ᐅ Barn, gable roof with attic – drywall?

Created on: 21 Feb 2015 07:55
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Arbeiter87
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Arbeiter87
21 Feb 2015 07:55
Hello,

I have taken over an old barn. It has a gable roof with an attic and two interior rooms on the ground floor.
The barn is built from regular masonry using old bricks, plastered and painted on the outside.

Inside, plaster was also applied many years ago. The building has been empty for 3 years. Before that, an elderly woman used the barn but did not maintain it.

Now the plaster is crumbling off the walls. The saltpeter from the masonry causes it to fall off everywhere.

I want to completely remove the old plaster and line the interior of the barn with drywall panels.
The walls are all dry! I plan to attach the panels to battens.
The barn is intended to be used as storage space for garden tools, as a workshop, and as shelter for an old motorcycle. The barn has a chimney, to which I would like to connect a stove.

My main question: Is there any reason not to line the barn interior with drywall instead of using plaster?

The bricks are very uneven (built before 1900), but the barn is in good condition apart from the delaminating interior plaster.
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Arbeiter87
22 Feb 2015 17:11
Nothing? Not even a single comment?
One0022 Feb 2015 17:38
What are the disadvantages of plaster?
If you do it yourself, it is probably cheaper, you won’t have any issues leveling an uneven substrate, and you don’t have to worry about whether the battens (you want to use roofing battens, right?) and the drywall panels might eventually rot since the barn isn’t heated all the time. My humble layman’s understanding is that it could still work, but plaster would definitely be the safer and faster alternative. Or do you absolutely need a service cavity?
If that’s the case, so if you want to work with drywall panels, I would suggest including ventilation behind the whole construction.
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Arbeiter87
22 Feb 2015 17:49
OK, that’s already something.
I’m just a bit worried that the plaster won’t adhere well to the old stones and will fall off again like the old one did!
One0022 Feb 2015 22:34
Inform yourself on how to properly prepare the old masonry (some kind of plaster primer?), then it shouldn’t be a problem if the masonry is dry. First, remove the old plaster, since that has to be done anyway. You can decide on the next steps once you get to that point. Maybe once the old plaster is removed, the surface will look good enough to leave as is.
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Arbeiter87
23 Feb 2015 12:06
I will do that... Thanks in advance!