tree wrote:
Hi all,

I've been tasked with fitting some bookcases into a room in our new house.
In order to make the most of the available space, it has been decreed that
they are to be built in.

The room is in a (probably) Victorian extension to a much older house, and
according to the surveyor has solid walls. It had some suspiciously high
damp readings during the survey too, but there doesn't seem to be much sign
of damp other than that. The room is quite cold, though - a combination of
slightly tired central heating and the complete lack of insulation in the
walls, I expect.

snip
If air gets from a hot place to a cold place, then some of the water in it
may condense.
This you really, really don't want happening to books, so they should not
be used as insulation.

What is the construction of the wall?
Plasterboard - gap - stone wall?

Or plastered stone.