Confused by my walls

[Oldhousenoob]

Moved into a house in January, 1890s, stone. The property is generally in good shape, totally dry and no real damp issues at all. Mostly still original pointing etc, on the outside, though a few areas of cement. It was renovated In the 1980s by an owner who was a joiner/builder (maybe good maybe bad? I don’t know... the house is really well looked after but I don’t think that’s stopped improper materials being used in some places at some points).

This weekend began thinking about doing our first bit of decorating in an upstairs room. Ripped up the carpet. Original floorboards but these are covered in residue of glue and hardboard unfortunately. The property has room in roof style rooms (see photo of room).



I am very confused by what i have on the interior walls… and not sure where to go in terms of decorating or what work to do before we get that far…

I have stripped what I thought was the lining paper from the wall under the roof, to reveal a white layer of paint (maybe?). Behind that is a dark blue/black layer (teenage bedroom?). Behind that is some paper stuff that is VERY well attached to some sort of plaster. I dont know if this is more lining paper or the paper that plasterboard has on the outside of it…

The wall I’ve stripped is an external one, and if i tap it, it sounds hollow, like plasterboard. But the mortar/plaster doesn’t seem quite like the plasterboard I’m familiar with from my previous (2015 built - hence my username) house. And then confusingly (to me), there is a staff bead detail around the dormer window alcove bit that is flush with the plaster/wall (surely this would be lost if plasterboarded?). There is also some taping between the plaster (whatever kind it is) and the beading.

On another part of the wall I cut away a small area of plaster to make a narrow groove, behind that were some white fibres, a few of which I teased out. (they are/were flammable).

You can see the layers of stuff and the wooden staff bead in the second and third photos below.





I want to paint the walls, I don’t want lining paper, I want to keep the staff beads, I’d like the walls be relatively smoothly finished. What do I do/how do I proceed?

Oh and for some idea of the mess thats been made of the floorboards - 4th photo, just for a laugh.

 

[fernicarry]

Looks like you've got quite a hotch potch of filler and modern plaster over the original wall finish. I've found that lining paper sticks like the proverbial to some kinds of filler whereas it steams off very easily where its attached to the original lime plaster. Did you score the paper before steaming to help the steam penetrate? May just be a case of persisting, it can be slow and messy. Have to wonder though why there is so much filler ... the state of the wall underneath might be rather poor.

The walls will probably be carried on studs fixed into the external walls so there will be a void betweem the back of the laths and the actual walls. They will sound a bit hollow although not quite as hollow as plasterboard does due being a good deal thicker and heavier. The void helps to prevent water that penetrates the thickness of the external walls from reaching the internal surface.

The corner beadings look like they are in pretty good condition. All the external corners in my plaster work have these beads but most have had the shadow gap filled and then papered over. The ones in the upstairs bedrooms are still exposed but the plaster was quite fragile in places so I ended up with quite a bit of reconstruction, very fiddly. Definitely try to keep them on show, you just don't get those sorts of details nowadays.

You'll almost certainly need lining paper to get a decent starting point for paint. I'm at about week 4 of full time effort prepping the walls in a similar sized room. Many significant cracks that needed to be chased out and filled then the surrounding area skimmed to be reasonably smooth and level and then sanded and feathered in. I also had large holes where the electricity meter used to be that I repaired with bits of lath and lime plaster. I'm very looking forward to being done with it and hoping the other rooms aren't nearly so bad...

Whereabouts in Scotland are you?

 

[Oldhousenoob]

Here it is with that second layer of lining paper stripped - not so bad perhaps. One small bit of loose plaster lower down by the beading. I will get a photo of that when I’m home and upload that too.

Where in Scotland? East Lothian!

 

[fernicarry]

Fair amount of gypsum skim on there. The wall may now be sitting proud of where it originally was throwing off the junction with the bead and the skirting.

Here’s a patch I reconstructed. A big chunk of original plaster let go and had to be built back up whilst creating the edge. I hate doing wet trades…




Lots of other repairs required throughout the room. The internal walls seem to have pulled away from the external ones. Last papered in 1988 according to the pencilled message on the wall so if my efforts last that long that’ll see me out.

Starting on the lining paper today. I think what I’ll do is fold the edge of the paper into the shadow gap, trim it and put a very light bead of caulking on. You may hear the cursing from where you are…

 

[Oldhousenoob]

thanks fernicarry - what a similar-looking room! (looking your profile picture in fact the houses are not dissimilar (though yours has fancier/nicer details on it! )
that looks/sounds like a lot of work you've done!
From the photo I posted how did you identify/see gypsum skim vs other bits and bobs?
On your walls, are the paler, white bits where you filled. di you use lime or similar?

I think you are possibly correct about the skirting/'raising' 'wall level' with the skim, it looks a little 'narrow' at the top. things look more normal with the cornicing around the ceiling though.

 

[fernicarry]

I imagine the pink/brown stuff is a modern gypsum based plaster. There’s plenty of repairs done here with it, ladled on top of the existing adding extra thickness. Usually I find it all comes back off in sheets when you remove the lining paper revealing whatever defect it was put on to conceal...

The smoother white bits on my walls are the repairs. I use haired lime to build up the depth where needed. A few areas were back to the laths. The worst cracks were chased out to a few mill wide and then haired lime squeezed in. It’s quite easy to work with and sticks really well to the existing giving a good strong repair. Areas that were really fragile and bouncy end up quite secure.

I’ve tried fine lime on top but I’m not good enough to get a decent finish particularly feathering it into the existing finish. Instead I’ve been using Toupret skim and sanding it back. Have to be realistic at times in order to make progress.

Like I said this room was in pretty poor condition. I’ve also rewired and added more electrical outlets and moved the radiator hiding the pipes in the wall which all added to the amount of making good.

We did the first row of lining paper that intersected the window reveal yesterday so that was a chance to try out the technique to tuck it in. The only issue I had was that it didn’t want to stick at the edge which I think was because there was paint in the shadow gap. I peeled it back and put a light bead of decorators caulk behind the paper and that did the trick. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

The other fun challenge I’m having is that the transition from flat ceiling to sloping is curved but the profile is not consistent. It takes a lot of effort to stretch the paper into the curve and that usually kicks it off at a slightly different angle as it comes around the corner. I’m going to have quite a lot of gap filling and more sanding to do.

 

[Oldhousenoob]

That is looking very neat and very smart!

Here’s a section through a lump that I pulled out of a crack in the ceiling.




The crack…




Some unusual artwork…




This push button is for a functioning (all rooms) electrical call bell system, looks like it’s been moved at some point.

 

[fernicarry]

That all looks quite familiar... But all fixable with time and patience.

The call bell may originally have been mechanical if your house pre-dates the invention of electricity. I don't have any of the pushes left but there are some wires and cranks in the loft along with hollow pipes down into the walls. I found a round filled section in the room I'm doing at the moment above where the fireplace used to be that I suspect used to be the push.

You can see the layers of the original plaster in the fragment that came off. First there is haired coarse lime that would be pushed firmly onto the laths so that it squeezes out between them. Then a second coarse coat without the hair to build up the depth then a fine layer polished to a smooth finish.

What I'd do is open up the full length of the crack with a scraper or something blunt, vacuum out all the debris, get it well wetted then push some haired lime in to tie it back together. Take care that the coarse lime doesn't protrude above where you want the finished surface. Once thats gone fairly firm, couple of days in this weather, then fill it flush and feather it in to the existing surface. Like I said I cheat and do that step with modern fillers and skim as they are more amenable to being sanded back to profile. Other forum members may chime in with their own techniques.

 

[Oldhousenoob]

I have been distracted for a couple of months it's been slow going on this room, but today the naff 'old modern' aluminium/spiral sash window is coming out and a new double glazed box/sash window (matched to old windows from neighbours house, built at same time) is going in. which means I was able to get a photo of this section through the plaster on the walls in the dormer window.

nice to see how it's all put together






meanwhile, wallpaper is all nearly off, and I am starting to try to find supplier for hairy lime and some sort of thing to fill the smaller/last few mm of bigger holes with.

 

[fernicarry]

Nice one changing the window. Post pics please!

I’m not long finished my room. Well I say finished but there is still a bit of fine tuning to do.

But at least we have a functioning spare room again.

 

[Oldhousenoob]

Since you asked nicely
looks nicer, is quieter, and is less drafty than the old aluminium crappy one.

 

[fernicarry]

Very smart. Where did you get it made?

I have an opening at the side of the house that was knocked through the back of a cupboard recess that currently has a very rotten and very out of character hinged casement. It would be so much better with a nice sliding sash instead.

 

[Oldhousenoob]

the window was made by a local sash window maker/restorer, he did it just the single window for us. He was really sympathetic to the room/building. I'd love to get the whole front of the house done by him (house has no original windows left sadly), but £££... (so has to wait a while). This room really needed it though, so it was a good opportunity to try out a 'modern' wooden sash window and see it performs. so far, noticeably more insulating (noise + heat) than the shitty aluminium thing that was there.