Decorating a period property

[Dw50590]

Hi just after some advice, my partner and I are buying a period property with no cavity and made of Ham stone. Just need some advice on decorating. Upstairs is more less damp free, odd stain here and there mainly from the roof. Am I right in thinking this will mainly be ok just to paint with breathable paint. Or is it recommended to remove paint use lining paper then paint. Like I said it’s mostly in good condition so assuming it’s breathing well as such.

Then downstairs there is some rising damp going on in one room which needs sorting out. Looks like most of downstairs is wall papered, I am assuming this wants removing, lime plaster checked and rubbed down and repaired if necessary, then is it a case of lining paper and paint with breathable paint. Any help would be great.

All the best Adam

 

[Stevers]

Solid stone walls here too, though mostly White Lias in my case. I wouldn't regard lining paper as something that needs removing (or wallpaper if it is actually paper and not textured) as long as it's tidily done and solidly attached, and the old way was to simply paper over paper. Upstairs and downstairs, a bit of the chalk based original Polyfilla to smooth things over, then on with a coat of breathable paint, that could be contract emulsion, flat emulsion, distemper or clay paints according to budget/belief system. The more breathable a paint is, the less washable it's likely to be!

With damp patches there's the usual suspects to investigate, so that's ground levels, presence of salts, possibility of condensation, the use of cement or gypsum plasters without an effective DPC. I have found replacing cement and gypsum with lime plaster extremely effective on a problem basement chimney breast and that was 'just' NHL 3.5.

My approach to woodwork (if it's sound) is to sand off the lumps, fill any chips and dents and paint over, reserving paint stripping for unsound or contaminated paint finishes. I always flat between coats, and you need to clean before and wipe after any sanding or flatting.

Lastly stone houses can quickly become unpleasant in the winter without heat, and our best value upgrade was to fit smart radiator valves to our traditional gas central heating system from 1997. It enables gentle background warmth 24/7 throughout the house (at least 14C) to minimise condensation, but allows us to warm the rooms we're in during the day (and night) as we need them via room level schedules. We can now heat my son's upstairs bedroom during the day when he works from home, and my mother's downstairs bedroom at night - very handy!