Bought old house - few queries

[numptie]

House is around 100 years old - have heard some of it rebuilt in 1920's after a fire but this may be untrue.

1) Would like to put in some cavity wall insulation - but is there a cavity? How can you tell. There is about a foot or so between some of the windows and the actual walls - must be something in there I guess. How big would the cavity be?

2) If I whack some of the walls with my hand, I can hear little bits of plaster falling down the inside of the wall. The walls appear to be of lath and plaster construction. Is this normal? Will it cause any problems as they seem to be quite strudy otherwise.

Thanks for any help.

 

[amtodd]

Chances are with house that old there is no cavity.

 

[MANDATE]

Bricks are 4.5in and you often hear of 9in walls and 11in walls .
9in are solid walls and the 11in have 2in cavity,
You tell easily by measuring,failing that use a long but small masonery drill in a mortar joint and after 4.5in you'll soon know
Ican't tell you much about the inside wall, but if it is lath and plaster then the laths must be secured to something and a pilot hole should tell what is behind.
If the wall is 11in ,then I guess your inner wall being 4.5in must be brick,the only other alternative is a 4.5in wide wooden frame if you drill from the outside as mentioned your drill penitrate 4.5in for the brick plus 2in for cavity plus maybe another 4.5in for wood frame,unless you have wood frame filled with brickwork

 

[masona]

Another thought.....If you haven't got air bricks on ground level its most likely to be solid walls as cavity walls need air,if you have got air bricks cut out a small piece of floorboard inside opposite the air brick and put your hand through and see if there a gap between two walls.Keep a phone near you incase you get struck!! You can still have air bricks with solid walls as the floorboard underneath need air. The easier options would be to drill a small hole outside as Mandate quoted.

 

[MANDATE]

I noted MASONA did not leave his number

 

[masona]

Very funny,my number is 999

 

[numptie]

Sorry, forgot to mention that it has stone walls. How thick are they likely to be? As thick as me perhaps.

What about the tinkle of bits of plaster I hear when I whack the wall with my hand (or a telephone ). What does that indicate?

I will drill a small pilot hole over the weekend out of curiosity.

Thanks

 

[masona]

Sounds like you've got lath and plaster construction on timber stud wall.(you can drill a small hole inside and see if you hit the wooden lath).The plaster become weak over the years and not gripping behind the wooden lath and eventually the plaster will fall off in different places.Depends how bad it is,remove old plaster and re-plaster or rip out wooden lath and renew with plasterboards and rookwool insulation between timber studs which will be much more warmer.