How to paint or wallpaper over wattle and daub

[Lauraf1320]

We have recently moved into a period house so excuse my ignorance with some of these questions. I’m trying to learn and read as much as I can!

The downstairs of the house is nearly all plastered in what we guess is modern gypsum based plaster. The upstairs however was covered in pealing wallpaper and old, fairly scruffy wood panelling. We’ve removed this from 2 rooms so far to reveal wattle and daub beneath. It’s not in terrible condition but it is slightly crumbly in places and certainly not good enough to paint straight on to. What are my options for decorating? Lining paper and then paint or wallpaper on top of this? But is that breathable enough? The survey for the house said that all wallpaper should be removed because it wasn’t breathable. Lime-based skim? Something else?

Most of the walls are internal so is the breathability actually that important? We don’t have a tonne of money so we’re trying to do it fairly cheaply, but also I want to make sure I don’t ruin the wattle by just skimming with gypsum based plaster (but if this is actually ok, then please do let me know). Photos of one wall attached here which was previously covered in wallpaper and wood panels.

 

[malcolm]

That's an amazing find. It's so cool to be able to get back to the original construction after 400 years. If someone had just painted straight over it with emulsion paint then you would not be able to get back to the original.

I'm a big fan of lining paper for that reason. It's perfectly breathable when painted with a clay paint. At some point someone will paint over it in an emulsion paint as that's the normal thing to do, and a future restorer can remove the lining paper and get back to what was behind.

The original finish over the dawb was likely lime plaster. Someone in the 1970s has probably knocked the lime plaster off but the white bits are a good sign that it was once there.

It would be nice to preserve the wall. My approach would be lime plaster, then lining paper, then paint. Needs to be lime plaster. Apart from breathability gypsum is too sticky and you'll never get it off again. Lining paper needs to be the paper type not the plastic type. The glue should be cold water paste not PVA, and the paint clay not modern emulsion.

Breathability is important for any ground floor walls. Upstairs less so unless the exterior of the wall is not breathable.