SPAB Ireland & BLFI Workshop 2022 - "Keeping Traditional Walls Warm"

Event details

The workshop will follow on from our successful workshop last year, which covered an introduction to repairing traditional walls (stone or bricks) using lime or earth mortars.

This workshop will focus on wall finishes, i.e. plasters and renders, and will look at both traditional (lime/earth plaster directly onto solid walls) and contemporary (insulating cork/hemp/other lime plasters, internal insulation) approaches.

The workshop is aimed at homeowners, but will also be relevant to anyone working with or caring for old buildings.

The speakers and organisers will finish the workshop with a discussion/debate on the various options available and their place in traditional buildings, which will help inform owners of traditional buildings which wall finishes to go for as they aim to make their homes more energy efficient.

09:00 Registration - Tea & Coffee

09:15 - 09:45 Introduction

• The BLFI and the promotion of Lime (BLFI Chair)

• The SPAB & its approach to conservation. (SPAB Chair)

• Health and Safety briefing

09:45 - 10:30 Back to basics (SPAB & BLFI)

• Traditional walls and how they function

• General principles of keeping water away from walls

• "A dry wall is a warm wall"

• Overview of lime mortars : hot-mix, gauged hot-mix, NHLs,

• Importance of choosing appropriate mortar

10:30 - 11:00 Energy Efficiency in Traditional Buildings (Peter Cox of Carrig Conservation, and Jacqui Donnelly, Department of Housing, Local Covernment and Heritage)

• Key items to consider

• Where to look for trusted, impartial advice

• Further training available

11:00 - 11:30 Tea & Coffee

11:30 - 13:00 Traditional Approach

Demonstrators - Eoin Madigan, Damien Condon and Ger Edwards (practitioners)

• A demonstration of and discussion on traditional lime plastering, harling and rendering.

• Internal plastering layers

• Importance of a good harling coat

Demonstrator - Tom Pollard (practitioners)

• Overview of earth plasters and mortars, appropriate plasters / renders for buildings built with earth mortars

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

14:00 - 15:30 Contemporary Approach

Demonstrators - Brian Tobin, Henry Thompson (practitioners) and Niall Crossan (Ecological Building Systems)

• Demonstration of and discussion on the pros / cons of insulating plasters / renders (hemp, cork etc) and internal insulation on solid walls

3:30-3:45 Tea & Coffee

3:45 Moderated discussion and Q&A

Guest moderator - Dr. Jason Bolton

Dr. Jason Bolton will be our guest moderator for our panel discussion with todays demonstrators on the pros and cons of contemporary versus traditional plasters and renders.

This project is supported by the Heritage Council under the Heritage Capacity Funding 2022.

You will be redirected to our Eventbrite site to complete booking for this event

SPAB Ireland was established in 2017 as the inaugural Irish branch of the SPAB. Following the return of several recent Irish SPAB Fellows and Scholars to live and work in Ireland, the lack of an SPAB presence has been acutely felt. After a successful open meeting in February 2017, we have established a committee and have started planning how we will bring the SPAB philosophy and ethos to Ireland.

Booking Terms & Conditions

Accessibility: please contact the Group Organiser before booking to discuss any special access requirements.