Wall repairs

[xanthe]

Hi all!

We have now moved into the new house, made a decent dent in the box unpacking and the de-catifying is going well (14 years of 7 indoor cats is quite a challenge) and husband is bearing up with lots of antihistamines.

Obviously, I have been unable to restrain myself from having a poke around to see what things are made of so that we can get an action plan together.

The electrics are scary so things may need to happen sooner rather than later. However, we want to chase wiring into the walls rather than have the cables everywhere as they are now. Hence the poking about...

I've discovered that the vendors idea of repair work was to fill any gaps/holes with spray-on expanding foam, slap a bit of plaster on and hold everything together with multiple coats of gloss paint. Marvellous!

I had a look at the wall above my daughter's bedroom door - stuck a knife under the edge and the paint/plaster literally fell off leaving a panel of what looks like wattle & daub. Will take some pics, but it looked like brown mud with bits of straw and other stuff mixed in. Panel is in really good condition. Having tapped the other internal walls in the same area and I'm pretty sure they are the same.

Then I had a look at the main wall along the stairs which I know is lath & plaster as I can see the other side of it.

The wall looks like lumpy, shiny, yellow gloopy. It feels bubbly and crunchy and cracks if you press on it. It got some damage in the move with furniture being taken up and down (v narrow staircase).

I used a scalpel and there were a number of layers. 4 or 5 layers of paint, then a layer of modern plaster of varying thickness, then a layer of very old lime plaster on top of the laths. The whole of the plaster has come away from the laths. Where there were holes, it had been filled in with either 1-2 inch thick modern plaster, or the spray-on foam. I carefully cleaned down to the surface of the old plaster, but there are lots of areas where it's so cracked it's just a mess of crumbly bits of lime plaster.

The laths are in really good condition, but it looks like the whole plaster layer has become totally separated.

The other side of the wall is the one that the CO and the surveyor were interested in as it shows smoke blackening and is historic fabric. As it's the inside wall of a very large storage area it's not been touched and is in very good nick.

What should I do in terms of re plastering the wattle & daub and more importantly, dealing with this wretched mess of a wall?

 

[Zebra]

I guess if the plaster's come away from the lath then you'll have to take it off, leaving the laths in place, and replaster in haired lime onto the laths. Depending on the area you're looking at, that could even be considered a repair, and therefore not need LBC, am I right?

 

[xanthe]

If it wasn't this particular house, I would just remove back to the lath and replaster with hairy lime, reckon it was a repair and not look at LBC.

Unfortunately, the CO knows the house rather well - and we're going to need a fair amount of LBC in the next few years.

There is a tiny section of lath & plaster ceiling between 2 beams in rather a parlous state in the dining room - every other bit of ceiling in the house is either fibreboard, plasterboard or floorboard - and that can only be repaired not removed. So I worry a bit about this wall being seen in the same light - the part that the surveyor and conservation builder were all excited about was the other side which won't be affected.

I'm more than happy to repair any damage to the laths underneath, and wouldn't dream of ripping it out and sticking a sheet of plasterboard up. But the thought of stripping all the modern gunk off that wall (took 3 hours to do a square ft) and then attempting to keep it attached is terrifying. There are a number of dents, holes and a big crack already, and if you lean on it, you get new cracks and dents!

 

[Keithj]

I invited (nay, constrained) our CO to come and take a look at what we were planning to do with our repairs. He and our expert adviser spoke in a language that I didn't understand (then) and agreed all the details. Two experts for the price of one, really. I'd do it that way every time.

Get him in, show him what you've found, and tell him what you plan to do. He'll tell you if it needs LBC or not.

 

[mims&pip]

Pleased to hear you are in and settling down to the task(s) ahead xanthe I guess the *crime scene deep cleaning squad* de-catified the house sufficiently for your DH to cope without succumbing to multiple allergic reactions?

I can't offer any advice regarding your wall issue, but I believe I'm not alone in anticipating with untold glee the revelation of what the mystery item was that your vendors removed from the house much to your delight....... :wink:

Mims x

 

[xanthe]

Twas an indoor water feature taking up the whole of the wall at the end of the corridor.

Will sort some photos later, but to describe:

At the top, a half moon of red and yellow stained glass with a large crucifix lit from behind (leaving lots of worrying scorch marks on wall).

Beneath this, a full length sheet of mosaic tiles in reds, purples etc with the peacock lustre effect. At the base, a drip tray and at a touch of a button, water ran down the whole face of it.

It could have been far worse, but did illicit " what the **** is that?" from everyone we showed the listing to!

 

[xanthe]

.

 

[xanthe]

The "Grime Squad" were worth every penny. A team of 3 came for over 7 hours. I don't think the place had been properly cleaned in years. The EAs were fuming when they saw the state of it when the keys were handed over. Although the chap did show me how various boiler things worked and left all the appliance guides (and a skip size amount of rubbish that we are negotiating with the council over.

Am thinking I might invited both the EAs over for coffee and cake when it's all finished so that they can see what was under the ghastly mess. They were so great during the whole process and deserve a big thank you!

I think with the wall, best solution is going to be to get CO round before the big demolition job (we're stripping out all the modern plaster downstairs that was part of the blooming injected DPC, and all the fibre board ceilings), point out the numerous areas of major damage to the wall and the issues and see what he says.

Just out of interest, is it a problem making exploratory investigations? I studied archaeology in the past and have a lot of dig experience as well as being a detail fanatic with lots of patience, so when I uncover something I do it so that 99% of the historic material is preserved, I don't just cut in. I don't want to be in trouble for looking under the modern gloop.

Unfortunately the current shininess of the wall shows through even the chalkiness of F&B's finest and I don't think I could live with that!

 

[mims&pip]

Wow, xanthe, that sounds amazing (not in good way, lol :lol: ).....can't wait to see some pics!

What on earth were your vendors thinking of, installing that......and how the heck did they manage to dismantle it? The mind boggles......

Mims x

Edited to add - our vendor was pretty odd too - on our second viewing we discovered what we believed to be bunches of wisteria trailing across the garden front of the house (it has the largest specimen we have ever seen), only to realise on closer inspection that they were massive bunches of cables for his cctv etc. The damn things are everywhere and - unlike your vendors - we couldn't hope that he'd remove them :roll:

 

[Feltwell]

Am thinking I might invited both the EAs over for coffee and cake when it's all finished so that they can see what was under the ghastly mess. They were so great during the whole process and deserve a big thank you!

Erm, sorry, does EA mean Estate Agent?

You found TWO that were actually useful? :shock: In the same place, at the same time? :shock: :shock:

And they didn't just take the 1.5% (or whatever it is now) of the grossly inflated house price and do s@d all, like the majority of ones I've ever dealt with??? Tell me your secret!!

(Cue posts to defend estate agents, and the revelation that one of the forum members is/was an estate agent. There must be nice, effective, value-for-money ones. Just like the traffic warden I met once - who very politely told me that he'd have to book me if I stayed where I was parked, but move a few feet and I was outside of his jurisdiction.)

 

[xanthe]

Yes!

Sadly they weren't our agents. Despite inviting 12 to tender and interviewing them all, and hoping I'd made the right decision, I wasn't actually very impressed with ours once they'd got the contract. Although I did negotiate them down to 1% (another offered 0.8% so had a good position to bargain from).

These particular agents worked for our vendors, but were really helpful to us. Possibly because the POs were rather odd to say the least and threw toys out of the pram whilst we were very normal.

One (new graduate employee) used his day off to come round with me and the surveyor as he wanted to learn more about old buildings (was also useful as he saw the dodgy bits and predicted costs).

The other went round to see the POs on a Sunday afternoon to help negotiate the new post-survey price and held things together when one of the POs was having a wobble.

Out of all the "professionals" involved in the whole process, they were the only people that were any good and I didn't think up unpleasant ends for!

They've offered to help us with names of builders, plumbers etc. One owns a Listed property that he's just finished renovating. His father is a builder, but not for old houses, but helped advise on who to use. Not a given we'd use any of them, but handy to have recommendations .

Also had an amazing photographer. It's a very small agency who do everything online rather than one of the mega firms.

So yes, surprisingly, there are a few flying pigs around!

 

[livias]

Exploratory holes are fine Xanthe. In fact they are recommended.

If I were you then I would get a good conservation lime plasterer to decide what you want to do and THEN clear it with the conservation officer. The CO will know your lime plasterer so will be relaxed that their plan will be good conservation whereas you are the unknown blowins from London and might be about to create havoc (possibly through ignorance) so the CO will overspecify the job.

After a while you will gain your own track record with the CO so they will be more relaxed but not yet

 

[xanthe]

Thanks Livias. Good to know that making holes is okay!

We met the CO during the buying process. He came round for a few hours the week after the survey and we talked about what we and he both wanted done.

Apparently I "seem to know what you're doing" (hmmm) and there are some repair jobs that are allowed if I do them but not if I pay someone else to (remove cement from a few places). Since we've got off to a good start I want to keep it that way!

I think lots of holes in all walls, followed by plasterer to have a look see followed by detailed proposal is going to be best plan of action .