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Making good on horsehair plaster removal

Joined
30 Nov 2025
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Hello,

I am quite new to DIY so please forgive my naivety if I have done something silly.

In have a 1900s terrace house. The internal party wall has an unused fireplace which I believed had hygroscopic salt build up because there was a constant damp patch in the paint and a Timberwise person mentioned this when they did a visit (appreciate the damp contractors can be contentious).

I didn't think it would be penetrating damp because its not exposed to outside and when I spoke to the neighbours they didn't have any issues on their side (they bought their house already renovated), which to me reduced the chances of it being rising damp.

I took off some of the affected plaster yesterday all to a set height and it came off quite crumbly/easily with a small prybar and my hand. It also sounded hollow to the knock. The old plaster is horse hair plaster with a skim.

My plan is to:
1. Waterproof the bricks, either with a tanking compound or waterproof membrane
2. Dot and dabbing plasterboard to the same thickness as the original plaster
3. Scrim the plasterboard joints as well as the joint between the old horsehair plaster and the plasterboard
4. Skim coat the whole area

Is this the right approach to this problem?

Any feedback welcome.

Cheers
 
I guess I'd want to be fairly confident that the source of the water had been addressed before looking at how to decorate...
 

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