What will I find?

I don't know if this is the best forum for this, but: I have a 1921 brick home in Ohio. According to my bricklayer, it is a "solid masonry" structure. In other words an outer layer of brick tied to an inner layer of terra cotta blocks. Built like a fortress, but my question is: what does the plaster and lath sit on? There doesn't seem to be room for those two layers of masonry PLUS another four inches of wall studs. Did they use a sort of furring strip in this situation? How big a gap do I have to work with in terms of insulation, etc? Any help wou.ld be appreciated. Thanks!

I suspect you will find that the plaster is stuck to the block. Drill a hole with a masonry bit, you should be able to figure it out.

1921 you could be seeing metal lath also attached to the brick most likely with special hardened nails made for the task.

It was common around that time for many industrial buildings to be built that way as bricks were cheap in the NE the outer bricks were a hard fired brick and the inner filler bricks were soft bricks. That method of building spilled over into the home market as it was seen as an indestructible high quality home of its day.

One good way to get a clue as to how yours was built is to find a location that might show you the cross section without doing a lot of damage. Pull a wall outlet box out someplace or if you have another area where you think you can get a look. Lastly just chip or drill as Neal suggested a hole someplace where it is least likely to be seen and then take a look and patch it back up with plaster when done.

These homes were really built well but have some drawbacks and running new pipes and wires in these walls is really tough. Most of the time you will see them rewired with surface mounting wire raceway. Another problem is the thermal mass of all that brick. With a hot summer like we are having now the house will stay pretty cool all day as the bricks heat up and by night the house is like an oven when the brick gives the heat back.

If you get to a point of taking a look please post some photos and get some advice on to how best work on your home.

Thanks, Bud and Neal. The house does indeed hold its heat and give it back at night (an oven last night!) . I will look for a place to get a cross section kind of view. Actually what got me wondering about this was whether I had space (and studs) in order to install fire escape ladders in the kids rooms. Thanks again!

mikejurasw-

When you are dealing with older homes, there are some very strange wall and ceiling/roof construction methods. It is not a regimented and close-minded as current construction. The older homes often had details that were dictated by the general plans local practices and materials.

I had an older 1400 sf home (built in about 1915) that had many unique details and construction methods. It was similar to your home in terms of strength, massiveness and thermal inertia. It was cheap to heat and cool and very comfortable. It was so low, that I do not even remember what the cost was.

At first, every time I drove a nail or opened up something, it was an adventure. - My wall construction(outside to inside) was a very rough stucco applied to10" or 12" hollow clay tile (tile cores running horizontal), full dimension 2x4s, lath and plaster with a very smooth and hard surface. A woodwork (modern Greek style using beautiful maple as wide as 12") was painted and not stained or varnished. The structural flat roof (no parapet walls) was about 24" above the ceilings was gem with not signs of leaks and the 2 roof drains were 4" cast iron that ran down an interior wall into the sewer system.

I am sure you are finding some unique and costly items as you open up things.- I bought mine for $23,000 in about 1968 and sold it for about $50,000 in 1975. The last sale was over $500,000 and it still looks the same as it did in when it was built.

Dick

thanks, mudmixer- yeah, lots of unique details in these older homes; sometimes I think the design was dictated by the materials, and not the other way around. I appreciate the input.

My parents last home was a true masonry home on three sides, the back was framed. They had furring strips attached to the brick and wood lath attached to that. Theirs was about 20 years older than yours.

Today, platform framing is certainly the norm with 2x4 or 2x6 exterior walls and a veneer of brick (single layer) stone or manufactured stone or siding of some sort applied over the sheathing. However, there are still masonry buildings, SIP panelized construction, EPS concrete form construction and others.

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