Help and advice on Edwardian house renovation please

[FourOnTheHill]

We have recently moved into a neglected but potentially lovely spacious three bed end of terrace Edwardian house. Most recent 'home improvements' happened in 1990 when the back end of the house subsided and was underpinned and large sections had to be re plastered after the building work. Before that, in 1960s the fireplaces were covered over and the doors and staircase were panelled in. Whole house smelled quite musty.

This is our 'forever house' so we want to do everything slowly and properly, and would appreciate any advice along the way. We are pretty new to renovation work and our budget is tiny so we need to DIY. Have read the whole heritage house website and we are aware of breathability issues, however we have a lot of modern interior plaster on walls which we will need to live with as can't afford to take it back to brick and re do in lime.

First question: have stripped wallpaper off in one room (back bedroom). Have found a variety of plaster- will try to add photos in a minute. The wall thats an exterior wall has lots of black mould on it. I'm assuming this is caused by condensation problems. What can we do about this, as we can't afford to re plaster in lime. I'm thinking wallpaper is not a good idea as it'll get damp again.

Will post photos in a minute to clarify my questions about each type of plaster I found...

[FourOnTheHill]

Hi Pumping no it's mainly concrete in the room I'm decorating, although we do have a room where it's definitely coming away from the bricks in places, so I'll have to get a plasterer in when we get to that one.

DH spent all day putting up coving, it's looking good.

Tomorrow we are seeing a carpenter re alcove units in the lounge/ dining room, which means making a decision about whether to ultimately keep the knock through (lounge/ dining room) or whether to put back the partition wall. Any thoughts welcome on this!

Went on loft for the first time, it's full of old junk and an enormous old disused water tank! But wow what a big space, may be useful one day if we can afford to do anything with it...

[PumpingRSI]

Sorry, plaster isn't crumbling off..

[PumpingRSI]

Yes, just a standard cement based plaster. If damp is really bad and seems to come back then it can be done with a mix of cementatious and lime plaster, think product is called limecrete which is a bit more breathable. But your plaster is crumbling off and bubbling up is it? Just mould, which is surface damp rather than damp coming through walls over time. A decent plasterer can use limecrete, it's not partic specialists.

I'd deffo use lime based plaster and lime wash in cob/earth structure, timber framed building and poss up to Georgian but once bricks are made from more industrial processes I.e. 1850s standard Victorian looking builds, (usually associated with coming if railway in area) you can get away with normal plaster as most will have been replastered at some stage in 1950s-90s.

[FourOnTheHill]

OK great thanks for the info. As the room I'm doing now is concrete on 4 out of 5 walls I'm not going to worry too much but will have to make sure it's well ventilated via fireplace and windows and maybe an air brick. Definitely have old breathable plaster in other rooms though so will be careful re wallpaper and paints

[BumbleNova]

yes thats exactly it - if you go to the trouble of keeping your walls breathing, putting a plastic (acrylic) over the top will not help.

ditto with some lining paper and the adhesives used to put it up. we found damp under our lining paper where it had been trapping the moisture. so just something to bear in mind.

edward bulmer were brilliant, seriously, I was calling them daily to ask for advice on colours, finishes, what would work with what. they send us loads of samples, colour swatches etc. www.edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk/colours

we used their plaster primer over the top of the fresh plaster to get the best finish instead of using mist coat.

I like F&B do a great job of marketing, not matched by anyone else. edward bulmer will colour match any colours too.

[FourOnTheHill]

Also interested to know what PumpingRSI would use for plastering/ skimming/ patching thanks for your post.

[FourOnTheHill]

Oh just seen loads more posts I hadn't noticed will read and come back tomorrow! Thanks all.

[FourOnTheHill]

Actually what's so useful with F&B is how they explain how the colours work, and what goes with what and why. That's why I'd ended up looking at their colours more than anyone else.

[FourOnTheHill]

Ah BumbleNova what a shame I love the F&B colours so much. Will look at the paints you mentioned. I guess it doesn't matter what I use on the concrete? PVA is all over the concrete unfortunately, I won't be adding more of my own though! What's wrong with acrylic, not breathable?

[athousandsplendidsuns]

What sort of plaster would you patch with PumpingRSI?

[PumpingRSI]

Not had time to read all posts but have done our own Edwardian house up with damp problems and am historic building specialist. Don't worry too much about lime as the durability of the bricks (I.e hard industrial high temp cooked) means they aren't so affected by water penetration. You need to check if there is guttering dripping onto outside wall or down pipe etc?? do u have upvc Windows and if so what is there a trickle vent what channel needs to be opened. Leave windows open as much as poss and if chimney bricked up you could consider opening it up (good old sledgehammer ought to do it). Basically you need to ventilate. Then if needs be strip off paper, and if you need to a plasterer could re skim and patch if nec when it's had chance to dry out in a few months. Re paint in a more Matt / chalky pInt I.e. Not silk as if damp comes through a bit again you can rub off and re touch easier. You can get stuff to paint into mould but if you don't tackle wet condition it will just come back.

I wouldn't be tempted by lining paper, tho it's an easy cheap fix you'd prob always wished you'd done it properly.

[elgol]

Would also say lining paper or wallpaper will stop a wall being 'breathable'. This asaik would only be a problem if there is ongoing damp getting into the walls.

[elgol]

Am not sure why you feel your house needs to 'breathe'. This basically happens when construction methods/materials allow water in. Which means the water needs to be able to come back out. It's not designed to do that, it just a consequence of that form of construction.

If your house is made of brick and has a damp proof course, then damp (coming from the ground damp) shouldn't be a problem.

Water from gutters etc can be relatively easily sorted.

The kind of black mold in your picture ime comes from condensation. So showers with no fan or open window. Stuffy unaired rooms. Drying laundry inside. All easy fixes.

Have never heard gypsum described as breathable. We have cob and would not use gypsum.

Op, am not sure why you feel you should use lime plaster?

I would stabilise the plaster and paint or line with paper. Then enjoy your house.

[thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter]

The Victorians introduced cavity walls.

[athousandsplendidsuns]

The old house handbook and the old house eco handbook by hunt and suhr I think would be good ones to add to your list! We re 8 months in to a similar project!

[bilbodog]

Victorian and edwardian houses dont have cavity walls. Weve renovated both and have only replaced plaster where we had to. Weve often used good quality lining paper and i think it gives a good finish. I don't think your walls look bad at all. Good luck and enjoy your house!

[BumbleNova]

grey stuff is concrete - they clearly had a damp proof course put in, we had the same.

actually, modern gypsum is breathable and water permeable so it shouldnt damage the old walls and cause damp. we did loads of research, it was important to us too.

the key is breatheable paint - try earthborn or edward bulmer emulsion. and I'd step away from the PVA. its a disaster for old walls. and definitely do not use Farrow and Ball on your original plaster, it has acrylic in it.

[thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter]

Our house is Edwardian, similar state walls, we got most of our walls skimmed with modern plaster and they've been fine for years now.

What's the state of your roof/guttering like? Do you know if the house has had modern cavity wall insulation- if it hasn't then don't as it will cause damp! If there's any gutters that are blocked/broken they'll cause damp with water running down your brickwork.

We are still renovating ours, mostly DIY due to costs. Still have kitchen and hallway to do. Agree with PPs to keep it well ventilated and it should be fine.

As an aside I don't know about anyone else but I've found our house gets dusty very quickly.

[FourOnTheHill]

Quodlibet are you a musician too? :)

Encouraged to hear the damp doesn't look too bad to you

I'm not keen on paying for plastering, but will maybe get a quote. I'm a bit confused about what kind of plaster I'd ask for give that I don't want to put modern un breathable plaster on the nice old sand plaster. Don't care on the grey stuff obviously whatever it is. Looks like concrete...

Yes we will try and keep it all ventilated. We have an awful old UPVC window with seals all hanging off in there that needs replacing but isn't a top priority.

[Quodlibet]

upvc windows not can windows!

[Quodlibet]

That damp doesn't look too bad to me - it might resolve once rooms are breathing properly again and airflow is re established. One of the things that causes damp in Victorian properties is trapped moisture - houses were designed to have sash windows open and fires burning. Nowadays up can windows, showers and drying washing inside causes a build up of moisture that doesn't get released. What kind of windows do you have? We had a similar level of worrying damp and peeling paper when we moved into our Victorian flat, but it resolved as we started using the house. Sometimes putting in an air brick can help matters apparently.

Re plaster - I wish we'd just coughed up for a re-skim in two of our rooms which we ended up lining. When you include the time you spend trying to patch up bad walls, the cost is fairly negligible.

[FourOnTheHill]

Looks like we will have to do lining paper all over or an oil based undercoat which I'm not keen on, can't stand using oil based paints!

[JT05]

Ah PVA, we did paint it, diluted, over a cracked stairway wall where the plaster had slight movement. It stabilised the wall and the paper went on well.

[FourOnTheHill]

Oh crossed posts JT05 yes I've been asking around about reclamation yards locally, can't wait to visit one!

[FourOnTheHill]

Anyone know about the PVA? Google is giving me mixed answers. I don't mind lining paper, but a lot of the room would be ok to paint on I think, except the chimney breast which I'll wallpaper... Have my eye on a gorgeous fired earth paper for that!