It’s a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it

Yep it was a dirty job, the walls in the kitchen we covered with layers of old whitewash an dirt and soot. Before we could do any more work it all had to come off. So with the entrance through to the rest of the house tapped off with plastic and duct tape it was time to put on the dust masks and get on with the job.

The end wall was the hardest as the soot and grease from the fire was burnt on, but once you got through it it came off.

We discovered that underneath the white was some red coloured paint which had been made to match the real terracotta tiles which originally were below it.

With the rest of the room cleared we then applied a mix of PVA glue and water to stabilise the surface.