Yes, the construction is all masonry. Brick facing with a block core.
Plaster lath attached to the block interior surface. The only voids are in
the blocks. I did go up into the attic to see if I could see any leakage
issues. Nothing. Nor is there any obvious leaking happening on those
interior walls. It's the entire cold wall surface where the original paint
flakes away from the skim coat. So I don't think injected insulation is an
option for me.

Thanks

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On Feb 11, 10:03?pm, "mdb" wrote:
I have a 1950's brick home in Virginia with true plaster interior walls
and
it's time to repaint a stairway wall. The paint is in pretty bad shape.
It
flakes off easily with the blade of a chisel, with all layers of paint
right
down to the plaster skim coat coming up. It's as though the paint never
really bonded to the original plaster. This failure to bond seems to
have
occured only on the exterior walls so I wonder if the lack of housewrap
and
thus colder surfaces might explain the peeling. The task before me is to
either scrape all the old paint off or perhaps to paper the wall. But
I'm
also wondering about adding a layer of 3/8" sheetock directly to the
plaster. The plaster wall is quite cold to the touch and I wonder if I'd
gain some insulation, especially if I added a layer of some sort of very
thin insulation before adding the sheetrock. Back when our home was
built,
contractors just put lath directly on the brick or block without any
additional insulation. I know I'd have to remove molding around windows
and
at the baseboard, but that's not a huge project. I'm not sure how I'd
handle
the joint where ceiling meets wall because the ceiling goes off at a 45
degree angle, not the normal 90 degrees.

Would I gain much feeling of warmth with the additional sheetrock? What
product would be best for the thin foam insulation? Any new products
better
than plain sheetrock which I know doesn't have much of an R factor?

Thanks.

I would blow insulation in walls, you will need 2 holes one near
bottom one near top of each stud cavatity, remove all the lose
plaster, prime area with kilz oil to help adhesion, then skim coat
with drywall compound. it adheres great.

this elminates all the moulding issues, can result in a excellent job
and insulation saves energy.

I would look into closed cell foam for that wall its a self vapor
barrier, about R6 per inch, theres a minimal expanding type for this
application.

I would take a close look for water problems in this area that may be
causing the peeling plaster, either wall siding or some sort of roof
flashing problem. Mght be worth popening the wall at the worst place
and taking a look, you might find a leaking drain pipe or something. I
did this recently here for the same reason and found a bath leak,
actually 2 that were somehow migrating into this wall nearby and
causing plaster peeling

1950s brick with plaster walls could easily be a Real Brick house (no stud
cavities)- they were still being built in that era. OP's comment that the
lather may be directly on the brick or block would tend to support that
idea.

MDB, please enlighten us- Stick frame or masonry walls?

aem sends...