Gigolo and the Lime- The Ugliest Fireplace in the Northwest

    Do you remember the ugliest fireplace in the Pacific Northwest? Let me refresh you with a visual you will wish you've never seen. Somethings you just cannot unsee.

Oh so ugly!

   Prior to the floor coming I decided I should do whatever it was that I was going to do to the fireplace. Remember that my dreams of refacing the fireplace quickly flew away with my roof  in the windstorm. This fireplace encompassed the trifecta of ugly. It was ugly on so many levels. First and foremost, some gigolo must have hung his gold chain right there on the mantle, straight out of the seventies. The monochromatic brick is eye numbing, borderline excruciating. Of equal importance would be the insert. Who would insert that in a fireplace? Brass is making a comeback I hear. Not in this format! Finally, just to top it off someone decided hey why not put a bench on this thing? Yes of course, lets find some classy manufactured stone. Maybe it's actually concrete with some weird coating. When examining an archaic fireplace, or its decorative (if you can call it that) elements do not arbitrarily unscrew parts to see what they do. This is simply unsafe. I would never do that. I totally did that, and almost crushed myself. That piece of mystery material is attached in a most bizarre fashion, and it looks like it is staying on for the long haul.
         I seriously looked into painting the fireplace. Everything that I read about it left me feeling very blahhhh. I hated the way the color just sat on top of the brick. Brick can be beautiful, right? So how could I make mine beautiful? The next idea was to whitewash it. Basically that's mixing your latex paint with water so it's a bit less opaque. This was more viable, yet it would still suffocate the brick. Does brick really need to breathe? Will it die if it doesn't? Also, once you paint brick, that's it for life. No divorces, no affairs, you are married to painted brick for life, even if its a white wash. So, what then?
      Eventually I came across the lost craft of lime-washing. Its not that uncommon on the east coast and in Europe. Not so much on the west coast. Go, figure. For many people white-washing is white-washing no matter the material. Not that I ever thought that. I totally thought that it was the same. Slap some stuff up and washed it was! However, when you start perusing the actual masonry and artist websites (in the wee hours of the morning because yes once again I'm curious and find this fascinating) you quickly learn that white-washing is paint and water and lime-washing now that's something different all together. Lime-washing is often used on exteriors, instead of paint, especially with brick. Lime can be used a number of ways. There is Natural Hydraulic Lime which is made by burning and slacking limestone at the quarry. Basically it makes it reactive to water, as I understand it. No that I really understand it.  Lime Putty, or non hydraulic lime is made by slaking quicklime in water for a VERY LONG TIME. At least three months so that it will cure and age properly. Quick lime is also the lime that you hear crazy horror stories about. You know where people burn their faces off or cause massive explosions. So that was a bit of a deterrent for me. Not really. Here's what I love about lime-wash:

1.  It's best applied to porous surfaces because it sinks into the material, rather than sitting on top. Something about that makes me as if the surface and the lime-wash were meant to be together....so happy together.
2.  It gives whatever is being washed an older look, with depth and character. Because of the crystals created by the carbonization (not getting too science-y here right?) it refracts light. So there is unique look to it.
3.  It protects whatever it is used on and doesn't really allow mold or bacteria growth. That has something to do with the PH, blah blah blah. 
4. Cultures all over the world have been using for centuries as a protective and decorative covering for buildings and interiors. Learning a technique or a craft that has been done for hundreds of year=history porn for me baby. I love it!
5. You can use pigments to color it! Insert my fantasies of mottled creams and whites to match the mystery material bench. Hey why not take a crazy out of my league project and complicate it?

All of these things are good...character....history.....depth....anti mold and gross stuff. The more I read, the more I loved the idea. 

This Ain't Grandma' s Recipe Box 

   Some people use Portland cement in their wash, as it includes lime and the concrete helps it all stick to the surface. The last thing you want is lime dust floating around in or around your house. On the surface as a protective coating it actually helps the air quality of the environment. In dust form, its toxic. Isn't that amazing? Ohhhhhh scary!  Some people use a different element to bind the lime and make sure it sticks to the surface. Ya that's probably a good idea. The idea of using cement scared me more that the lime itself. Cement=permanent in Mandy-Land. What if I mess up? Here's a first, I'm not overconfident about this project. I was totally confident that with enough research I would know exactly what I was doing.  So, off to the artisan and masons of Europe. Now there's some seriously good info for ya! These people know what they are doing! Here's my favorite sights for info on lime-washing and products.

1. http://www.earthpigments.com/limewash
2. http://blog.segretofinishes.com/segreto/2014/04/28/a-limewashed-facelift-for-my-exterior.html
3. http://www.limestuff.co.uk/pages/user-guides/how-to-apply-limewash.html
4. http://www.minervaconservation.com/articles/limewash.html

     The more that you read, the more I understood. The more I understood that I was confused as heck!  Basically, you use lime putty, diluted to the point that it resembles milk. Some professionals recommend an additive for adhesion. Again, you don't want dusting and chipping. Most of the common additives aren't substances you want inside your house, and they reduce breathability. Is that a word? On one website I read that on farms they used to mix the limewash with cow's blood for adhesion. EWWW! Originally I read about these additives:

1-Casein- All I know is that its a protein found in milk. That seems stinky, am I right? But I wonder if the milk would eventually be cheesy. I do like cheese.
2-Tallow- Yes because everyone wants a wall slathered in fat! UGH!
3-Raw Linseed Oil- OK, maybe.

If its a chemical reaction we need, then there must be a better choice. Something must react to the lime that doesn't rot on your walls or once belong to an animal. Eventually I found my answer. One website stated that the binder or additive needed to be mineral based. OK! SALT! That's a mineral right? And who cares if they were talking about lime paint. Close enough for me!  The recipes that included salt, included it in varying amounts. So it was a little difficult, but I figured too much would be better than little.

The Emergence of Masonry Man

I'm totally feeling the alliteration vibe tonight....well on most nights I suppose.

  So off I went to find hydrated lime. First to Lowe's, Home Depot, and then Ace. No dice. The best offer I got was to use gardening lime. Somehow I don't think that lime is processed the same way. Ace, I love Ace. They are always so helpful. Anyway they referred me to a specialty asphalt and cement place. Ah ha! These guys are going to have it! I know it! They didn't have it. Of course they finally told me they didn't have it after they satisfied all of their curiosity by asking me a million questions. They seemed shocked that a little woman would be searching for hydrated lime. It can't be that uncommon, can it?  However, the super cool guy at one of the three desks decided he was going to hook me up. He called a masonry supply in Woodinville (which is a tad of a trek) to see if they had masonry lime, or hydrated lime. Success! They did. He clarified that yes indeed this manshack masonry place would sell to me (since I'm not a contractor). I got their contact information and was off. Enter manshack masonry place and four twenty-something guys staring blankly at me. Then the onslaught of questions and queries....Why would you use that? It's really for mortarr. Do you know that? Are you sure its going to work for a wash? Can't you just use paint? I've never heard of that before. When hope was all but lost, my Masonry Man emerged.

Rolling on his desk chair this old guy (maybe 60s) came to my rescue. He told those whippersnappers that lime had been used for centuries. He knew exactly what I was doing. So it was....I had my lime....and the support of Masonry Man.

 

 

 

Anxiety in Application

 OK, clearly I'm sold on this lime-washing stuff. Somehow I needed a recipe to work with during the prep process. I always follow recipes. I never follow recipes. I start our with good intentions, I do! Then, as I follow the recipe I have a deep desire to "improve it". So far, its worked out for me.Shall i try this method with a caustic substance like lime?  I looked at several recipes. Then I combined the common elements and ta-da! We have lime putty. Make sure you wear protective gear. This is serious stuff. Here's my process and supply list.

Supplies: hydrated lime, water, trowel, paddle attachment for a drill that is at least 24", a drill, salt (I used Morton's, the kind you buy at the grocery store), 5 gallon bucket with a top, a metal trash can with lid, dust mask, masonry brush, something to spray water from, a clean rag or 5, a natural bristled brush, long sleeved shirt, and chemical resistant gloves My neighbors must have thought HAZMAT had arrived because I was looking freaky!Either that of it was reappearance of ET's healthcare providers. You need to wear the protective gear whenever you work with the lime, in any form.




Process:
Part One, making the wash:
You are going to mix 6-12 cups of lime with 1-2 gallons of water. Then add 1 pound of salt.  Alternate the ingredients as you add them (don't add all the lime and salt at once). Sound a little loosey goosey? It is. What matters here is consistency. Use the drill and masonry paddle to mix it as you go. Your goal is to get the consistency of milk. Once you have that, you get to let it sit. Yep that's right, more waiting. It needs to cure for 2-3 days at a minimum. So leave it in the bucket, cover it, and walk away.
Storage: The bagged lime is just as caustic as anything else. You need a solid metal container to store it in. We got a metal trashcan with a lid. The lime-wash will reside in the bucket until you use what you need to from it.

Fast Forward Three Days

 Once you have your HAZMAT uniform on and the area prepped you are ready. A few notes of caution. First, for me most of this was counter intuitive. That is to say that initially I couldn't trust my gut or my eyes. I simply followed directions. OK, I tried to follow directions. I may have altered a little along the way. Whenever you are going to apply the wash you need to follow the same pattern. This was mine.

1. Wet the area you are going to wash. I used a garden sprayer. I was worried I'd wet too much but in hindsight the wetter the better.And really isn't that always the case? I learned as I went.
2. Stir the wash with the drill.
3. Use a masonry brush to apply the wash only to the area that you have wet, in a figure eight fashion. It will drip. It will be messy. It will look like nothing. It is something, I promise. Pay attention to make sure you get into the mortar (sometimes I used a natural bristle brush to ensure that the mortar was washed or touch it up).
4. Wait about 40 seconds for the drips to slow. 
5. Take a clean rag ball it up and blot in a totally random pattern. Blot a little in some parts and a lot in others. You could also dry brush it off, but to me that seemed like it could fling it everywhere.If you want more coverage then the first coat should not include blotting.That's how I did my fireplace. It was a total accident but the blotting took that lovely inconsistency and made it artistic on the other coats.

Now wait. Here's the very uncomfortable truth. You will have no idea what it looks like. When lime-wash is wet it can be around 10x darker (meaning that  it will be a whole lot whiter when it dries) than when it dries. So you apply...look at it skeptically....assume it will dry better than it looks currently....and wait. Here's what mine looked like immediately after the first coat.

    I tried to say that this was exactly what I wanted.I stayed calm and waiting for the reults that I knew would come. I didn't freak out that the gigolo fireplace now looked like it was coated in mucous. Actually, I was making plans for paint, maybe even tile! But then something subtle and unexpected happened about an hour or so later.

60-90 minutes later 

OK..... there appears to be hope.

 I knew this was going to be ok. I just had to be patient and wait. I had no idea if it was going to work. So I spent that hour and a half thinking of soultions I could present to the husband after he realized that I mucousified our gigilo fireplace. This pattern continued through out the night. The darkening, not the stressball problem-solving. Ok see the lights and the darks? That's all from my well planned random blotting. I had no idea how I did that and spent about an hour studying it before I realized it was simply uneven distribution.

So onward and upward! The next day at exactly 24 hours after the first wash (that's the minimum time you should wait between coats) I went at my figure 8 frenzying with the determination of a tantruming two year-old! This will work if I do it long enough....

By the  end of day 2 I was getting super excited, and comfortable.

Day 2

Here's the really super cool thing about limewashing, as long at it is wet you can work it to adjust the appearance. This will also make the perfectionist in you never want to stop. You will want to touch up this and blot a little more there. you'll see a drip you don't like. Just drink a whiskey and coke...then its all ok. 

Most of the blogs I read stated that 3-5 coats would do the trick. Are you serious? That can't be right! I was determined to get it done in three. I mean I DO have other projects to attend to. To my happy surprise it looked like this in the morning.I mean seriously we are entering the territory of "The Little Fireplace that Could." I'm kind of loving my mucousified gigolo fireplace. Shhhh..don't tell.

Morning of Day 3

 It's beautiful! Its amazing! Why does it look like there are two holes in the wash on either side? Hmmmm...I can fix this.Time to research. I didn't research anything. I just hoped for the best and did some selective touch up.

End of day 3

Now that's what Im talking about! I simply wetted those areas, reapplied and reworked. I filled in some other gaps too.It's perfect. So my husband came home and reinstalled the TV. Life would soon go back to normal. Or I would relentlessly stare at it and find flaws that I knew I could fix. If I cover the TV, it will be fine right?

This is so much better! It only took a few minutes the following morning or in the middle of the night tomato tomaaato. If it stays like this I will love it.

Ta flippin da!

Now it's really done. After drying and a full 24 hour cure it is done. For the first few days I would go up to it and touch it to see if the dust was coming off, or if it was flaking. Then my son casually asked me why I was petting the fireplace.I secretly love it and shall pet it all day long! Be gone with you child! I decided then that enough was enough and all was well. Please ignore the subfloors. That's a post for another day!

PS- Did I mention that I spray painted the brass black? Yep that heat tolerant spray worked out great...until it started to rub off the handles. Now its oil rubbed brass!