What internal pointing is this?

[discobarry]

I am soon to remove all internal plasterwork in our 17th century old farm house, but not yet! However i've kept seeing a chunk of plaster which looks ripe for dropping off so about 15mins ago i did pull it off. What we uncovered in barely 1sq metre is an old stoned up doorway we suspected was there (due to inset in wall in kitchen) and this pointing on the stone walls internally which seems like muck with little bit of fibrous material in. What is this? please see attached photos.

(bare with me, struggling with resizing!)

 

[discobarry]

 

[JoceAndChris]

It looks like mainly sand to me. Might the fibrous material in it be cow hair, or straw?

Can I ask why you're removing all internal plaster? Firstly that's an awful lot of work and expense for you, and secondly a lot of that plaster might be lime based and historic.

 

[discobarry]

It's all your bog standard plaster/rough cast plaster. A lot of it is loose for some reason and we have had damp issues. So i'm going to strip all the walls and have it all lime plastered. It is very sandy with maybe hair in it?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Looks like typical rough lime mortar to me - bulked up with sand, stones, dirt, hair and anything else to hand.

I wouldn't call it pointing really as it's not "finished off" on the face, it's just the mortar thrown between the stones as the wall was thrown up.

From the patch you've exposed there is very little original plaster there - it just looks like a thin coat of horrible cement stuff. Quite why you'd want to remove it is a mystery to me too!! :wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

(bare with me, struggling with resizing!)

Has anyone checked on Penners lately? I suspect he may be struggling to contain his mirth and choose a suitable reponse to this request of yours. :lol:

 

[discobarry]

Lol, Please tell me then what you guys would suggest i do when somebody has plastered bog standard plaster onto a wall, done it badly and lastly we have damp problems in the plasterwork???

Should i have skimmed over a problem? or should i of taken the i'll fitting plaster which pulls off with my fingers and try suss out what is going on behind there?

 

[88v8]

Our walls have lost all their original plaster/render, but the mortar between the stones isn't mortar at all - it's mud & chopped straw.

When I knocked out the cement pointing in the dining room prior to lime plastering - damp problems - I started by trying to get back to 'sound mortar' but soon realised there wasn't any. I could have continued knocking the mud out until the whole wall collapsed, without finding anything that resembled mortar at all.

Ivor

 

[Zebra]

What are you going to do db, repoint? Does it seem to need repointing, or is the old mortar in good enough condition that you can apply lime plaster over the top, in which case it doesn't much matter what it's made of.

 

[JoceAndChris]

The issue I have with people removing all their interior plaster, and replacing with lime, is a) I think it's really going very over the top - is every wall wringing wet and is that just condensation? and b) unless you know the history of the house how do you know every bit is cement? It's more common for cement to be skimmed over lime and for it to be a right old mixed bag with original colours under the layers and hundreds of years of history.

However new lime plaster is beautiful, and so if you really do know every bit is cement and modern hack it off if you like!

 

[a twig]

The issue I have with people removing all their interior plaster, and replacing with lime, is a) I think it's really going very over the top - is every wall wringing wet and is that just condensation? and b) unless you know the history of the house how do you know every bit is cement?

We are taking a piecemeal approach, if the plaster is in bad condition (usually caused by damp) then off it comes - particularly on the inside of external walls. Then repoint, and once it has all dried out (hopefully by next summer) lime will go on. Internal walls and stud walls, or places where the gypsum plaster is in good nick and the wall is dry is definitely staying as I cannot face the thought of re-doing the whole house!

In some rooms however where chimney breasts etc have been removed (usually not very neatly) the whole lot is coming off so the walls can be repaired/reinforced as necessary then re-pointed, then lime after.

As the PO decided 40 years ago that the original pammet floor would look a lot better as patio paving in the garden, and that the interior should have a concrete floor instead ( grrrrr :evil: ) it has become increasingly important to have breathable walls to try and compensate.