Wall paper on lime plaster?

[Alexia Hanham]

Hi,

Can you wallpaper a lime plastered wall and it still be able to breathe? Our 1830's house has lime plastered single skin walls. If we put wallpaper on these instead of a lime wash type paint could we be creating damp issues as the wall wont be able to breathe?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Hello Alexia.

It will depend upon the paper, upon the adhesive, and upon the wall.

*If your paper is plastic coated (as some of the, for example, embossed papers are), then it won't breathe.
*If your adhesive is full of modern plastic stuff, then again once you have slathered it over your nice lime plaster it won't breathe so well.
*If your wall is an internal wall in the middle of the building with no moisture running through it, then breathability is less of an issue than an external wall.

Of course, the real question is why anyone would rather have paper, than lovely lime plaster walls with nice limewash or other breathable paint??? 8)

Robin

 

[MatthewC]

And, of course, if you buy an old house with walls which have been papered and then painted, the odds are that they used vinyl paint which will also inhibit breathability. This is demonstrated by the fact that a wallpaper steamer cannot penetrate the paper without extensive scoring, although the wall may be damp anyway which helps!

You can also use clay paint (google "Earthborn paint") instead of limewash if you don't like the effect of limewash.

 

[plasticpigeon]

How important is "breathability" on the inside walls of a building?? I'd have no hesitation putting up wallpaper in my brick house, in fact it is something I plan to do. I think dot and dab plasterboarding is a risk, due to the dots and dabs allowing more heat transfer to the walls potentially causing condensation where the dots and dabs are, so solid plaster is sensible. I also think that if i want solid walls why not use lime rather than gypsum, it is probably easier to use, especially for straightening as it is workable for longer, but is there really a lot of evaporation from the walls inside the building??? The Victorians used varnished paper in some area so it was wipe clean and most walls were wallpapered, so it is traditional.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

How important is "breathability" on the inside walls of a building??

Well, I suppose it also depends where your house is. If it is somewhere like the Somerset Levels and prone to flooding, then you might want lime plaster internally instead of gypsum as it makes the now regular drying out somewhat less problematic. It was heartening to hear one of the Environment Agency wallahs on the wireless the other day suggesting a list of flood mitigations that may be built back into houses that had been flooded recently; line plaster was one of the suggestions.

Incidentally one of the possible etymologies for Somerset is from "Seo-mere-saetan" meaning "settlers by the sea lakes.". So, they knew the risks some 1400 years ago! In the Hampshire town where I grew up, our games masters used to make us do cross country through "Flood Meadows" down by the river. When I went home a few years ago, they'd built a whacking great housing estate there... wonder what their insurance premiums are like now?

 

[Feltwell]

our games masters used to make us do cross country through "Flood Meadows" down by the river.

Well, they sound less sadistic than my PE teachers - we used to have to go *through* a river (admittedly a shallow one) as part of our cross country, in winter.

These wonderful teachers managed to put me off playing sport of any kind for life!

 

[MatthewC]

How important is "breathability" on the inside walls of a building?? ... is there really a lot of evaporation from the walls inside the building???

If the walls are damp already then having the inside face breathable will speed up the drying out process considerably. Possibly when they are dry they will stay dry without breathing (until something goes wrong...)?

 

[JoceAndChris]

I've got wallpaper throughout because I like it. In places it isn't especially happy, because the exterior has a cement render that's trapping moisture. I'm hoping when the exterior cement is replaced with lime the problem will go away and the few slightly damp patches we have will dry out.

I think wallpaper warms things up, though not as much as fabric does.

 

[Alexia Hanham]

Matthew C - you are on the money. A little more investigation has highlighted exactly what you said...we have lining paper that has been painted in a plastic based paint and then wallpaper on top of that! Any idea how best to get the paint off? It is not coming off easily but we want to remove it all so that the wall can breathe!

 

[JoceAndChris]

It's a slow old business with a steamer and a scraper I'm afraid, a bristle brush, sugar soap. And I'd take everything off, back to plaster as much as possible - you'll then be able to see where the lime plaster is, if it's skimmed with gypsum, if it's all gypsum.

 

[Moo]

Don't forget to score the plastic paint thoroughly before you use the steamer.

 

[Alexia Hanham]

It's interesting that you have suggested to use the steamer as our Conservation said NOT to use one as it will cause the plaster to fail?

 

[MatthewC]

It's interesting that you have suggested to use the steamer as our Conservation said NOT to use one as it will cause the plaster to fail?

I think the answer is that judicious use of a steamer will be OK but certainly over-use will damage the plaster. Purely mechanical scraping will also damage the plaster if you're not careful. How you find out is to try a bit and see. Good luck!

 

[plasticpigeon]

I have found mechanical scraping damages the plaster more than the steamer. If the plaster is a bit loose but not falling off, scraping will definitely pull it down, steaming might just be gentle enough to leave it be. Lime is not too fussy about getting wet either.