peakpilgrim

Hi all

I have just started posting here. I am living in a very old rendered stone house with no damp-course. I intend to gut each room, dry-line, and put in a concrete floor. Having spoken to a few people I have come up with a preliminary design for doing this which is below.

The attached is far from complete and I would appreciate any constructive comments

Hi Verne

Again you have made some interesting points. Injection damp-proofing is something that i have considered and it has been carried out on some older properties in this vicinity. I had not heard of 'electro-static' damp-proofing; which is very interesting. I have actually reduced the ground level and installed land-drainage, which has helped, but I still have this problem with mould.

Hi DIY Guy & Verne. Thanks for your replies. The house I live in is very old. I live in Ireland where the climate is wet and cold, not just in Winter. The walls are made of rendered stone and there is no damp course. I ventilate the house as often as possible and I have dehumidifiers going throughout the house 24/7; thats the hand I am playing with at the moment. Your comments regarding dry-lining are well noted and, when I start to gut each room and dry-line, I will need a system that will account for the points you have raised; some practical way of ventilating the wall behind the dry-lining, for instance. I, unfortunately, do not have the time to do this at present. I had intended to raise another thread on this at a later stage, but if you have any suggestions I would appreciate them. In the meantime I still have to paint these walls and any other practical suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hiya Peak

Depending on the surface of the render, I'd use a wire brush over the entire wall (Get a big one) and get off every last inch of flaky paint first, then wash it down thoroughly with sugar soap, then treat the entire wall to something called "Stabilising solution" which you can find in most decent decorating supply stores.

It goes on like water but looks like really dark apple juice, and is just as sticky too on everything you spill it on.

Brush it on in good doses as you will really want it to soak in as much as possible, hence cleaning the render first to ensure the stabilising solution can soak in and nothing is on the walls preventing it being absorbed.

Leave it for 16/24 hours to dry or whatever the directions state and once dry, it should have an almost shiny glaze to it, and you can then paint straight onto it with the knowledge that the surface is now good to paint on.

Make sure you cover up EVERYTHING that you dont want covered in sticky brown stuff though, if it gets onto window frames its a nightmare to get it off from double glazing and/or painted surfaces..

a 5ltr tin will do a 2bed semi front and side only, so if its totally detached 2 house for example, get 15 litres and put it on good and heavy, you can really go for it with this stuff, even do sensitive areas twice, like around window frames and door frames... Its so runny it soaks into everything.

Hi DIY Guy. Thanks for that info, which is very helpful. Do you have any more information on 'Sugar Soap' and 'Stabilizing Solution' and can you recommend any products?

Hi I live in an old house in the countryside; subject to very wet, windy weather. The walls are solid and rendered. some of the external paintwork is peeling off due to previously using cheap paint. I need to stabilize these walls prior to re-painting with 'Dulux Weathershield Masonry Paint'. I had thought of jet-washing all the very loose paint off, allowing the wall to dry and applying a 'Unibond' and water undercoat. Does anyone have any other, better ideas?

Hi I live in an old house in the country subject to very damp weather. The walls are solid and, in some areas, suffer from dampness. At some stage in the future I will dry-line the walls to solve this problem but, at the moment I have to paint them. The walls are plastered and, a short while after painting, damp patches start to show through the paint with mould showing through. Is there any way I can pre-treat the walls to prevent this growth of mould and improve the life of the paint as, in some cases, the walls have to be painted twice a year improve appearances. I had thought of treating them with 'Dulux Weathershield Multi-surface Fungicidal Wash' prior to re-painting again. Does anyone have any better idea?