Wallpaper fragments

[Cloudscape]

The "en-suite bathroom" (or what passed for one!) has gradually been removed from our house, and today we removed a stud wall that was only really used to hide pipes. It had been very wet in the past, so needed investigating.

I was told that the bathroom had just been a kind of attic, reached by a ladder. This might be true, but it was clearly more than an attic once. We've found fragments of wallpaper, applied to the lime plaster, with limewash/distemper added later over the top (twice, I think). What impressed me was how bright the blue is on the wallpaper. It's a repeat pattern, and slightly squiffy.

View attachment 2 View attachment 1

 

[yamin]

Fascinating. I know that the subdues 'hues' usually associated with old colours and decor are only because they've faded aren't they? And when uncovered by something protecting them they are actually very bright! Don't know what this is - are you sure its paper not paint? Its so bright! Quite a find

 

[Hatster]

Wow! That bright, deep blue looks really similar to a colour I've discovered in our attic - the levels of floor / ceilings in our house were completely different at one point, and in what now is the attic, you can see the wall covering that was in what's now our bedroom. What kind of date do you estimate that's from?

 

[Cloudscape]

It's definitely paper. The last image shows fragments I removed - they were about to fall off. The blue is quite bright. Knowing the history of my house, I'd say that the paper could date from... whenever wallpaper first began, to the 1930s, when a business in my house ceased trading. The blue I find quite odd. It might have been chemically altered by the damp and lime over time?

I also found this, or my electrician did, in our utility room. It's under a top coat of emulsion and some distemper/limewash (it's under a few layers). Again... the colour surprised me.

 

[DaveBrigg]

Our utility room had all the cupboards and window frame painted in an identical blue. We were told that this was to discourage flies. Not because they are all Liverpool fans; there is supposedly an ingredient in blue paint which deters them. Wish it worked on mice...

 

[Ixia]

We found this in our 1890/1910 house...

Don't disappoint me and say it looks like 1960's repro!

Oh and hello again. I used to be a frequent poster about 4yrs ago, but I've been deleted! I remember E, who I suspect is now Nemesis, Penners, Biff and where's Grimmers these days?

 

[Cloudscape]

If that was 1960s, it would have had to be very upmarket wallpaper - almost Fornasetti-like. Very nice indeed.

 

[plumbers mate]

this is mine it's all over the passage and stair walls under dado level. It's actually a lot browner than the picture but the camera kept adjusting it.

 

[Penners]

Don't disappoint me and say it looks like 1960's repro!

It looks like 1960's repro to me. :wink:

Hi Ixia, and welcome back! Ah yes, Grimmers where art thou? He's sorely missed. I've often tried to get the level of humour to sink to his depths, but I'm a rank amateur in comparison to the master.

 

[Lime]

Can I be a boring old f**t and remind everyone that old wallpaper and paint can be poisonous?

 

[Penners]

Ixia and PM - Lime's given you good advice. On no account eat your old wallpaper. However yummy it looks.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

And the plaster's probably full of anthrax...
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...s in historic building refurbishment_1999.pdf
My absolute favourite of all EH's guidance notes.

 

[Cloudscape]

When I started reading that report, I thought that it must have been written on 1 April. It took a while to sink in that they were being serious. The possible presence of anthrax in plaster would never have crossed my mind. I wouldn't have thought that bacteria would thrive in a lime-based substance, but there you go.

 

[Penners]

Then, of course, there's the risk of unearthing a plague pit, when you dig in your garden.

I'm asking Father Christmas for a biohazard suit.

 

[MdB]

Somebody should shoot whoever generated that pdf....

 

[Gareth Hughes]

When I started reading that report, I thought that it must have been written on 1 April. It took a while to sink in that they were being serious. The possible presence of anthrax in plaster would never have crossed my mind. I wouldn't have thought that bacteria would thrive in a lime-based substance, but there you go.

ISTR recall a nineteenth century report that three workmen digging in a field at Eyam in Derbyshire unearthed something "with the appearance of lime" and all succumbed to a mystery illness within 48 hours...

A mere 150 years after the mass burials in quicklime at the height of the plague outbreak which was contained within the village in 1665 after a box of flea-ridden clothes arrived from London.

 

[Penners]

Somebody should shoot whoever generated that pdf....

Because of the content, or the crap quality of the pdf?

 

[Nemesis]

Drums are the latest anthrax hazard:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7738092.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7140943.stm

Nov 3rd 2008:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Health/Anthrax-Health-Officials-Seal-Apartment-After-Drum-Makers-Death/Article/200811115140550

Seems animal hair could potentially be a risk:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733752819

 

[Penners]

 

[Nemesis]

Cattle or goat hides that have been tanned, hard-dried, pickled (soaked in a salt solution), or treated with lime are considered to pose less of a risk for infectious diseases and may be imported under certain conditions.