Iron strip set into interior wall - now identified!

[Hatster]

Hi everyone
I'm back with another question, I'm afraid (no doubt there will be many many more over the next few months).

Our kitchen is a 1950s (I think) extension to the original 17th century timber framed house. It's very long and narrow - about 2m wide and the length of the house.

Knocking a bit of crumbling plaster off the internal wall, I've partially uncovered a rusty iron strip which appears to run vertically for the height of the room. It's about 1.5 inches wide - I can't see how deep it is without knocking off more plaster around it.

I can see how long this strip is because the plaster on top of it was badly done, so it bulges out slightly on the wall. I can't see any other bulging strips of plaster on the wall, so it may be the only bit.

Does anyone know what it might be doing? Could it have a structural function? It is really quite rusty, and if it's doing anything important, I feel I ought to do something about it. If it isn't doing anything important, what should I do to stop it causing the next lot of plaster to crumble?

I was really hoping to find some attractive-looking timber frame behind the crumbling plaster - don't suppose there's any magic way to work out what's behind plaster, is there?

Thanks very much!

Hatster

 

[JoceAndChris]

Get busy with that digital camera!

That will help the forum with your "many, many more questions", which I, for one, am looking forwards to. I wonder if this strip is anything to do with an old door or window?

What kind of plaster is it? Forgive me if I tell you what you already know, but driving a little screwdriver's end gently into an inconspicuous part of the wall, and seeing how chalky/soft the plaster is should tell you if it's lime or modern stuff.

A damp house will cause crumbling plaster I'm afraid. Eliminate damp and things crumble less, easier said than done I know.

As for finding out what's behind plaster, there's always knocking. I'm always going round knocking the walls, picking up dull thuds or hollow booms. Pity I lack the skills or experience to work out what these sounds mean. :roll:

Hope you get a more useful answer soon.

 

[Jon Maine]

Pictures please

 

[Hatster]

Photos on their way tonight when I get home - I did actually take one already but didn't think it was very informative.

I wonder if you're right, though, Joce, about the old door. I can always ask the previous owners if they remember what it is, but I think they're starting to worry I'm ripping their house apart! It's their old family home...

I shall also resume banging on the wall!

 

[philpjuk100]

Hi just a thought,could it be a capping strip over some cables?,phil.

 

[Hatster]

Here we are - this picture shows the rusty iron strip within the plaster of the kitchen wall. Latest suggestion from an architect friend (not having seen it) was that it was intended to reinforce the concrete when the extension was added. Though I'd expect to find more than one if that was the case.

 

[Flyfisher]

Reinforcing concrete seems a bit strange. Are the walls built of concrete? And, even so, wouldn't such reinforcing bars be within the concrete rather than just under the plaster? Unless the bar extends downwards into a concrete slab and is intended to help bond the wall to the slab. How old (roughly) is the extension?

 

[Hatster]

I think the extension is about 1950s or 60s - basically, it's an old farm, and when the then farmer's son married 50 or 60 years ago, the parents moved out and the son and new daughter-in-law moved in. The new daughter-in-law wasn't standing for it as it was (she gave me a graphic description of the first few months of married life) and did a lot of renovations, and I expect the new kitchen was one of these. I think that the dad and son did a lot of the work themselves, so there's no guarantee that any of it is done with any logic.

 

[Feltwell]

I think based on so little information it will be guesswork from everyone, but here's my guesses as to what it could be for:-

Protection for a pipe or cables - as someone mentioned earlier

Tying the new extension wall back into the exisiting structure - you don't mention where it is in relation to the old structure - is this a possibility, perhaps similar to how a Furfix is used now? (Like the product below)

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/66650...-Multi-Starter-Kit-Stainless-Steel-Pack-of-10

I can't see it being for reinforcing concrete. It's highly unlikely that your walls are cast in-situ concrete, and if they were any reinforcing should be about 2" below the surface of the concrete, not the plaster. You don't normally need to bond walls into the floor slab unless the wall has a force tryng to push it over, i.e. it's a retaining wall and is keeping earth back on one side.

I suspect that unless you open this up more you won't find out what it's for.

 

[Hatster]

ooh, shall I go at it with a chisel and hammer?

 

[Jon Maine]

ooh, shall I go at it with a chisel and hammer?

Just make sure it isnt an old steel conduit with a live cable in.......... :shock:

 

[Hatster]

If I never post again, you'll know what happened

I'll turn the mains off before I start banging.

 

[Penners]

I tend towards the pipe/cable cover-plate school of thought, although if there is or was an abutting wall on either side of that wall, I could easily be persuaded otherwise.

Or, as Flyfisher suggests, perhaps it's to hold the building down and stop it being blown away to Oz. :wink:

 

[outlaw]

I have seen some of these before and was told they were for earthing too :shock:
Not sure if this is the case and I wouldnt try it, just another idea though.

Tony

 

[Hatster]

Armed only with a bolster, a mallet and several degrees in a variety of unrelated subjects, I set to work to uncover the mysterious iron strip. :wink:

Cheers go to Penners, Feltwell and Phil, for correctly identifying that it is (or was, in its heyday) a capping strip for wiring. Particular cheers go to Jon for reminding me to switch the electricity off first.

You may be interested to know that the job was done at some point after the 14th Jan 1986. How do I know? Because for entirely mysterious motives, the person doing the job shoved a whole load of newspaper in there as well.

I shall continue bashing away until I get the rest of the rusted iron out so we can make good properly. I was half-way through bashing at it before lunch when it occurred to me that a designer cashmere cardigan was probably not de rigeur for building work. If I'm wrong, let me know...

 

[Penners]

Cheers go to Penners, Feltwell and Phil, for correctly identifying that it is (or was, in its heyday) a capping strip for wiring.

Except that Penners got there last.

it occurred to me that a designer cashmere cardigan was probably not de rigeur for building work. If I'm wrong, let me know...

I have an ottoman full of clothes that were bought for "best" but somehow ended up covered with sawdust, plaster, mortar, paint...etc.

I don't buy "best" any more - just "worst" (as anyone will tell you who has had the opportunity of checking me out sartorially).

 

[Jon Maine]

I guess you now need to know why it was so damp. I suspect a fairly uninsulated wall in a steamy at times kitchen is maybe a cause for heavy duty condensation. If this does look like the case perhaps a bit of dry lining with insulated plasterboard may help cure the issue.

As for the posh clothes and work i fall into the same trap all the time, my wife hates it.

 

[Feltwell]

I was half-way through bashing at it before lunch when it occurred to me that a designer cashmere cardigan was probably not de rigeur for building work. If I'm wrong, let me know...

No darling, a cashmere cardigan is SO last year for builders. This year pashminas are in, preferably with bits of mortar sticking out of them and the odd paint stain.

Feltwell, aka Gok Whateverhisnameis from the telly.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Or even Gokwell.