Restoration & Refurbishment

Unheated entrance hall. Do I need insulation?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.11 PM

Taking (unheated) entrance hall back to bare stone wall I'm in the process of removing new but very poorly done gyprock / plaster in our ground floor entrance hallway. Had to do so for a related project and thereby uncovered a section of the external wall. It is a grand old, hand cut stone wall with tonnes of character. I want to remove the (terribly executed) gyprock and studs etc, exposing the 150 y/o sandstone wall. I want to clean the wall, maybe white wash it and just leave it as our finish - no gyp etc, just old stone / sandstone. But, it IS the external wall. The hallway in question is completely unheated and has no existing insulation, other than the gyp and cavity between the gyp and the outside wall. It is the only 'room' on the ground floor - a short flight of four stairs leads up from it. There is a good door at the top of the stairs. Even on the landing beyond that point there is no heating - only a closet. Only the upper floor is heated, and that is up another flight of 15 steps. My plan is to draft-proof that door and frame, then skin back the wall to the stone, leaving the hallway / mud room as an unheated transit-only space. My question is only this: is there a reason I need that wall to have gyp on it? Do I really need that cavity? It is already a cold, unheated / uninsulated space, and not drawing heat from any adjacent rooms. It is only a transit space, where we take off boots etc, and it can be fairly well isolated via the door. With the removal of the terrible existing gyp etc we would gain almost 8" as well as the character of the wall. Am I missing something, or should I go get the hammer? Thanks. GGM