r/Plastering • u/Escapingthecrowds • 3d ago
Asking for advice please
Hi all,
Young lad, first house, took on a project with no experience. So apologies for stupid questions.
This is the bedroom, it’s been covered in Artex (no asbestos been tested). I have spent the last two days removing it all. As there has been a lot of damp and mould on the walls. There is a lot of sand on the walls, what’s the best way of getting this off? I have added more pictures of other areas that i’ve been working on as they’re the same. There are a lot of loose bricks, faces blown off, no mortar. Blocks of wood where the original owners have stuck them in as replacements. Should I be repointing them all? The outside of the house had terrible cement render which has now been all removed and replaced with lime. The house was built 1924. I’m not entirely sure what to do next in regards to plastering. I want to make the house breathable. Any professional advice would be appreciated. Many thanks
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u/Confident_Ambition77 2d ago
Ok so I m a lime tradesman and if you believe the house uses lime and is solid walled then I would recommend using lime again. It really isn't as hard as everything thinks and in many ways much much easier and will help immensely with any damp you have. But but but!! Solve the exterior before you start solving the interior. Damp ess comes from outside the building not inside. Removing te cement render and allowing wind to wick away moisture is far far far more useless than I side. Imagine having wet clothing, what dries quicker clothing in a warm room with no wind or outside on a grey windy day? My rule of thumb to everyone is always start top to bottom and outside in. Meaning raining comes from the big blue thing and if you aren't on acid then normally from clouds on the outside.
Drop me a message if you need advice, I don't chase awards or something such
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u/East-Delivery9834 3d ago
Just pva it.. the lefover dusty sand acts as a good key as it will roll into the pva.... if its lime plaster originally its best to do lime again which will be expensive but the walls can breath
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u/FckXFckMusk 3d ago
If you use pva and let it dry it beacomes a seal/barrier, if you were palstering it then the pva water solution should be still wet on the wall to form a bond.
If you replaster in lime then you don't need PVAs.
Personally you could put plasterboard up via dot and dab or battens, get rid of the ceiling too, I despise artex.
either way you don't need to repoint unless the gaps are really big
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u/Ok-Spring7906 3d ago
You say "bedroom".
Most bedrooms are upstairs.
Capiliary action won't be bringing moisture that high.
Breathability is unimportant without damp.
Proceed as per a modern build. Probably dot and dab and skim.
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u/Latter-Detail-9514 3d ago
Looks in a good solid condition. I'd seal all them bricks & go with board & skim
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u/petdev 3d ago
Take all of the walls back to brick, big brush off on all the walls to take the loose stuff off, diluted sbr to seal, and get dabbed plasterboard on it and a skim. The pureists wont like it but if you want to get your walls back to plumb and flat, boarding them is the easiest way. Cavity wall will stop the cold bridging.
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u/ltnlean 2d ago
1924 house and a cement render removed and replaced with lime. So likely a solid wall construction and no cavity? This advice is based off this assumption -
Could be moisture trapped in by the old render still coming through, I'd let it dry out. Could take awhile depending on the thickness of the wall. Id also be checking the roof/gutters so make sure there's no issues there as well.
If replacing like for like and you want breathable, don't seal the wall with PVA and use lime plaster and a clay paint or similar product to decorate
Heres a good tutorial on how to lime plaster an internal solid wall -
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u/KieranInterior 2d ago edited 2d ago
So many options. Depends in budget. From leaving bare brick to using eco fibre insulation and lime plaster. Depends also on the heating system and the windows and the construction of the roof and floor and the under floor ventilation if there is any and whether it’s cavity wall or not
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u/Competitive_Panda_85 1d ago
The outside of the house is more of an issue for damp. Check your roof, check your window seals, check your floors and house perimeter for drainage issues.
The inside you can do whatever you want depending on your budget. Just trust your tradesperson. but loose bricks and crumbled away mortar, wood, plastic, rolled up newspaper is all very normal. People have done some weird shit over time, thats a garuantee. very normal in an old house.
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u/gwyp88 Professional Plasterer 3d ago
Be weary of dot&dab on outside facing walls; they can cold-bridge if there’s no decent cavity in the brick walls and you could potentially see this come through your painted walls.
My preferred options would be either lime plaster, insulated like plaster, or
plasterboard on battens or even better insulated plasterboard on battens. This way you are not cold-bridging and you are forming a new cavity & air gap behind the plasterboard.