thin foam polystyrene sheeting behind wallpaper - why?

I'm redecorating a cottage I recently moved into. When I noticed some wallpaper peeling, I found that the whole room had been previously papered with thin polystyrene sheeting, prior to applying the normal (paper) wallpaper. Why would they have done this? Initially, I wondered if it might have been to seal in dampness, but there doesn;t seem to be any significant dampness in the walls, despite being 18" thick solid stone (and 150-yr old lime mortar). The exterior of the cottage has been well rendered with modern mortar and painted with Weathershield, so if there IS any damp, I can't see where it would come from.

Any ideas?

TIA

Jake

Reply to
JakeD
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It was put up for any of the following:

- cover cracks or rough surfaces

- stop damp condensing on walls

- provide a little insualtion

NT

Reply to
NT

There was a fad for this in the 80's - generally sold on the premise of:

a) Warming the walls to the touch;

b) Smoothing out crap walls;

Reply to
Tim Watts

We did our small cold bedroom to stop condensation. Worked a treat - at least you can wipe it off the windows!

Andy C

Reply to
Andy Cap

Both of which it actually did rather well. Very vulnerable to knocks though

Reply to
stuart noble

yes, and should be removed.

NT

Reply to
NT

used n the 60's = my parents put this in my bedroom then went under the trade name of cttina sp IIRC

Reply to
Ghostrecon

You better remove the vinyl wallpaper, has a superb wicking effect in hallways... and the 80/20 wool carpets re cyanide... and the PVC cables... and those unsealed ceiling spots with bare boards above sometimes lacking T&G in areas re downstairs smoke propogation :-)

Fact is you have 2 mins or so to get out re smoke anyway.

A working smoke alarm up & bottom in the hall is the thing to fit before taking your shoes off on first walking through the door. Even two battery units is better than nothing, you can buy Aico Ei 146 Mains Interlinked and run them off their 9V battery for a year or so whilst you sort out a fused spur off a regularly used lighting circuit (hall) or dedicated circuit if not too difficult.

Reply to
js.b1

ISTR it was called Cotina but could be wrong. It is for heat insulation and quite probably to avoid resultant condensation.

In 1977 I bought a maisonette which the surveyor thought had rising damp and so the building society wanted a damp proof course installed.

Specialist damp company said it was a leaky downpipe which had recently been repaired and might be some condensation.

Building society then made it a condition of the mortgage that expanded polystyrene be used in 2 rooms to avoid condensation. Main problem we found was that if anything fell against the wallpaper it either dented or ripped because of the crushable expanded polystyrene underneath.

Turned out that the previous occupiers had blocked the ventilators and not heated the place adequately.

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible

flameproof polystyrene is available, isn't the "behind wallpaper" stuff made from it?

Reply to
charles

Got the spelling slightly wrong:

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?t=363779The other Hugh

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible

ah not as badly spelled as my effort lol Kotina....

Reply to
Ghostrecon

A lot of people are pulled out of fires alive and ok after more than 2 minutes.

NT

Reply to
NT

Bit crispy though :-)

Reply to
js.b1

I used to deal with claims.

Saw a few places where polystyrene tiled kitchen ceilings had melted/ignited. Very scary.

Only remember 2 fatal domestic fires.

One was an elderly person who apparently fell asleep smoking. The other was stressed adaptors in a socket beside a bed. Set fire to the bedding.

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible

The belief that it's equivalent to a foot of real insulation. In practice it has very little insulation value, simply from being too thin.

It does have some use for reducing condensation on cold walls. It doesn't reduce the heat flowing by much, but it does raise the temperature of the inside face of the wall to above the dewpoint.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

I remember hanging this when decorating bedrooms, around 1984.

Cheers Richard

Reply to
geraldthehamster

When I hung it in 1977 It was a bit fragile and bends and corners were tricky because expanded polystyrene even when relatively thin is not exactly flexible beyond the curvature of the rolls it was bought in.

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible

And yet 5mm of foam on the wall can halve heat loss through brick? Not my figures, but my experience suggests that a little insulation makes a big difference

Reply to
stuart noble

When we had it the coated walls always felt warm to the touch because heat was not conducted away from our hands.

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible

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