More Tuffeau Walls Revealed

Tuffeau wall of old farmhouse being uncovered

A few weeks ago we found an old doorway between the bathroom and kitchen that had been bricked up and then plastered over.

We have been itching to open it up on both sides so that we can get a really good look at it and, silly as it may seem, we wanted to walk through it. The plaster walls have been in place for something like 20 years so we know that no one has walked through it in that time.

We have knocked down a 'breakfast bar' across the kitchen made from house bricks and cleared part of the wall that hides the secret doorway. The next job is to clear the kitchen units and the rest of the plaster from the wall so that we can see what state the tuffeau walls are in.  At first look, it is the same as the other walls that we have uncovered with the first couple of courses eaten away and then the rest are solid.

This is the sad aspect of taking the plaster off, seeing how the tuffeau walls behind have deteriorated because the plaster has not allowed the stone to breathe. Tuffeau is incredibly light and porous, but that means that it can absorb its own weight in water, and if it cannot wick this away then the tuffeau simply crumbles.