Re: Salt for curing [was: Re: Smoked Salmon.]

Thus spake Oz <Oz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Jill <newsNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
Yup
The idea of Oz's limited heating for the odd hour here or there in a room
would result in a VERY cold damp uncomfortable house up in this neck of the
woods

Maybe, but I think you would be surprised.

No, I think you do not understand the properties of a traditional stone
house, built without a damp proof course.

One of the best modern solutions I have experienced recently is underfloor
heating - not recklessly expensive any more but a great ambient temperature
through the house.

Never seen the point of that. Expensive, effectively unrepairable and
hard to fit.

Our houses need more help to stay dry - once maintained tho they do act as
night store heaters to some extent. Then its just topping up the air !

Maybe, but if they are dry to start with then they should stay that way.

If it's a stone house, then unless it has been treated, they will not be
dry.

Otherwise you need to consider waterproofing the outside with one of the
range of vapour permeable masonry waterproofing products. These are
quite cheap and amazingly effective (particularly on solid walls).

Careful. I think you mean using a silicon based spray, but it sounds
like you mean one of those horrible ineffective coatings sold by
salesmen at enormous price by convincing gullible owners that this is
the answer. If you do mean a silicon spray this is only part of the
answer. Generally speaking, stone is impermeable to water, but the
mortar between the stones is likely to be old, soft, and may soak up
water like a sponge. In this case you may need to repoint. If repointing
you can put a waterproofer in the mix. If not, or after repointing, you
can also spray with a silicon based product.

That is likely to be the lesser part of the problem. You also need to
stop rising water. It's best do this first. It's not that difficult or
expensive, though you can find companies charging a bomb for it. You
need to hack off plaster for the bottom 12 inches of the inside walls.
Then using a large masonary drill (about 15mm and at least half the
length of the width of the wall) you need to drill through the mortar at
as many places as you can between the stones, inside and out, preferably
at different heights and at about six inch intervals. Then, by inserting
the nozzle of an ordinary sprayer into the holes (such as used for weed
control) inject as much silicon as you like - so that it soaks into the
mortar, moving it in and out to cover the largest possible area.

Then you need to give the house time to dry out. There can be a lot of
water held in some of the muck they used to throw inside stone walls,
(there was a lot of clay and mud in ours) so this may take a few years
with the central heating on. It may be necessary to repeat the injection
treatment, if the silicon has not got into some of the wet stuff so
leave the holes you have drilled ready for a second treatment.

The walls may shrink a little as the house dries out. This doesn't
matter, but you may get a few cracks. So if you are going to repoint, if
possible wait until the treatment is working.

Once done you will have a dry house, and it will cost a lot less to heat
because you are not spending money on constantly drying off the rising
damp. Beyond that. Jill is still right. Stone walls are a marvellous
heat store. But when they are cold they are also a marvellous heat sink.
It is likely to take a lot longer than an hour to heat a room, but by
the same token, it takes about three days for a stone house to fully
cool down once properly warmed through. So you may as well keep the
inside comfortable throughout.




Regards

--
Charles Francis
Please reply by name
.

Relevant Pages

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