Cellar wall options

[TheHat77]

Hi,

First time poster, hello all.

Just moved into a Victorian 1885 mid-terrace & need some advice on how to tackle the cellar wall. This is the exterior wall, where the coal shute would have been.

Please see photos. I’ve done a bit of exploratory surgery & scraped away some of the white paint. Paint scraped away very easily - I guess it’s just some cheapo matt white. Some of the brick seems solid, but some of it is pretty crumbly - & there are some odd looking lumps & bumps across the whole wall.

Looking for some advice as to what to do here. Should I carry on, get rid of the white paint & the mustard yellow stuff underneath, fill whatever I may find under there with lime putty or harder NHL, then cover with lime wash? Or should I let sleeping dogs lie & leave those lumps & bumps to the imagination?

Damp doesn’t seem to be an issue any more than expected in a Victorian cellar.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

 

[Feltwell]

I think you're always up against it to an extent with cellar walls, as they will always be a bit damp.

Personally, I'd go over the whole thing with a scraper and take off anything that is loose, leave the well stuck bits alone, and give it all a coat of Keim Optil paint - which is what I did here:-

https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/threads/cellar-revamp.17779/

It's a breathable mineral paint but it will stick to the non-breathable paint you've already got - but if that is well stuck, why fuss?

Any bits that are damp will come in time through yellow again though, there's not much you can do about it I'm afraid.