We recently moved into a an 1890's victorian cottage. The construction from the outside is hard to determine as the whole thing is rendered. We, and our suveyor, assumed that it would be a solid brick construction.
However, since moving in this does not seem to be the case. The party wall in the understairs cupboard is slightly damaged and where it has crumbled there is basically what what looks like old cement with chunks of stone and, for lack of a better word, rubble.
When speaking to our neighbours the other day I asked if they knew more about the construction. They told me that they had had problems hanging things on the walls - some bits were so hard they couldn't even drill into it, other bits went in easy but didn't support much weight.
After they moved in they told me they had had the whole house pebble dash rendered. Initially the builder had tried to hack off the old render, but couldn't as he was "taking lumps of the wall out with it". In the end he apparently had to render over the render, using some sort of method I didn't really understand.
At the base of our house where the wall meets the driveway there is a little bit of a gap where the render stops and the driveway begins. Here is a bit odd looking - In most places there is a fairly smooth surface that resembles a brick, but there are no mortorjoins I can see. Equally, in other places there appears to be slate placed in front of this smooth surface.
In a couple of places upstairs walls have developed a localised bulge. If you knock it it sounds like the plaster has come away from whatever the surface is behind, but if you press hard on it there is no give whatsoever... it's rock solid but sounds hollow? The plasterer that looked at it seemed a little baffled.
Anyone have any idea what sort of contruction I am looking at here? The walls are about 11 inches thick.
However, since moving in this does not seem to be the case. The party wall in the understairs cupboard is slightly damaged and where it has crumbled there is basically what what looks like old cement with chunks of stone and, for lack of a better word, rubble.
When speaking to our neighbours the other day I asked if they knew more about the construction. They told me that they had had problems hanging things on the walls - some bits were so hard they couldn't even drill into it, other bits went in easy but didn't support much weight.
After they moved in they told me they had had the whole house pebble dash rendered. Initially the builder had tried to hack off the old render, but couldn't as he was "taking lumps of the wall out with it". In the end he apparently had to render over the render, using some sort of method I didn't really understand.
At the base of our house where the wall meets the driveway there is a little bit of a gap where the render stops and the driveway begins. Here is a bit odd looking - In most places there is a fairly smooth surface that resembles a brick, but there are no mortorjoins I can see. Equally, in other places there appears to be slate placed in front of this smooth surface.
In a couple of places upstairs walls have developed a localised bulge. If you knock it it sounds like the plaster has come away from whatever the surface is behind, but if you press hard on it there is no give whatsoever... it's rock solid but sounds hollow? The plasterer that looked at it seemed a little baffled.
Anyone have any idea what sort of contruction I am looking at here? The walls are about 11 inches thick.
