Floored by the finish
Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire was built in the 1590s by Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. Otherwise known as Bess of Hardwick, she became one of the most capable and ambitious women in Elizabethan England, with power and wealth second only to Queen Elizabeth herself. The spectacular Elizabethan house, now owned by the National Trust, was recently featured in the BBC documentary series 'Britain's Best Buildings'.
As part of an ongoing programme of repairs and conservation by the National Trust, specialist contractors Trumpers Ltd of Birmingham were called in to carry out extensive repairs to some of the four hundred year old plaster floors at the Hall. Like many ancient buildings in the East Midlands, the floors at Hardwick Hall were originally produced using a gypsum-based mortar made from what was then called 'plaster stone'. The task was to replicate, as near as possible, the original methods and materials that were used in Elizabethan times.
After careful research and trials carried out by master plasterer Jeff Orton,under the direction of architects Rodney Melville & Partners, and in consultation with English Heritage, a specification was drawn up for a plaster floor that would be effective and sympathetic with the fabric of the ancient building.
The mix for the floor comprises a gypsum plaster binder mixed with aggregate that was obtained by crushing old plaster floors from the hall. The gypsum-based plaster selected for the project was Tarmac's Limelite High Impact Finishing Plaster, a hard, durable plaster finish formulated to provide high resistance to knocks and casual damage in high-risk areas.
Before the flooring work could begin, large areas of floor had to be taken up to enable carpentry repairs to be carried out to failed joists and timber substructures. The old plaster floor was then crushed and the reclaimed aggregate was bagged separately for each of four rooms. The screed was mixed in-situ and expertly laid at varying thickness up to 100mm onto split oak lath, that had been covered with a scattering of hay in the traditional manner.
The floors were successfully re-laid providing flat, hard wearing surfaces that will hopefully last another 400 years. Brian Trumper of Trumpers Ltd.said: "All parties agreed that Limelite High Impact Finish proved to be the most suitable choice for the job in terms of strength, setting time, workability and nil-expansion."
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