Hey everyone,
I'm new here, so I'm gonna apologise in advance for asking some stupid questions....
About seven years ago, I bought a little brick house in Italy. It was built around the start of the 20th century. Within a year after I bought it, paint and plaster started falling off in certain spots in the interior. These are solid brick walls. I had a local guy patch up those areas with plaster and I repainted, but the problem kept coming back. After a couple of attempts to fix it, I just gave up and have been living with it for several years now. It's not really getting worse, but every once in a while some paint and plaster will fall off in a new spot. I'd really like to get it taken care of once and for all.
The house was extensively renovated in the nineties and that's presumably when non-breathable materials were introduced. And I'm assuming it was given a quick cosmetic renovation shortly before I bought it.
The worst area is in a stairway:
The house is built on a slope. This stairway connects the front door, which is at street level, with the living room, which is also at ground level in the back. There is no basement. The living room has also lost some paint and plaster in places, mostly from down low on the walls, but is nowhere as bad as the stairway. The walls do not feel damp and there has not been any visible mould. The exterior walls (rendered and painted) are in decent shape. The walls in the upstairs rooms have been unaffected.
One local recommended hacking off the plaster from the affected walls to a height of one meter, re-plastering with lime plaster and painting with mineral silicate paints. I'm hoping there's a fix that wouldn't involve so much expense or mess inside the house. Do any of you have any ideas?
Here are a couple more photos of the situation:
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I'm new here, so I'm gonna apologise in advance for asking some stupid questions....
About seven years ago, I bought a little brick house in Italy. It was built around the start of the 20th century. Within a year after I bought it, paint and plaster started falling off in certain spots in the interior. These are solid brick walls. I had a local guy patch up those areas with plaster and I repainted, but the problem kept coming back. After a couple of attempts to fix it, I just gave up and have been living with it for several years now. It's not really getting worse, but every once in a while some paint and plaster will fall off in a new spot. I'd really like to get it taken care of once and for all.
The house was extensively renovated in the nineties and that's presumably when non-breathable materials were introduced. And I'm assuming it was given a quick cosmetic renovation shortly before I bought it.
The worst area is in a stairway:
The house is built on a slope. This stairway connects the front door, which is at street level, with the living room, which is also at ground level in the back. There is no basement. The living room has also lost some paint and plaster in places, mostly from down low on the walls, but is nowhere as bad as the stairway. The walls do not feel damp and there has not been any visible mould. The exterior walls (rendered and painted) are in decent shape. The walls in the upstairs rooms have been unaffected.
One local recommended hacking off the plaster from the affected walls to a height of one meter, re-plastering with lime plaster and painting with mineral silicate paints. I'm hoping there's a fix that wouldn't involve so much expense or mess inside the house. Do any of you have any ideas?
Here are a couple more photos of the situation:
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
