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....repair and renovate old buildings such as town and country houses, cottages, barns and other vernacular structures using traditional methods and materials. We work with lime plasters, renders and mortars, and together with traditional wooden lath we use green environmentally friendly materials such as hemp plaster, clay and reed boards, silicate paints and limewashes. We are commited to environmentally sustainable conservation building.

Originally part of Jack in The Green in Devon, Helen Evans and David Tyler have operated since 2008 from south Cumbria (Helen's home country). We are close to Kendal, Ulverston, Barrow in Furness, Grange-Over-Sands and the Lake District National Park.

Almost any building built in both town and country before 1914 incorporates lime in its construction. Lime mortars, plasters and renders hold historic buildings together. They provide protection for the stone and brick walls from which they are built, as well providing flat surfaces for decoration. Walls comprising timber studwork, lath and lime plaster often also form internal divisions within older buildings and contrary to popular belief, these can be sympathetically repaired or renewed.

Lime is historically appropriate to many older buildings and authenticity is key when restoring them, for instance when repairing damage from damp or other maintenance problems, dealing with the results of ‘bodge jobs’ done in recent decades, or patching in after electrical and other work (see our plasterwork repair page). Contrary to what modern builders might tell you, used sympathetically and appropriately, lime lends itself extremely well to repairs.



we will undertake:

• Lime plastering, rendering, repointing etc-See our lime plastering page and our lime pointing page for more details.
• Plastering with hemp-lime insulating plasters.
• Lime plaster repairs including repairs and renewals of lath and lime studwork walls.
• Carpentry and in situ carpentry repairs in local sustainable green oak and softwoods.
• Cob/clay building, mud mortars etc. See our cob page for more details.
• Painting of interior and exterior walls and woodwork with ecologically friendly paints and limewashes

New for 2011/12!

Following our traditional lime demonstration weekends at Yew Tree Barn, Low Newton, in July and October 2011, more demonstration weekends are planned for 2012. Short courses on lime pointing and plastering at Yew Tree Barn are also planned for 2012. Please email us for details or watch this space!

Making, using and understanding traditional lime plasters and mortars:

Links to useful organisations and books on lime and sustainable building are included on our suppliers and links page.

Short courses at Yew Tree Barn TBA for 2012

For further details of our work, please use the links at the bottom and top of this page to browse our website which we share with Jack in the Green Devon. Also, our suppliers and links page details books, materials suppliers and provides links to traditional and green building organisations.