Limewash

A thin, brushed coating of slaked lime suspended in water, applied over earthen plaster as a protective and visual finish. Limewash slows surface erosion, brightens the wall, and can be pigmented with iron oxides or charcoal for the ochre-and-white registers visible on some High Atlas and Drâa Valley kasbahs. The technique is renewable and breathable and is broadly compatible with the pisé substrate; modern plastic-based paints are not, and their inappropriate application is one of the documented causes of accelerated decay of restored earthen surfaces.