Victorian house solid wall

[Guitarguy]

My mums house is circa 1883 and I am in the process of restoring it room by room, we have stripped off the old dry lining on the external solid wall that had been installed in the 60’s with a polythene vapour barrier against the bricks with battens for the plasterboard.
The previous owner had foolishly had the outside of the wall cement rendered down to about a foot and a bit off the ground and then had the exposed bricks pointed in cement which has caused a lot of damp and knackered the floor (another job.) I am picking out the cement pointing on the outside and will lime point it to help it breathe and dry out.

Anyway, what I’m asking is what would be the best option for the inside of this wall? Would I be best to get it plastered using lime or normal plaster or would I be best to dry line it properly with insulation?

 

[bobasd]

it looks like you have bands of flint in your solid wall. best to remove all traces of old plaster or render.
you only show part of a wall how far does the battening go?
your floor joists are probly sitting in that wall with rotting ends. its best to sort the floor before anything else.
can you post photos of the outside of the wall, a full wall and detail at ground level?

 

[Guitarguy]

Hi, yes there are flints in the wall, looks like they built it from whatever fitted the gap! I have brushed it down since the photo was taken as there was also a lot of efflorescence on the wall.
The battening is now all gone, it didn’t go much further and it did originally cover the entirety of the wall (3.5m long) with polythene and plasterboard which was in a state due to damp damage and horrid woodchip wallpaper.
The floor is in need of repair, the joists sit on the other wall, the one adjacent to the fuseboxes.
Ill get some more photos when I’m over this evening

 

[StephenStephen]

I've used lime hemp on the inside - it breaths, provides a damp buffer, is insulating, and is pleasant to work with

 

[Guitarguy]

Lime hemp, not heard of that but it does sound good. Is it quite expensive?

 

[bobasd]

stil waitin for pictures?

 

[StephenStephen]

Lime hemp, not heard of that but it does sound good. Is it quite expensive?

We got ours relatively cheap from the tradesman doing the cob repair to one of the walls, it originally came from here: https://www.lime.org.uk/lime-hemp-plaster-non-hydraulic.html
We ran out near the end of the job, and it wasn't worth the transport to get more from them, so I got a few tubs of lime putty, and mixed it with hemp horse bedding...

 

[Spudgun888]

We got ours relatively cheap from the tradesman doing the cob repair to one of the walls, it originally came from here: https://www.lime.org.uk/lime-hemp-plaster-non-hydraulic.html
We ran out near the end of the job, and it wasn't worth the transport to get more from them, so I got a few tubs of lime putty, and mixed it with hemp horse bedding...

How easy was it to work with, if you don't mind me asking? I'm thinking of giving it a go for one my walls.

 

[StephenStephen]

How easy was it to work with, if you don't mind me asking? I'm thinking of giving it a go for one my walls.

I've never been brave enough to try gypsum plaster, to be honest. What I liked about lime putty, and lime hemp, is having lots of time to play with it, and the way it becomes more plastic the more you work it - it's odd starting with a dry hard lump and then with bashing, prodding and squeezing it turns into something more like Plasticine.
A couple of things I learnt:
-don't go adding water to the putty - work it till it softens instead
-do make sure the wall is damp enough, both before and after you've plastered it
-don't worry if the wall goes orange with mold after the lime hemp - it'll go as the wall dries out, and the topcoats will cover it
-I wouldn't expect to get the utterly smooth flat finish that professionals can get with gypsum. The trick seems to be to aim for that, and enjoy that you end up with something slightly more organic

I think it's more time consuming to use lime than gypsum, but it's more forgiving of lack of core plastering skills!

If you're using lime putty I'd recommend you read 'Lime in Building' by Jane Schofield, available here: http://www.theblackdogpress.bigcartel.com/
Very good source of information are the videos from Mike Wye (on youtube)

Read more: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/lime-mortar.490517/#ixzz5IXBTZgAB