Straw Wall Construction - Tile Advice

[Martyn Leeds]

I think I'd heard of straw walls but I'd never actually seen them until last week.

Plumber left me with this nice wall to tile. Told him its not really in a good state to tile, he was a little surprised, it'll be alright, I said yeah, apart from the damp ply and the straw that's falling to bits. The straw wall is about 2 inch thick approx, with a backing plaster & a skim finish.


I'm assuming there must be some kind of timber frame underneath? My guess was to remove the straw, see what's there and hopefully re-board the wall ??

Trouble is his 'Builder' friend has said that there won't be no stud frame and the only way is to d&d new plasterboard over it (over the existing damp straw, the existing skim, then stick new tiles on!!)


Anyone had these walls before and know how easy they are to remove/sort??

 

[Mr Tiler]

hi mate found this seems to be some info on straw http://www.tilersforums.com/tiling-forum/63834-straw-walls.html

 

[Chalker]

These walls are literally compressed straw with scim on top. You can't replace them. Chasing them out is a nightmare. I've recently done a bathroom with these walls and it was easier to form a stud wall in front of the existing then try and chase and fix a shower mixer into .
Don't know what you can do for the best on this job. Sorry.