Today is an interesting time to observe. So many people are buying older properties and then deciding that they can carry out a full renovation on their own, because according to silly TV programmes, everything is easy and there are millions of pounds to be made in a short space of time, but of course that is all just lies. However it genuinely amazes us at the vast number of people today who fall right into this trap, and then go and join Facebook groups to ask for advice on pretty much everything they encounter in their "forever home" (that one really does always give us a giggle 😄😄 because it immediately shows that the person who thinks that way, clearly has no background whatsoever in properties, but lives in their delusional world looking for the "live,laugh life" sign to hang on their wall in their "forever  home" 😄😄

First things first: there are some very good groups on Facebook which do have some very knowledgeable and experienced people providing some excellent advice , and all for free! But we do occassionally see what we call the APS (angry Poster Syndrome) - Far too many people are angry these days; something very wrong has happened in this world and please do use these groups, but if you don't get a particular answer that you were already anticipating, then simply grow up and don't behave like a petulant 6 year old child, instead try remembering that you are asking someone who you have never met, and nost likely will never meet because you will be too busy with your  "forever home" 😄😄 so don't go making yourself look silly to every other person in the group who can read your comments!

Sometimes I get attacked for my replies, but again, if someone doesn't like the truth, then to quote an old saying" if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen" simple really 👍 none of us on these groups have spent huge chunks of our lives for you! We do it all for free to help and support, we don't do it to be attacked by delusional, inexperienced and unknowledgeable people with their "forever home" 😄😄 mindset, just remember you are asking, not us because you need us, not the other way around👍

Wall Caulking

Because clearly everyone today is an expert Decorator, but obviously cannot do correct surface preparation them selves, there appears to be a trend for having the walls skimmed on the interior of the "forever homes" 😄😄, and it really does beg a very simple question: Why?

The self proclaimed Decorator is responsible for preparing the walls correctly prior to painting (we've already covered the idiocy of people thinking that Lining paper is for surface preparation in another link in our Decorating section, have a read)

Today the word "caulk" in Decorating immediately has the unknowledgeable and inexperienced jumping to the same conclusion - tubes of water based gunk which is applied using a mastic gun. So now we'll teach you what original Wall Caulking is, and this will save you lots of money by doing this yourself instead of paying someone else to smother your walls in your "forever home" in a hygroscopic salt known as Gypsum plaster which will absorb and retain all atmospheric moisture in the rooms, and cause dampness on your walls - and damp walls are cold walls in the winter, meaning your energy costs rise!

Don't forget!:

 "The assumptive mind fails, where the inquisitive mind prevails" 

British Gypsum

The assumptive minds today see the word "Gypsum" and straight away jump into a mood where they need to run to the hills with the sign below:

We have already covered Gypsum, on another page HERE

However using the inquisitive mind we cab tell you that British Gypsum is the UK company of the parent company called Saint Gobain which you can check out here: https: //www.saint-gobain.co.uk/

In most of today's high street sheds you can now buy bags of a powder filler called Easyfil, and from many many years of experience we know that this filler is a lime based filler with some additives which are to speed up the drying time, so it it's a fast drying lime based filler. Now before the assumptive minds start rattling on from their armchairs, NHL's work on the same basis and are specified for older buildings in limecrete and limescreed mixes because again as we have already covered they are moisture vapour permeable, and  we have also carried out our own in house testing to prove that they do not continue to harden as is very wrongly stared by many online today. 

You can read about our findings HERE

In addition to Easyfil, British Gypsum also produce "Quick Sand" (pic above) which is another lime based filler - easyfil is useful for deeper imperfections and is usually all that is needed forvwall caulking, but it can also then be over filled with Quick sand for a finer finish if required;: again they are bothe lime based fillers, so are compatible with one another.