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...

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!

The Victorians introduced cavity walls.

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.

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.

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.

What sort of plaster would you patch with PumpingRSI?

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Sorry, plaster isn't crumbling off..

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...