Partition walls advice

[lost southerner]

Hi there,

I am in the process of renovating our Cumbrian cottage and are in need of some advice. We have stripped the old lime plaster off as we are insulating the exterior walls from the inside and the plaster on the partition walls had blown in lots of places.

In taking it off, we have found some split logs behind the lime. My other half would like to try and leave some of the logs exposed. Do you think this would be possible? What would you recommend to put inbetween? Lime plaster? Or is it not going to work?

I have attached a photo as an example.TIA

 

[Kearn]

Nothing there that’s meant to be seen, lime plaster them back over.

A lovely example though, might be a local vernacular, not something I’ve seen before. How are the vertical laths attached - and what to?

A real shame to remove original lime plaster. Especially to replace with something that won’t do much more from an insulation perspective. Solid stone walls and haired lime are a great thermal mass and very insulating, if dry and the house is heated the right way.
Be careful how you approach adding insulation, there aren’t many options that are safe for the structure and will actually improve things thermally.

 

[Cubist]

Adding to @Kearn s thoughts - they will quickly become traps for dust and the cobwebs of a burgeoning spider population. Also, given the timber has been buried in lime plaster for maybe centuries they will now be gathering airborne moisture and perhaps becoming a breeding ground for woodworm. Get a couple of photographs of the wall as is and frame them for future reference/admiration.

 

[lost southerner]

Thanks for the advice. The wife will be devastated but !

 

[lost southerner]

Nothing there that’s meant to be seen, lime plaster them back over.

A lovely example though, might be a local vernacular, not something I’ve seen before. How are the vertical laths attached - and what to?

A real shame to remove original lime plaster. Especially to replace with something that won’t do much more from an insulation perspective. Solid stone walls and haired lime are a great thermal mass and very insulating, if dry and the house is heated the right way.
Be careful how you approach adding insulation, there aren’t many options that are safe for the structure and will actually improve things thermally.

Notched top and bottom, with a strip running along the floor. Tops attached to the rafters or beams.

 

[LadyArowana]

Thanks for the advice. The wife will be devastated but !

You could always get her wallpaper https://rebelwalls.com/uk/birch-trunks

 

[Kearn]

Notched top and bottom, with a strip running along the floor. Tops attached to the rafters or beams.

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Wow. That’s some serious timber, I retract my lath comment! Logs and half trunks, it’s basically a vertical log cabin wall… I wonder why it was built so excessively for an internal partition.