Let The Whitewash Begin

I started off first thing this morning by adding a little mortar to the spaces around the bricks. I wanted to add the whitewash to the mortar between the bricks to add to the longevity so I figured now was the time to make sure any voids were filled. Once the voids were filled it was time to make the whitewash.

After all of the research I did I decided to go with the basic simple whitewash recipe of just the water and hydrated lime. I've had a 5 gallon bucket of lime slacking for a few months so the lime putty was ready and waiting. I didn't want the whitewash to be too thick so I cleaned a 5 gallon bucket to use to mix the whitewash in. Then I used a clean large plastic coffee can to scoop out the lime putty. I scooped out two almost full cans of lime putty and added them to the empty clean bucket. Then I filled the bucket the rest of the way with water. This is about a 10:1 mix of water to lime. I used my cordless drill with a mixer to mix up the whitewash. This worked great and gave me a consistency of about nonfat milk.

So now comes the painting. I started with the top and back of the chimney then moved on to the right side of the chimney. From there I started working around the dome to the left side of the chimney. I left the front of the chimney for last so the mortar that I added had time to dry before applying the whitewash. Once I finished the front of the chimney it was time to take a break.

So here's where I got to by break time. You'll notice all of the newspapers on the counter and bricks. I put these down just to try and keep things clean and make my clean up easy. I didn't want to drip the whitewash all over everything. So on to the base.

So here is the oven after I finished painting the base and took another break. You'll notice that there is a mottled look on the oven. All I can figure out is that the heat was drying some of the lime before it could all be absorbed in. I tried keeping areas damp and tried to keep the coating even but, nothing seemed to make a difference. So I decided to go ahead give the oven a second coat to even the base coat out.

What a drastic difference the second coat made. The mottling was gone and wow did it get bright. The oven is so white now that when that when the sun hits it you need sunglasses to look at it. It looks like something from the Mediterranean. I was watching a show where they were traveling through Greece and Italy and the oven looks like it would belong in any of those places. I have to admit that I do like the way the oven came out so far. I'm going to wait to add any color until after the rest of the kitchen is built. That way I can make sure that all the colors match and the kitchen is all done the same way.

Tomorrow I'll use a wire brush and clean the exposed bricks and give the oven another coat of whitewash. I think I might have time tomorrow after another coat of whitewash to put the boiled linseed oil on the grout on the counter to begin sealing the counter top.