DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi,

I have just bought a house which is perhaps early 20th century.

In the downstairs living room there are 2 corners where plaster is falling off the walls, i'm assuming from previous damp although there doesnt appear to be any damp there now.

Originally i was going to just remove the plaster up to a certain point and replaster it, but having poked at it a bit more, it appears that the inner layer of brick stops at shin level, then above this and behind the plaster is a material which looks like a non-uniform mix of aggregate, clay and cement. It's very brittle and soft, which is presumably because of the previous damp issue.

Anyone know what this is? And MORE importantly would this all have to be removed?

See picture.



I am having a builder look at it in a couple of weeks, but thought i'd see if anyone here was familiar.

Thanks.

This does not look good and I would not go poking around at that too much until you have a structural engineer look at it. Its more than likely soft due to the damp over the years but I would wonder if it would ever go back to being hard again if it drys out. Tread carefully here and get an engineer to look at it.