Traditional Lime Plastering for Professionals

Event details

Saturday 10 May 2025

Join us for a fast-paced, practical lime plastering course designed for plasterers, plastering tutors, building contractors and craftspeople seeking to learn about working with traditional lime plaster.  

Our course venue is the custom-designed plastering studio at the National Trust’s Heritage and Rural Skills Centre, where you’ll have your very own plastering bay to practice throughout the course. We also keep our classes small and friendly, so you’ll have plenty of attention from our course team. Tutors Sean Wheatley and Michal Wolf are Master Plasterers with decades of experience working with lime, with assistance from the Durrant & Daughter team. The course delivers trade insights into professional best practice. Our tutors designed this one-day course as essential CPD training, recommended for contractors when starting to work with lime plaster.

If you want to build your confidence in working with solid lime plaster, this course will provide practical experience and tested advice. 

This course is kindly supported by the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers and we can offer some places at a subsidised rate of £85. If you are an early career plasterer, apprentice, plastering tutor or student, seeking to develop your lime plastering skills, and require this financial assistance, please contact us before booking: education@spab.org.uk 

Who is this course for?

• If you already have some experience of plastering, and would like to learn about working with traditional lime plaster, this fast-paced one-day course is for you. We welcome plasterers, plastering tutors, and building contractors and craftspeople with plastering experience. 

• For those with little or no experience of plastering, we recommend you join our two-day introductory course is for anyone interested in learning about plain lime plastering for their home or old buildings under their care, 25 - 26 April 2025. 

You will learn 

By the end of the course, you will know:

• An introduction to the Lime Cycle and slaking.
• Which sands to select, and how to prepare and mix a backing coat. 
• How to fix laths.
• How to prepare the plastering surface and apply a harling coat.
• How to apply traditional lime plaster scratch and floating coats. 
• How to appy a traditional lime plaster finishing coat.  
• How to limewash.

Want to learn more about plastering at the National Trust’s Heritage and Rural Skills Centre? Check out our other courses there:

• An Introduction to Plain Lime Plastering, a hands-on introduction to lime plastering – perfect for homeowners and DIYers, building custodians and specifiers., 25 - 26 April 2025. 

• Pargeting, a one-day workshop for anyone interested in learning pargeting skills for work, general interest or leisure, 7 June 2025. 

Programme

This programme is subject to minor changes.

You will need

• Please wear warm, comfortable clothing that you don't mind getting dirty or damaged. We recommend you bring overalls or coveralls to wear if you can. 
• You will need to wear sturdy (flat and closed) footwear, ideally steel-toe capped boots. 
• We will provide all necessary protective equipment, but if you would prefer to wear your own gloves, goggles and mask please bring them. 
• Please bring your own plastering tools to use on the course. Our suggested equipment is: bucket; hawk; plastering trowel (11 inch / 280mm); finishing trowel (preferably 11 inch / 280mm); plastic or wooden floats; sponge float - tight rubber (Marshaltown No. 38); bucket trowel; water brush. Please ensure your equipment is marked or labelled. We will have spare equipment available too.  

Tutors

Sean Wheatley, traditional plasterer

Sean has four decades' experience as a plasterer specialising in traditional methods, materials and decorative plasterwork. He is a SPAB Guardian on our Education and Training Committee and is a Master Plasterer of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers.

Michal Wolf, plasterer and conservator in lime

Michal is a Master Plasterer of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers and a founder of All Things Lime. He is passionate about traditional methods of working and keeping the craft of lime plastering alive.

With thanks to Jon and Lottie Durrant for their assistance on this course.

Assessment / Accreditation 

The SPAB is an IHBC- recognised CPD provider and attendance certificates for CPD are available on request.  

Accessibility

This is a practical course held in a workshop environment, which can be dusty, cold and noisy. There are some uneven surfaces, such as cobbles, due to the historic nature of the building.

The practical elements of the course involve a lot of physical activity. You will also need to stand for much of the day.

Accessible parking spaces are marked in the car park. Accessible toilets are available.

Anything we can do to make this event more accessible for you? Please email education@spab.org.uk.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

We may take photos or videos at this event to be used in future promotion, including in print and online. 

Photo credit © Ralph Hodgson.

This event is in association with the National Trust and kindly supported by the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers.