Subject: What's wrong with my wall?
From: Duncan Lees duncan-at-snsys-dot-com
Date: 13/08/03 17:39 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

Hi,

I've been looking round houses to buy, and one in particular I'm
interested in. It's a 1930s terrace, and is in general need of
refurbishment and decoration. However, when looking around the place I
noticed that the wall paper on some of the walls was bulging in places.
Pealing the paper back revealed a gritty white/grey power where the
plaster was crumbling. Does anyone know what the cause of this is, and
whether the walls need replastering or more major work?

The problem seems to occur on all the outside walls of the back of the
house, all the other inner and outer walls are fine. So I'd suspect damp
as the cause. But I can't see any evidence of damp anywhere. No patches
on the wallpaper, the paper is still stuck to the bits that aren't
powdery, no signs of mould, or green inside or out. So, could it be
something else?

Probably the original horsehair, rat dung and sea shell plaster that my similar
aged house is afflicted with. Nothing lasts for ever and plaster "blows" in
patches in older houses. I'm sure by the time modern ones are 70 years old
it'll be happening to them too. Tap the walls with a knuckle and where it's
blown you'll get a dull sound. You can just rake those bits out and patch them
up again if the rest of the wall is sound. There may well be damp of course but
that needs checking for separately.


Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines (www.pumaracing.co.uk)
I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish,
unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.