Limewash - Design - When is it safe to paint newly lime plastered walls?

This will depend on atmospheric conditions including ventilation, temperature and humidity as well as any background moisture within the substrate which will migrate out through the plaster.

As a general rule, you can apply limewashes more quickly while the background is still ‘green’ this will have the effect of the limewash ‘frescoing’ into the plaster – although this is not advisable with darkly pigmented limewashes such as olive, strong red and blue where the moisture in areas may cause streaking.

Leave fat lime plasters 4-6 weeks before applying clay paints and 4-8 weeks before applying silicate paints. Onto proprietary pre-mixed hydraulic lime plasters such as the EcoCork plaster system, the surface may be able to take a clay paint after a few days to a week.