O/T but I need advice! Plaster (house)

[Kevsta]

Ok, a quick overview. Bought victorian house, it doesn't have cavity walls and the walls were damp inside. I have taken all of the lime based plaster off (and concrete etc that has been added over time) and let it breath a little (worth adding the front of the house is also rendered unfortunately). I have had new windows fitted recently. My problem is that I want to get the walls replastered but don't know what route to take. A guy yesterday suggested dry lining the walls but that will be over 2 inches thick (its not a big house!) and my surveyor said to have the walls re lime plastered.

 

Does anyone on here know what is best to do?

 

Cheers

 

Kev

[Foxy Smith]

Surveyor is correct in as far as lime plaster will allow the walls to breathe. What is the substrate? brick presumably being Victorian. I would be inclined to investigate the source of dampness and see if it can be stopped at source. Failing that there are modern tanking membranes that could be used without taking up the space of dry lining but will not allow the wall to breathe.

[SLR No.77]

My choice would be to dry line the lot! Our house is 1903 and was fully gutted and refurbished by one of the major building companies 12 years ago - all new wiring and plumbing and of course dry lined. It's warmer, drier, and all the pipes and cables are easily hidden and safe. Also, dry lining will normally add 1" if done correctly, including the plaster skim. This is the same depth as a switch or socket back-box.

 

Don't be romantic about the old methods - IMHO plaster board is far superior!

 

Stu.

 

[Kevsta]

The damp was due in part to it being sat empty for so long with no heating on and leaking pipes (resolved now) plus secondry glazing that trapped moisture between the outside and inside around the windows (also replaced and sorted). I am putting a gutter around the outside ground level to draw water away to stop it rising up the walls and also putting a lip on the front for the same reason. We have new boiler and waiting to fit new rads (have to do plastering first obviously). So I am confident about the moisture being resolved in that sense but what to do to walls. Stu, i appreciate your comment and I am mulling it all over, I'm intyerested how you can do it so thin though? I was told 2 inch batton plus board plus skim. I thought I could get away with 1 inch (I will be doing all work except skim myself). I am not too worried about heat loss as I have a powerful boiler and double rads, doubled glazed, solid door and will be putting a log burner in too. I know I should be saving the planet also but I will be doing that in the loft with insulated tiles as well as the glass fibre stuff between the joists.

 

BTW, SWMBO wanted an old property (I like them too) but is very particular and is NOT keen on the dry line idea especially if it makes the room smaller as it is not a big house.

 

Keep comments coming please

 

Also, anyone know good plasterer in Bucks (high wycombe)

 

Kev

[Sheds Moderator]

2 inch battens? Noooo!Why? a brick cavity is only 4"!

I have dry lined stuff with 1/2" battens and you buy plasterboard with rockwool/foam and a waterproof liner on the back. It's the way forward.

[Kevsta]

I thought 2 inches was a bit much!

 

Thanks BOSS.

 

Only other problem is the loss of space...we have a piece of furniture that SWMBO wants to put in a tight gap and the thickness of plaster/board etc could make it not fit!

[Crudders]

Battens? Schmattens. You want a bit of this here - available in 4 thicknesses between 28 and 60 of those new fangled millimetres, 12.5 of which is the plasterboard.

 

Easily fixed in place with jollop (although I expect Gypsum have a slightly more techie name for it). If your walls are very uneven you may want to fit some shims to get a good line. With a bit of forward planning you can still make allowance for buried services.

 

This will cost more than plain plasterboard over battens if you're DIYing, but will be a lot less faff and will reduce your heat loss.

 

Crudders

 

 

[Sheds Moderator]

Kevsta, just F do it. Bollox to the furniture, tell SWMBO you have left the builders to get on with it. When the job is finished, if her furniture won't fit too bad. You can then blame the builders In any case I've just moved house and what seems like a sensible layout when you move in is wrong inside a month so it's all going to move anyway. Don't get hung up about it.

[Crudders]

Seconded Anyway, you've probably gained 20mm by hacking off all the old plaster and spelge , so the overall increase in thickness is going to be very small.

 

Drylining section of Gypsum White Book here.

 

Crudders

[SLR No.77]

Kev,

 

There's no battens behind ours! The plasterboarding has been done with blobs of a bonding mix to the back and then simply stuck to the walls, same as in a new build. This allows adjustment to get all the levels/depth correct. Speak to a good plasterer. All the cabling can be clipped to the walls then simply overboarded. BTW, our walls are 12" thick also without a cavity.

 

Stu.

 

[c7trp]

Dry lining is a pain in the 🙆🏻 when it comes to fitting shelves radiators etc!

 

Be a bit careful dot-and-dabing plasterboard onto damp walls. It doesn't work very well in the long term.

 

If its an old house with solid (or dampish) walls batten with treated slate battens and board with foil backed board (with insulation if you want).

 

IMHO the best solution is to re plaster with lime. Cement will stop the walls breathing and probably make things worse.

 

[Sheds Moderator]

My God is there spelge in *there* too? *shudder* it *must* be damp...

[Crudders]

Apologies if I've used this fabulous word beyond the limits of its undoubted versatility Steve

 

Stu - quite right about not drylining on dabs over a damp wall, but I wouldn't want to put anything over a damp wall as there's a danger that it'll fester and harbour nasty fungi, insects, etc. If the walls are not drying out, there may be voids behind the external render that are retaining moisture.

 

Crudders

[SLR No.77]

Absolutely, get it dry first!

 

Stu.

[Chris Eccles]

Apply a sand and cement scratch coat with a waterproof additive (if it`s a older house this will help keep the thing together )and then apply a standard skim finish. works really well on older houses

 

Ho Hum

The French Blatting Company Limited

[allen]

As I understand it (situation in my house) the cement render on the outside of the wall (no cavity) will not allow moisture to exit and it comes through to the inside. Lime based rendering on the outside may be part of the answer. However, getting the heating working and drying things out may show that it's not too big a problem anyway.

 

allen

[Mickrick]

Dry line it, and put "Actis" insulation behind it. Actis is about 7 - 10mm thick, and has the thermal quality of 200mm of Rockwool. You may have loads of radiators etc. but you still have to run them, and you'd be paying to heat the street.

I've just put a 7mm Actis insulation under my floors, (Slightly different to the dry lining model) which is the thermal equivilant to 50mm of foam insulation. You're talking about an inch here, and I know that girls think an inch is a big difference But you've probably taken that off with the old plaster.

 

Semper in excreta solum profundum variat.

[brucehc]

Kev

 

I'm in virtually identical situation having taken ownership of a victorian hovel on the thursday before Easter (apparently it's been ideal 7 weather since then!). Hovel now a building site.

 

Working for a major developer I have asked those in the know, including a thermal consultancy, for a solution that doesn't take up much space, voids any future damp problems (although there "shouldnt" be any) and gives a good finish.

 

Answer is to use thin battens, over which tou tack a sheet of something called "L1". Something like £30 for 60m of the stuff. This a bubble wrap bonded to a tin foil (or something similar). Very thin and very good insulation and a vapour barrier. Normal victorian solid brick wall has a U value of 2. 1L1 adds 0.8 so nearly a 50% increase in insulation. This is aided by the introduction of a cavity. Over this you just screw thin plasterboard, before skimming.

 

If in a bathroom you can use something called Hardy Board (from Travis Perkins) or spash cash and use Wedi Board - which can also be dowled / dot & dabbed to the wall without battens for structural/thermal improvements. Both products give a perfect tile backing. For non wet tile areas just use normal plywood.

 

Good luck

 

Bruce

[leon]

Worth going with Thoroseal if thermals aren't an issue, internal applied waterproof render guarunteed against blow-off to 10 to 12 bar from memory, can be used in basements as a tanking.

 

Link here

 

http://www.chargar.com/Products/prod_ma.html

 

where's everybody gone?

1800supersport C7MPR

[Griff]

Make sure you've cured the damp problems first. This maybe because the house is badly ventilated, was unoccupied for a long time or you may need a damp proof course. All easy to solve. Also bear in mind that lime plaster naturally retains more water so will give you a higher damp reading.

 

If really damp you can accelerate the moisture extraction with a de-humidifer. The walls may also be porous from the outside in so rain soaks into the brick/stone - this can be cured with suitable spray-on sealants.

 

Unless it's a listed building and you're a masochist, I would avoid the lime plaster route. Dot & dab is far easier and gives you a flatter wall in less time. How long do you truly want to live in a dustbowl? My brother-in-law has been a plasterer for 30 years and the D&D work he did for us was excellent. I suggest you take care in chosing the plasterer - someone local with a verifiable reputation.

 

Use 12mm boards on the walls, 9mm on the ceiling. Also think about skirtings (you may have very big and unusual mouldings in a Victorian house that are expensive to match/remake). Also sort your wiring first - plenty of plugs and add some small roundpin lighting sockets so you can turn sidelights on from the main switch.

 

Oh, and whatever time you allow to finish the job - double it and you'll be somewhere close !!!

 

 

[SLR No.77]

and add some small roundpin lighting sockets so you can turn sidelights on from the main switch

We've done this in a couple of rooms - so much better than messing with table lamps or timers! We have 2 sizeable table lamps in our main living room fitted with 13W energy bulbs - they're the only lights the family uses in that room, including the kids, just due to the convenience of being on the wall switch. Houses should be wired this way from new!

 

Stu.

 

www.superse7ens.co.uk..........the rebuild 😬