by Sarah Marie Jackson, Tye Botting, and Mary Striegel
Cane River Creole National Historical
Park (CARI) represents more than 200
years of plantation life. It is home to
more than 42 historic vernacular structures.
The park consists of Oakland
Plantation and the outbuildings of
Magnolia Plantation (Figs. 1 and 2).
The buildings are constructed of wood,
low-fired brick, and, in some cases,
bousillage — clay or mud mixed with
moss and hair, which is packed around
sticks that have been placed between
wood timbers.
Park superintendent Laura Soulliere
Gates explains the early use of limewash
at CARI thus: "Historically nearly all of
the buildings at this park were coated
with limewash, and that material served
multiple purposes in much the same way
as the finish coating on adobe in the
Southwest. Limewash provided a layer
of protection from the onslaught of
wind and water that weathered buildings'
exteriors. Limewash gave a layer
of hardness to both interior and exterior
walls that protected softer materials
underneath, such as bousillage or handmade
brick." 1
In 2003 CARI considered applying
limewash to many of the historic structures
at the park. NCPTT partnered
with CARI to determine the durability
of traditional and modified limewash
recipes within certain criteria. CARI
wanted to identify a lasting, low-cost
limewash that could be applied in approximately
three layers and would last
three to five years. Quality Finish, a
local paint contractor, joined the project
to ensure that local craftsmen would
gain the experience and knowledge to
apply limewash outside of a laboratory
setting.
In collaboration with these partners,
NCPTT designed a program for testing
limewash on weathered wood, roughsawn
wood, historic handmade brick,
and modern brick. The historic bricks
were handmade, low-fired bricks; the
modern bricks were newer, factoryproduced
bricks that had been salvaged
locally from twentieth-century buildings.
CARI supplied the materials for the
substrate to which the limewash would
be applied from supplies they had at the
park. Epoxy was later added to the
study to take into account its use in
preserving the wooden structures at the
park. Quality Finish assisted with historical
research and prepared many of the
samples. The firm researched possible
limewash recipes used locally by interviewing
community members. Unfortunately,
they were unable to identify recipes
used in the community and therefore
turned to historic and modern published
limewash recipes, including a limewash
included in the National Park Service’s
contracting schedules. 2
Given the scope of the study, NCPTT
researchers identified several questions
to be addressed through testing:
- Does the source of the lime affect the
durability of the limewash?
- Does the type of lime (e.g., hydrated
lime or lime putty) affect the durability
of the limewash?
- Does the surface material, or substrate,
affect the adhesion or the
resistance to abrasion of limewashes?
- How do various additives and modifications
affect the performance of
limewashes?
- Can acrylic-emulsion additives improve
or hinder the performance of
limewashes?
- How do limewashes behave after
long-term exposure to ultraviolet
light and temperature?
Originally published in APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 38:2-3, 2007
Notes
1. Laura Soulliere Gates, email to author, Aug.
17, 2006.
2. National Park Service Technical Information
Center, 'Class C' Cost Estimating Guide: Historic
Preservation and Stabilization (Denver:
Denver Service Center, 1993), 18.
3. Colin Mitchell Rose, Traditional Paints,
available from http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/paint/paint.htm.
4. Abbott Lowell Cummings and Richard M.
Candee, "Colonial and Federal America:
Accounts of Early Painting Practices" in Paint
in America: The Colors of Historic Buildings
14 (New York: Wiley, 1994), 14.
5. Scottish Lime Centre, Technical Advice Note
15: External Lime Coatings on Traditional
Buildings (Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, 2001).
6. Ibid.
7. John Ashurst and Nicola Ashurst, Mortars,
Plasters, and Renders, vol. 3 of English Heritage
Technical Handbook (Great Britain:
Gower, 1995), 47.
8. Roger W. Moss, "Nineteenth-Century Paints:
A Documentary Approach" in Paint in America:
The Colors of Historic Buildings (New
York: Wiley, 1994), 55.
9. ASTM Subcommittee D01.24, Standard Test
Methods for Viscosity by Ford Viscosity Cup,
ASTM D 1200-94 (West Conshohocken, Pa.:
ASTM, 1996).
10. Marcy Frantom, email to author, Sept. 12,
2005.
11. ASTM Subcommittee D01.23, Standard
Test Methods for Abrasion Resistance of
Organic Coatings by Falling Abrasive, ASTM
D 968-93 (West Conshohocken, Pa.: ASTM,
1996).
12. ASTM Subcommittee D01.23, Standard
Test Methods for Measuring Adhesion by Tape
Test, ASTM D 3359-95 (West Conshohocken,
Pa.: ASTM, 1996).
13. ASTM Subcommittee D01.27, Standard
Practice for Conducting Tests on Paint and
Related Coatings and Materials Using a Fluorescent
UV-Condensation Light- and Water-
Exposure Apparatus, ASTM D 4587-91 (West
Conshohocken, Pa.: ASTM, 1996).
14. Pete Sotos, conversation with author, Nov.
15, 2006.
15. Ruth Johnston-Feller, Color Science in the
Examination of Museum Objects: Nondestructive
Procedures (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation
Institute, 2001), 35.
16. L. Franke and I. Schumann, "Causes and
Mechanisms of Decay of Historic Brick Buildings
in Northern Germany," in Conservation of
Historic Brick Structures, ed. N. S. Baer, S. Fitz,
and R. A. Livingston (Shaftsbury: Donhead,
1998), 26-34.
SARAH MARIE JACKSON joined NCPTT in
2005 as a graduate intern to continue the testing
for the limewash study. In 2006 she accepted
a permanent position with the Architecture
and Engineering Program at NCPTT. She
received a master’s degree in historic preservation
from the Savannah College of Art and
Design.
TYE BOTTING is a research staff member at
the Institute for Defense Analyses. He served as
the NCPTT/NSU joint faculty researcher for
three years. He holds a PhD in nuclear chemistry
from Texas A&M University, where he did
post-doctoral work in nuclear engineering.
MARY STRIEGEL is responsible for NCPTT’s
Materials Research Program, focusing on
evaluation of preservation treatments for
preventing damage to cultural resources. She
also directs investigation of preservation treatments
geared towards cemeteries and develops
seminars and workshops nationwide. She holds
a PhD in inorganic chemistry from Washington
University in St. Louis.