PEP BB naturalbuilding.sand.whitewash - Make White Wash

Scraped old lime wash off a wall. Mixed some new whitewash and applied it to the same wall at Allerton Abbey.

Here is my submission for the Natural Building - Sand - White Wash BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
- Raw materials
- Before picture of 4x8 area to receive whitewash
- Action pic (ideally, with YOU in it!)
- After picture of 4x8 area that received whitewash

Minimum requirements - whitewash a 32 square foot area (shape is not critical)

Made whitewash and helped put on a new coat on the wall at Allerton Abbey.

- Raw materials.
- Before picture of 4x8 area to receive whitewash.
- Action pic (ideally, with YOU in it!)
- After picture of 4x8 area that received whitewash.

Make white wash bb submission:

During the PTJ, I noticed that the white wash being used for the Abbey was not sealing properly and flaking off the wall… so I did some investigating and this is what I learned in my experimenting:
* scraping all the way  down to the cob made it more difficult for the white wash to cure properly. The areas where we only sanded lightly sealed better, regardless of the wash being used.
*Thicker is NOT better. Anything past whole milk/cream consistency takes it out of “white wash” and into “plaster” which would require some kind of substrate such as sand to strengthen it.
*the ratios of lime to salt greatly effect the overall result. I found that by adding 1cup salt to a gallon of water first, was better than mixing all of the ingredients together at once.
*This is a SLOW process. The temptation was to add multiple layers at once which only resulted in more flaking.  In fact, with such a dry environment, keeping the room air moist by misting the air frequently helped to slow down the drying process, allowing the lime to cure more thoroughly. (Thanks for the tip on that one, Josiah!)
*it is important to check the “freshness” of the lime and only make what you need in the moment. Old lime will not cure as well as freshly slaked, hydrated lime.

Here is my submission for PEP BB naturalbuilding.sand.whitewash - Make White Wash:

Minimum requirements:
- white wash a 32 square foot area (shape is not critical)
- apply two or more coats (proper white washing may take up to 8 coats)

To get certified for this BB, I am posting the following pics:  
- Raw materials.
- Before picture of 4x8 area to receive whitewash.
- Action pic with me in it
- After picture of 4x8 area that received whitewash.

Note: Powdered lime is caustic before mixing thoroughly with water, so protective mask and eyewear is recommended. This particular wall received three coats but can obviously take a few more.

Here is my BB submission for the white washed wall. I ended up doing four coats before the coverage looked good on my section.

Minimum requirements:
- white wash a 32 square foot area (shape is not critical)
- apply two or more coats (proper white washing may take up to 8 coats)

To get certified for this BB, post the following pics, or a short video depicting the same:  

- Raw materials.
- Before picture of 4x8 area to receive whitewash.
- Action pic (ideally, with YOU in it!)
- After picture of 4x8 area that received whitewash.

Here's my submission for bb making a white wash. Annual white wash of my strawbale house with hydrated lime and rainwater mix.

Minimum requirements:
- white wash a 32 square foot area (shape is not critical)
- apply two or more coats (proper white washing may take up to 8 coats)

To get certified for this BB, post the following pics, or a short video depicting the same:  
- Raw materials.
- Before picture of 4x8 area to receive whitewash.
- Action pic (ideally, with YOU in it!)
- After picture of 4x8 area that received whitewash.

I've whitewashed a wall that's 84" tall by 76" wide (including both sides of the corner); so 44 1/3 sqft. My raw materials is a bag of lime from Menard's that I soaked in water, and then when making a bucket of limewash, I thin from the big tub into a small pail with saltwater. I'm maybe only on the edge of fulfilling the action pic requirement, but I'm hoping the mixing drill in the bucket with my feet counts as "action" :-). It's remarkable how additional coats seems to erase the previously deposited lime as it gets wet. My wife thought I must be doing something wrong for a while! So I included a picture to illustrate that phenomenon.

White washed the west side of The Library during the SKIP 2024 workshop. There are 32 sq ft of wall inside the lumber rack and an additional 2 sq ft in the combined areas above and below the rack for a total of 34 sq ft washed area.

I white washed this wall.

- I used a mix of lime, salt and water.
- the area was 89” x 53.5” (4,761.5 square inches total). This slightly exceeds the minimum requirement of 4,608 square inches (48” x 96”)
- my mix was a bit runny, so I ended up putting four coats on.

Cool process!

Whitewashed the northern wall on my she shed today. 6' x 8' minus the window puts me about 44 square feet.

My mix is hydrated lime and water, this lime was actually hydrated 2 years ago - the last time I whitewashed. I stored it covered in my basement. When I was researching whitewash I read somewhere that yhe longer the lime sits in water the better.

I have no complaints with the mix other than the mess I made when I dropped my brush in it lol