Earlier this year we planned the paint-strip and redecoration of the bell-ringing room at the Grade I Listed St Marys Church in Whalley. The works took place during internal renovation works of the bell-chamber above. The bell-ringing room is located within the first floor of the Church tower.
This location presented an issue of avoiding water and minimising dirt. We therefore addressed the non-breathable paints with a poultice paint remover. This process involved applying the paste and sheeting it. Once the paint layers are drawn out, the sheet is carefully pulled away and disposed of.
A poultice paint remover is a clean and effective way to remove layers of paint. It is less effort than stripping by hand, but the process requires time prior to peeling the sheet off.
Decoration had not been carried out for some time as the tower had suffered effects of water ingress. The tower exterior had been lime repointed a few years prior to prevent ingress. The stripping of non-breathable modern paints was necessary in order to allow the wall to be able to transmit moisture out of the tower walls.
Once the layers of paint had been stripped, we found that modern fillers and cementitious mortar patching had taken place. These were removed by hand and we dubbed out with quicklime (aka hot lime) in order to maintain the breathability of the wall.
The Arched window had been repointed in non-porous cementitious mortar, causing moisture to deteriorate the stone. We repointed the joints in lime mortar and cleaned off the loose stone from the face. This should now allow the moisture to disperse from the stone.
A paint specification had been produced by the Church Conservation Architect which was successfully applied and brightened the room. The fitted benches and timber cladded were repainted to finish the fresh new paint work.
We had also assisted with Church maintenance of cleaning moss from the aisle roof of the church along with clearance of the bell chamber and tower roof earlier this year.
