Hi everyone,
My home is made up of a 19th century stone stone walled building that was extended in the 1980s with a cavity wall construction. As much of a crime as this might seem, it probably actually saved the original building from demolition.
The house is long and rectangle (only one room deep) so the old building makes up one end of the house and the new the other.
When the house was extended the old part of the house was repointed with cement based strap pointing (urghh) and the internal walls were plastered with some sort of plaster/render - not really sure but I highly doubt it's lime based. This part of the house gets very little direct sunlight and and one of the wall also serves as a retaining wall. Heat-wise it has a lot counting against it and I have found this part of the house hard to heat and it is prone to what I assume is condensation derived mould.
I am in the process of renovating this part of the house and I want to do it properly. I'd like to get some input on how best to do it. My current thinking is to strip back internal paint, plaster and render to the stone work - I've done a test patch and it comes off reasonable easy with an SDS chisel with minimal damage to the stone.
I then think I'll batten out the wall, infill between the battens with something like sheep wool insulation, then board over that.
But I've got a bunch of questions as well as generally being open to other ideas from the more experienced.
1. Is it okay to do up the old half of the house in the manner and then use more modern insulation systems in the new half? Or is the breathability of one going to interfere with the other?
2. If I use breathable insulation systems on the walls of the old half, is it okay to use newer systems to insulate the ceiling/roof. The roof was replaced when the house was renovated in the 80s.
3. When it comes to boarding on top of the battens & wools, is it permissible to use a gypsum based plasterboard? I've got conflicting information as to whether or not it is breathable. Obviously I'll avoid the foil back stuff.
Thanks in advance for any advice given.
My home is made up of a 19th century stone stone walled building that was extended in the 1980s with a cavity wall construction. As much of a crime as this might seem, it probably actually saved the original building from demolition.
The house is long and rectangle (only one room deep) so the old building makes up one end of the house and the new the other.
When the house was extended the old part of the house was repointed with cement based strap pointing (urghh) and the internal walls were plastered with some sort of plaster/render - not really sure but I highly doubt it's lime based. This part of the house gets very little direct sunlight and and one of the wall also serves as a retaining wall. Heat-wise it has a lot counting against it and I have found this part of the house hard to heat and it is prone to what I assume is condensation derived mould.
I am in the process of renovating this part of the house and I want to do it properly. I'd like to get some input on how best to do it. My current thinking is to strip back internal paint, plaster and render to the stone work - I've done a test patch and it comes off reasonable easy with an SDS chisel with minimal damage to the stone.
I then think I'll batten out the wall, infill between the battens with something like sheep wool insulation, then board over that.
But I've got a bunch of questions as well as generally being open to other ideas from the more experienced.
1. Is it okay to do up the old half of the house in the manner and then use more modern insulation systems in the new half? Or is the breathability of one going to interfere with the other?
2. If I use breathable insulation systems on the walls of the old half, is it okay to use newer systems to insulate the ceiling/roof. The roof was replaced when the house was renovated in the 80s.
3. When it comes to boarding on top of the battens & wools, is it permissible to use a gypsum based plasterboard? I've got conflicting information as to whether or not it is breathable. Obviously I'll avoid the foil back stuff.
Thanks in advance for any advice given.