn't economical for me given that I'd be using store-bought milk but I can see doing something like that in the spring if you had your own cows when there could be a surplus of milk after calving.

Thanks for letting me know that you haven't had any chemical burns. I really think it happens if you don't slake the lime by doing the overnight soak.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I'm assuming, when you say "wrong" type that you mean the Agricultural hydrated lime intended to amend the pH of the soil?

That's actually what I used. Yes, it went on gray and was pretty thick, but it dried bone white. And, I decided that I liked the thick plaster feel of it--felt like more of a durable barrier to parasites wanting to burrow into the wood.

In the morning it was thin enough to paint on but by evening (I had lots of interruptions) it was pretty thick, more like a thin wet cement. I could've added more of the salt water solution but I didn't bother.

Anyway, if you still have that stuff sitting around you might try just adding more of the salt water solution to thin it.

My understanding is that Agricultural lime is "wrong" because it has additives that make it thicker. I decided that was right for me as I liked the plaster. And, it did dry bright white.

Yes, that's exactly what he got. I did part of a wall before I called it quits and it did dry totally white. It was very heavy on the brush and wouldn't "paint" on - it was more like spreading stucco. I should have just thinned it but we were running out of time and I was afraid it would take days so we ditched it and sprayed on white paint. I hope to be able to go back and revisit white wash in the future and I'll remember to thin it if we're still using Ag lime.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

I'm getting ready to do my coop. So what exactly is the "right" kind of lime?