Listed buildings and conservation areas
Limewash on a listed cottage has been overcoated with plastic masonry paint. Why is that a breathability problem the survey can describe and not a consent the survey can grant?
Because plastic masonry paint can stop a limewashed wall from breathing, and the survey can describe that risk. Limewash lets moisture move. A plastic coating over it can hold water in the wall, which is a condition comment about breathability. It is not a consent the survey can grant. The report does not approve the coating, and it does not permit you to strip it. On a listed house, whether the paint should come off, and how, is a conservation question beyond the rating.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Surveyors are often shown a hard painted face on a cottage that was built to shed and absorb moisture through lime. They can note blistering, trapped damp, or a coating that looks impermeable, and they can say why that matters. They cannot decide that the overcoating was lawful, or that removing it is consented work. Historic England's explanation of listing is that the building is listed. A breathability paragraph does not stand in for listed building consent.
Keep the two problems apart when you write to the agent. One is condition: a wall that may be holding moisture because a plastic paint sits on limewash. The other is control: what you may do about it once you own a listed building. Ask the surveyor how far the damp signs go. Ask the solicitor and the council before you price a strip-off as if the survey had ordered it. The inspection describes the coating. It does not licence the remedy.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where did you see the plastic coating, and what damp signs went with it?
- Are you describing breathability, rather than granting or refusing consent?
- What should not be assumed about stripping the paint?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the paint comment as a breathability and damp note.
- Do not treat it as listed building consent to remove the coating.
- Ask the council before you cost a strip of paint on a listed wall.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the paint looks fresh, has the damp problem gone?
Not necessarily. Fresh plastic paint can hide a lime wall and still hold moisture. Appearance is not a test of breathability, and it is not a consent.
Will the survey tell you the colour was approved?
No. The survey can describe the coating and the damp risk. Approval of the paint, or of its removal, is not a condition rating.