“This crazy image has been taking up some of my thoughts this week. It was quite a revelation – literally. Rather than keeping you scratching your heads I can tell you that a friend’s wallpaper stripper revealed this surprise under several layers of hideous wallpaper. I surmise that, as it is covering the original plaster walls of a house built in the early 1960s, that it is a very early attempt to insulate a wall internally.
Armed with my handy scraper I figured out that there is the thinnest layer of black paper pasted to the original plaster with an integral layer of foil in front. The foil is so thin and delicate that it makes your foil wrapped KitKat seem like it’s wrapped in medieval armour! The biscuit-coloured smears are what is left after trying to scrape off the enclosing top layer of the wallpaper.
So, I’m sad to say that when this wallpaper was put up it wasn’t very exciting to look at, and only the application of determination and elbow grease has uncovered something that could have come from the 1960s Barbarella film!
All three external walls of the room have been treated with this unusual wallpaper. Tempting as it is to keep it for its futuristic visual appeal it will disappear. But its discovery has inspired the specification of a modern thermal lining for the room. While this won’t save huge amounts of heat, it will make the room faster to heat up and will make the room feel more comfortable to the occupants.”
Sandy Hickey- Pride Road South Warwickshire
