Whitewash/lime wash inside the house?

[Kuikentje]

Has anybody got any experience of using this, how long does it last, how good is it? Is it useful for an older house like ours where the wallpaper keeps falling off (we're not going to wallpaper again) because of the condensation from the inside that occurs when warm air hits the cold outside walls because it is only a single layer of brick with no cavity walls.

All advice gratefully accepted.

[Don Roberto]

I painted the inside bare brick of my single brick front porch (double glazed windows and front door). The condensation had to be seen to be believed everything streaming and soaking wet in cold weather. My next door neighbour has the same setup, yet he never had any problems. He gave me just one word of advice, and that was ventilation. I fitted a 9"x3" air brick 4 years ago and have never had any condensation since then. As for whitewash, I seem to remember as a kid 55yrs + ago our outside toilet was whitewashed by my mum at around 3 yr intervals and cannot remember any damp or mouldy patches. But again there was loads of ventilation, i.e. 3" gap top and bottom of our lavvy door, (the wind fairly whistled up ones trouser leg). Ah happy days, NOT. Cheerio me deario........

[Totally Scrambled]

Our exterior walls are solid brick and as such are designed to breathe, so moisture does move through the walls. It is not condensation and providing the pointing is sound is only a very small amount and not enough to register on a damp meter.
The problem with such walls was caused by people fitting the old style double glazing without trickle vents and painting the walls with modern non permeable paints or wallpapering them. This stopped the flow of air and moisture evaporation which led to mustiness and the paint and paper slowly being pushed off the wall by the through flow of moisture and eventually to the plaster deteriorating, due to becoming "waterlogged" which would then need replastering.
These sort of houses need to be painted in whitewash, limewash or distemper so that the walls can breathe. They are not as hard wearing, nor can they be wiped clean like modern paints, so dirt can mark them quite easily and something scraping against them can leave scuff marks more easily that on modern stuff.
They retain their colour and last as well as modern paint does and have a matt finish rather than a shiny one.
To use these types of paint you have to apply them to bare plaster so any modern paint has to be removed but once done you can paint a new layer over them in the same way that you can with modern paints.
I'm in the process of redoing our lounge with distemper at the moment.
Hope that's some help.
Dom