Bubbling internal wall

[PeteRS]

Hi

I am a newbie on here so forgive me if this as been covered loads before...

I have recently purchased a 17th century thatched cottage. Generally it is not in bad shape, however, i have noticed that in the hallway, on an internal wall that the paint/ plaster is bubbling about a foot above the floor. The floor is quarry tiles. The tiles seem to have plenty of places to allow breathing. My concern is that this bubbling seems to be getting worse by the day and i think the last owner may have slapped some non-breathable emulsion on the walls before selling.

questions:
1)If I were to cut into the section that is bubbling with a sharp knife would this allow this part of the wall to breath?
2) how do you get the type of wall covering off to allow the walls to breath?
3) What do you put on once the wall is breathing again?

sorry if these are really dim questions,

thanks for any advice

Pete

 

[Matt Green]

What sort of floor is on the other side of the internal wall?

Stripping the emulsion is pretty straightfoward, heat gun and a scraper will do the trick. Replace the paint with any sort of unplasticised paint or limewash.

Matt

 

[Moo]

How long have the quarry tiles been there? What are they grouted with? Is there any chance that the previous owners laid/relaid them over some sort of damp-proof membrane so that moisture is being forced up the wall?

 

[PeteRS]

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

The quarry tiles don't look like they have been messed with on one side of the wall however they do need re-pointing. It looks like the original floor to me. Naturally, I will make sure the pointing is done with lime mortar. I don't think someone has tried to lay a DPC.

As for the other side of the wall, these are tiles as well. Red coloured, not sure if they are called quarry tiles as well.

I have had a think overnight about possible causes as it just seems to have started:

1) We had a small leak in the bathroom above from a radiator but I cannot understand how the water could have made its way to the foot of the wall below. I guess this is possible.
2) We have just had TRV's fitted to all the rads in the house and it could be it is warmer in the hall than previously.
3) We have fitted a large curtain at the front door to stop drafts which would have previously go along that wall.

I'll keep the investigation going.

Next daft question - how do you know if the walls have been painted in non-breathable emulsion as i now worried about other rooms. I don't really want to wait to see if the plaster falls off the walls in those rooms. Is there a simple test?

Many thanks

Pete

 

[DaveBrigg]

You may be right in thinking that the walls have just been painted, but that doesn't mean that it is a new problem. Our old house had a tile floor in the kitchen and bubbling paintwork just as you described. It wasn't there when we bought (and had it surveyed) but appeared soon after. It was scraped off and repainted a couple of times while we lived there, and I even replastered that section once, though not with lime I'm ashamed to say. Looking back, I think the last time we did it must have been just before putting the house on the market.

 

[L1zzy]

my guess (from experience is that you have damp at the base of the wall and its crept upwards causing the emulsion paint to seperate from the wall - hence the bubbling effect - I have a similar problem over an entire gable end wall to my cottage. Its rubblestone and brick and has been really badly rendered on the extrior with cement in the last 5 years. The effect of the damp between the render and the rubblestone is causing the paint on the inside of the bedroom wall to lift away in sort of linear tears at first which enable me to peel off 5 or 6 old coats of emulsion at a time (if I haven't got anything else to do!) Removing the bubbly emulsion is very satisfying (I took all of the old plastic emulsion off the front exteror of my cottage this year,repointed with lime and coated with Lime wash - taking the paint off with a scutch hammer was the easiest part of the job - just filthy work.

 

[NT]

> 1)If I were to cut into the section that is bubbling with a sharp knife would this allow this part of the wall to breath?

scraper would cause less damage

> 2) how do you get the type of wall covering off to allow the walls to breath?

scraper

> 3) What do you put on once the wall is breathing again?

limewash, or other lime paint


> Next daft question - how do you know if the walls have been painted in non-breathable emulsion as i now worried about other rooms. I don't really want to wait to see if the plaster falls off the walls in those rooms. Is there a simple test?

no need to worry about it, usually it doesnt cause any problem. Only if it does action will be required.


Just bear in mind that peeling paint is not the biggest problem in life.


NT

 

[PeteRS]

Thanks again for all the input.

Looks like I have found a valuable source of info at just the right time,

P