This may be the stupidest question ever but can someone tell me what the point of plastering a wall is?!
DW and I bought a Victorian terrace a couple of years ago and like most houses that age we were aware that there were high damp readings in the kitchen when we bought it. The previous owners had fully decorated the kitchen with nice tiles and cupboards etc, but behind the cupboards (i.e. on the outer wall) the plaster is peeling away.
We've had a damp company come in and to sort the issue of the damp they're saying they need to do an injection damp proof coursing (which I was expecting) and to strip back all the plaster inside up to 1.2 metres from the ground. I don't mind the outside work but the inside replastering would mean having to rip off all the tiles and deconstruct the whole kitchen which we're not really keen on doing.
Is there any benefit in them doing the damp course and just leaving the old plaster to flake away over time? Or perhaps just stripping the plaster back to the brickwork? The bits flaking away aren't visible and it's not bothering us in any way, we'd just rather it didn't get any worse. Ultimately I'm not really sure what the purpose of plaster is other than you can paint it and it prevents a bit of heat loss from the house.
Thanks in advance!