Interesting plastering in a 1930s semi

[Murmansk]

I've just been stripping the wallpaper in the third bedroom in my 1930 bric k-built semi.

I was interested to find that when it was plastered they created a very nea t strip of dark grey plaster about half a metre wide down from the ceiling and the rest of the wall was done in much lighter plaster.

There's a very neat joint between the two.

This was probably the height of fashion in 1930 and there's evidence of som e kind of paint pattern on it in some places - I've never come across anyth ing like this before - but most of my previous experience of stripping wal ls has been in houses built in about 1880!

[Tricky Dicky]

At a guess I would suggest there was a picture rail which was quite common in the 30's probably someone removed it and rather than just patching in th e holes where the wooden wedges would have been that the rail would have be en nailed to, they have replastered the section above. If the rail was atta ched before plastering there could have been a difference in the plaster le vels neccesitating the replastering of the upper portion.

Richard

[Brian-Gaff]

Don't know but this terrace was built in 1939, and apart from some of the rooms being less than square at the corners, the only thing I used to see was that it was apparently common to use some kind of varnishy stuff over certain parts of walls. I have no idea what that was either, but when the house needed to be rewired in the 70s, the electricians asked me about it when they were making grooves and fitting conduit boxes.

All I can think is it might have been some kind of damp reducer. These are single brick thickness outside walls, and its only those which have the coating.

Brian

[Brian-Gaff]

In most rooms we still have picture rails, but removing those in some rooms was very easy and did not seem to make holes that could not be filled with polyfilla. Brian

[Murmansk]

The suggestion about the picture rail having been removed is interesting bu t my gut feeling it's not that. This is however the kind of house that migh t have had a kind of plate display shelf in the hall downstairs. I don't th ink it's the era for a picture rail.

Where there was a plate shelf downstairs it was clearly attached on top of the plaster rather than having been attached to the brick.

It's so neat I think it was done as a feature - it's quite clever I guess a nd it's been done really well rather than looking like it was the done afte r anything was removed.

Just for the record the house has cavity walls.

[newshound]

I've seen this sort of expertly made transition associated with damp treatment and with removal of plaster coving as well as other repairs, but never dead straight to make me think it might have been a feature. When was unpainted plaster ever a feature?

[Peter Johnson]

My parents' 1930s semi had picture rails, and cavity walls.

[michael adams]

Indeed.

Years ago it was the fashion to paint the upper section of walls white same as the ceiling, possibly to compensate for poor lighting. In houses without picture rails the fashion was for dados. Patterned strips of paper laid horizontally to cover the join between the wallpaper paper and the white bit. IOW, picture rails so called, weren't necessarily for hanging pictures.

michael adams

...

[Tim Streater]

We're putting picture rails back up in our 30s house since, oddly enough, they're handy for hanging pictures from.

[Tim Streater]

Thass right. We're doing that too.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Peter Johnson writes

Our Victorian farmhouse has a chair rail in one of the upstairs rooms. Presumably once used as a lounge although my parents used it as a bedroom.

[michael adams]

Having now looked it up apparently "dado" is the bottom section of a wall, in places with heavy traffic such as halls which were covered with a heavy paper such as anaglypta. With a wooden "dado rail" at waist height to protect the wall. However I'm sure can remember the patterned strips which came in rolls being called dados as well.

michael adams

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[The Natural Philosopher]

'Chair rail' = 'Dado rail' ??

[charles]

When BBC Television Centre was built, some corridors had linoleum on the walls (as well as the floors) to about 4ft up.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And now have loose nuts in all the studios