Has anyone seen this????

[Dylan Whitehead]

This house was originally built in the 30's. There was a fire in it a few months ago and when the contractor began to rebuild discovered these walls. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[wayne soper]

Looks like concrete mixed with every piece of crap found on the job site.
So I guess it's Italian Firestop

[Dylan Whitehead]

This is something I have never seen before. None of the exterior studs are spaced evenly nor are they plumb. The house has stone/rock exterior facade but the exterior wall cavities are as you see completely filled with mortar and rock.

The contractor is going to install tyveck and OSB and then fur out a 2x4 wall to add insulation. My question to that is would that make the house more of a "tight" building?

[Jerry Peck]

The house has stone/rock exterior facade but the exterior wall cavities are as you see completely filled with mortar and rock.

Based on the above, I'm guessing that the exterior walls are solid mortar/stone/rock ... that the walls were framed up with a minimum amount of framing, the interior surface applied (wood lath?), the the wall built outward with mortar/stone/rock ... filling the wall stud spaces and working outward.

That means there is no air space, no drainage plane, and quite probably that the wall is a leaker, both air and water.

The contractor is going to install tyveck and OSB

All the windows and doors would need to be removed and flashed (I doubt they are flashed at all now) to the new wall. Essentially, the contractor could add 2x2 PT at each stud location, wrap with a WRB (such as Tyvek), install OSB or plywood, then add 2x6 framing on standard centers, then insulation, then gypsum board, recessing and flashing the windows and doors to the OSB/plywood wall.

Think of it as building a conventional masonry veneer wall, only you are starting at the outside working in instead of starting with the wall and work out. Weird, but that might work.

Anything else and I can imagine nothing but problems.

and then fur out a 2x4 wall to add insulation. My question to that is would that make the house more of a "tight" building?[/quote]

[Dylan Whitehead]

Jerry they are going to replace all windows and doors to include the required flashing. I guess my question wasn't clear. With the exterior wall being solid masonry would them adding insulation be considered unusual tight construction?

[Jerry Peck]

With the exterior wall being solid masonry

Dylan,

That was my point.

Those walls are not "solid" masonry, they are, at best, un-reinforced masonry rubble using whatever was thrown into the wall cavity, leaving large openings. Which I think answers your other part of the question.

[Jim Zborowski]

Once. I was asked to install some outlets on an outside wall of a house built in the 1890's. Ended up taking the plaster and lath off. Under the plaster were studs on ( roughly ) 16" centers, with brick and mortar between every set of studs. Never did figure out why.