Paper insulation in georgian wall?

[atlasfever]

Hello Folks,

1. Well, I have started my refurb of my georgian, 1st floor flat, and we had to open up one partition wall for engineering checks, etc and I found this (photo). It looks like chewed up paper, which filled the walls. I'm guessing it was 1790's version of insulation. Anyone know what this is? I guessed newspaper, but ti's rather thick. I thought to keep some of it, maybe put it in a framed box as it's historic. Come across this before?

2. After removing some wood trim on the same wall, I found a strip of burgandy wallpaper, really ornate. The contractor carefully cut out the plaster so that I have the piece. Any idea how I can clean it a bit and preserve it? Again, frame it for that fantastic conversation piece.

Thanks.

 

[LadyArowana]

Oooooh, pictures needed I think! Paper conservation is a specialist discipline and if you are keen to have such a lovely find preserved then it might be worth investing in getting it done properly. I'm not sure if these people would do it, but even if not then they might know someone that would. They are quite nearby ( Wandsworth IIRC ) and I dealt with Patricia Bowles when I had to get a statue restored. I called them and then sent pictures for an estimate, they were very nice and very helpful and did a great job. http://www.colinbowlesltd.co.uk/conservation.php

 

[atlasfever]

Oops, photo attached. But it's very hard to see, b/c it is all jammed up in the wall.

 

[LadyArowana]

If that was mine I would have to pull some of it out and have a good look ( I am aware that this may not be the correct thing to do, but I would be insanely curious and nosey ). I wonder if it was put in for sound insulation to stop the wall sounding hollow? just idle speculation.

 

[robgil]

Could be there to fix a draught or it could even be generations of mice nesting there.

 

[atlasfever]

Could be there to fix a draught or it could even be generations of mice nesting there.

I am so utterly grossed out right now.

 

[DJH]

Hmm, I wonder if they stuffed paper in there to cut down on the amount of mortar used to plaster the walls if, for example the lathes were over spaced. The only way to tell of course is to pull some out but I have to say I would be very reluctant to do that but have you any idea of the date of these newspapers?

Doug

PS if it is mice you've got some big hardworking ones.. :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

So much more interesting to photograph well and leave things in place than to pull them out and frame. ( what tends to happen is other things get in the way and the artefacts just crumble away in a drawer as you're planning to frame properly )

Presumably though, there's a lot of that wallpaper under the modern finish which means you can enjoy framing the fragment you've got! How lovely to be finding these fragments of the past.

We've found masses of paper here stuffing gaps, mostly dated late 19th C which is when new windows went in ( the windows we have) Not found any used as filler in the way it appears in your walls though! We're by a quarry so have a lot of thick stone walls, as well as brick - I guess they used what was to hand.