Does Plaster support anything?!

[owlhayden]

This is probably going to sound really stupid, but am I right in thinking that plaster of any sort (old style internal cement render in this case) has nothing to do with the structure of the building and does not support the walls/ceilings in any way?
I presume that the bricks and mortar, joists etc prevent a terrace house from falling down. Not the plaster.
Then in theory, you could have a house with bear brick walls internally and it be just as structurally sound as a fully plastered house?
This is probably the stupidest question on here but I'm not a builder and I would like to know what acually holds my house up! Thanks

 

[Static]

Unless your house is really old (2000yrs +) then pretty safe to assume the plaster is just there to hide the ugly structure behind.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Generally the plaster is there to give you a good even surface, which can be decorated. Some do like to have the walls bare for a more tarditional look in older style properties.
The brick/block/stone part of the walls is the structural part.

 

[stuart45]

There are some walls where the render and plaster plays quite an important role. In the Brighton area for example the old Georgian Bungaroosh walls are really unstable when the render is hacked off and sometimes start to fall apart a bit before it is re- rendered.
One of the the BCO's reckoned that without the render you could destroy half of Brighton with a hose.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I'm off to buy a hose then

 

[gday2uk]

Unless your house is really old (2000yrs +) then pretty safe to assume the plaster is just there to hide the ugly structure behind.

Yeah, the Colosseum is about 2000 years old and most of that is still standing

 

[noseall]

A cement render can 'enhance' the structural integrity of a building but should not be relied upon. Neither should the fact that the removal of such a render cause the structure to weaken considerably.

However, renders are considered part of a building's' thermal make-up.

 

[Nige F]

example the old Georgian Bungaroosh .

Doesn`t that appear a lot in the Camp Town cottages

 

[mointainwalker]

@Nige F

I had always understood that Brighton was a bit that way, but I didn't know they had actually named a bit of the town to suit

 

[TicklyT]

Rendering on a wall sometimes provides a weatherproofing element, without which the structure would fail rapidly. Cob and marl (mud) walls, held together with a mixture of clay, chalk, straw and other binders, including cow manure and even milk(!) would fail rapidly without a weatherproof covering. Around here, such traditional free standing walls are usually topped with their own thatched or tiled roofs to keep the weather out.