Reuben’s parents have damp coming through the external-side wall of their hallway due to the exterior paint holding in moisture and not allowing the brickwork to ‘breathe’. As a result, the paint in the hallway is blown and the plaster is crumbling away. So while a contractor works on the exterior paint, Reuben, his mum and myself have to strip the internal wall so it can be replastered.
The idea was that we start on the top of the stairs and work our way down, slowly slowly. Reuben sits at the top, dust mask in place, and starts scraping at the wall with a small wallpaper scraper. Reuben’s mum, in the hallway by the door, smashes the paint and plaster away with one sweep of her trowel. So much for the ‘slowly’ idea! Reuben did away with his little scraper and wielded a hammer and chisel.
So we each work on a section, dust everywhere, and having a whale of a time smashing up the wall all the way through to the brickwork. In the end, we were hot and very dusty. My hair was grey and rigid from the plaster dust. It was gross. But at least the wall is now clear for the fresh plaster.
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