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Plastering & Rendering

1901 Terrace, discovered plasticy board covering party wall in one room - what next?

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.33 PM

We just took possession of our first house, a solid stone and brick terrace built 1901. We have discovered something odd going on with a party wall in the bedroom - it is covered with some kind of plasticy board which has warped and bowed (you can make it wobble by giving it a push). Under the one layer of wallpaper put up by the previous owners this board is dark brown, shiny, plastic feeling and too hard to even scratch with a craft knife. Since we could hear crumbling behind the board when we pushed it, we cut a small hole to take a look. It didn't seem as bad as we feared (picturing wet, crumbling brick). The brick is bone dry and in good condition, though the mortar may be a little crumbly - it's hard to tell for sure. What seems to have happened is that this board was stuck directly to the plaster, but as it has warped it has pulled the plaster off the brickwork completely, and it's the plaster we can hear crumbling. It only seems to be still stuck to the brick on the bottom foot of the wall and to a certain extent at the edges. The plaster looks grey - does that mean it's the original lime plaster? So, my question is what should we do next? Rip off the strange plasticy board and replaster? If so I assume this should be lime? I don't know how much original lime is in the rest of the house, but certainly every other room is covered with modern emulsion and plasticy wallpapers and the place is very dry even in the cellar. Does this mean lime isn't really needed? To add complication, there are two electrical sockets in this wall. Will that make it a much bigger job to sort this out? If replastering turns out to more than we can afford to do, what sort of consequences would we be storing up if we replaced the bit we cut out and left it as it is?

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4 Answers

Zel Yapi Ltd.

Rating: 4.9 out of 5
Enfield
From what I understand, due to the pressure from above, the plastic board has bended. The Grey marks are most likely cement not limescale/calcification. Changes to any electricial installations May lead to problems due to the house being very old
Answered1 July 2020
0

D & R Property and Plumbing Maintenance

Rating: 4.9 out of 5
New Romney
sounds like hardboard stuck onto plaster.
Answered1 July 2020
0

Plastering

No reviews yet

Chichester
Obviously this is a guess,as i have not viewed,though it sounds like,a diy job,maybe plaster was loose,and they have put this board on to cover up the problem,i would remove all and replaster the whole wall. Best of luck!
Answered8 July 2020
0

P.plastering

Rating: 5 out of 5
Manchester
The best bet is rip it off the wall and get it replastered you could either have it done in sand and cement or dot and dab boards to the wall dot and dab is the cheapest option
Answered9 July 2020
0