Insulating a house having solid walls

[ARW]

Are you asking John Rumm to supply structural details of his local Sainburys?

[John Rumm]

As it happens I saw how they built it... bog standard cavity wall construction, rigid batt insulation between. The only unusual bit being the outer skin made with lots of half bricks to create the traditional bond pattern.

[rowing]

n semi. The walls are plastered (not the original plaster), and wall-papere d.

be fixed by a proprietary adhesive. I would remove the wall paper. I aim t o use 1-inch board, being the minimum that would make a difference, but not consuming too much space on e.g. the stairwell.

Been there and done this

[rowing]

n semi. The walls are plastered (not the original plaster), and wall-papere d.

be fixed by a proprietary adhesive. I would remove the wall paper. I aim t o use 1-inch board, being the minimum that would make a difference, but not consuming too much space on e.g. the stairwell.

Been there and done this

Firstly, if it is not the original plaster, watch out for any gypsum-based plaster that might have been put on and GET RID OF IT! It is likely to be h ygroscopic. I agree with the others to get rid of the plaster if you can - and the skirting board and the edge of the floorboards and put 1 or 2" of PU foam backed plaster board 3/8" on with plaster board adhesive and also t he external foam fixings of stainless steel pins inside 6" long rawlplug ty pe fixings with 2" discs on the end - they are normally a pink colour. Use 5 of these per 8 x 4 sheet then scrim and skim. warm as toast! Put on sk irting boards and picture rails and architraves with long screws thereafter . If you have any serious fixings eg shelves - put in plywood instead of t he plasterboard If you want to see pictures of how it is done let me know off line at mail at atics dot co dot uk

[Rick Hughes]

better to batten wall first, plumb up battens and then fix boards to them .......... not sure dot n dab would work on old painted/papered plaster

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Surely it would be obvious by the brick bonding?

[stuart noble]

Not if it's rendered

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Are you saying there actually are Victorian cavity walls built like this?

I'd say it's a different thing - a present day architect playing around with the bond to fool people.

[meow2222]

.28

Victorians played about a lot with bonds, and yes there are snapped header cavity walls out there. They played about with bonds far more than people d o today. The myth that cavity walls didn't exist or were a real rarity in V ic times isn't really true.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Exactly where would I find one? I've worked on quite a few Victorian houses in London - all 9" (or more) solid walls

[Martin Bonner]

Similarly in Cambridge. However I believe they were commoner in the west of the country (where they provided useful protection against damp).

[Jim K]

So strip the plaster even moreso... Battening will lose more room & create a nice void for the rodents to live in...

Jim K

[<me9]

Coastal towns. My parent's house was cavity wall, completed 1902. My sister's was even earlier (about 1880 IIRC) and was cavity wall. It was about 100yards from the north sea.

[meow2222]

Cavities were standard for exposed & coastal properties. They were also used in many other areas, but as you point out they weren't in many areas too.

They played about so much with bonds that its not unusual to find more than one bond in just one wall, and common to find 2 or 4 bonds in one property.

NT

[John Rumm]

No, I am saying that have gone to the effort to make a new build look like it has 9" solid walls.

Indeed. And to be fair, they have done a nice job of it - it looks pretty authentic (if you ignore the whole too new and too straight bit)