Jump to content

Menu

Do you own a brick house with plaster walls?


mom@shiloh
 Share

Recommended Posts

Very random question: Do you own a brick house with plaster walls? We are about to purchase a 100 year old home that has a completely brick exterior with plaster walls on the interior. We're trying to decide if we want to gut it for the purpose of insulating it. I actually prefer plaster walls to drywall, but I don't want to shiver all winter. My understanding is that brick is a better insulator than wood, but other things being equal I'd still like my walls to be stuffed with insulation. We'll be doing all the work ourselves, so gutting it and putting up new interior walls will add significantly to the time and expense, and yet, it may be worth it. TIA for your input..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My parents home wasn't made with the2x 5x10 (or whatever size the traditional bricks are) but , the larger 12x18 (maybe?) size. The walls are lath and plaster. The brick does insulate to an extent, but it is hard to get it to change temperatures very quick. So if you have cool nights and hot days it can take a while to cool down on a hot day, and warm up in the morning. There is both good and bad in that.

 

My mom found that if she was strategic about using her AC or heat, she could keep the temp fairly comfortable. There was Much more natural variation in the temperatures at this home, than in my current 10yo insulated home. At her home, if you came home from a few days away with no heat turned on in the winter, it would take a day or so to really get the house warmed back up. My home takes about an hour. We both have gas heat in the same climate. But the reverse can be true too...If the temps only get into the 80s during the day and we have cool nights, she doesn't need to run her AC at all because the house retains the cool from the night.

 

I would find out if you can get the electricity and gas bills to see if you can glean some information from that.

 

One big difference to me, is that unless she is using the fireplace a lot, the air always feels damp in a brick house (at least to me it does). This is good for the body, but makes me feel colder.....thus I turn up the heat a degree or more in a damp house.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My brick house was built in 1951 and we have plaster walls. From the construction projects that we have done so far (bathroom remodel, kitchen, etc) it is MESSY to gut plaster walls. I wouldn't want to do it on a large scale. We did have our windows replaced and that made a big difference. With regard to the other poster's comment, I think the time it takes to warm up/cool down a brick house can depend on the size of the house and the heating system. We have a 1400 sq ft ranch with baseboard hot water heat running off an oil burner. It is extremely efficient. When we come home after the heat being turned way down, it takes under an hour for the house to warm up.

 

Hope this helps :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 80 year old house with brick and plaster walls is a real blessing! Cool stays in during the summer, heat stays in during the winter. We need to insulate the basement but the walls have blown in insulation. A previous owner took off the baseboards, blew in the insulation and replaced the baseboards with larger ones. It made a big difference, without removing the walls altogether. I like my plaster walls!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...