With a house of this age there is no way to know. The house could easily be three layers of brick with a layer of plaster applied directly to the brick, it could just as easily be a wood framed structure with a brick veneer. Only you will be able to find out. Cut a small window in the plaster somewhere inconspicuous.

I was afraid someone would say something like that. knowing that’s even a possibility sucks. but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know, right?. Thanks Hallegg & Co!

Why are you removing the plaster? Unless it is damaged beyond repair it's much nicer and appropriate to the house than sheetrock.

No, you don't want to remove that exterior brick unless it is in danger of falling. Brick is much more valuable than siding. Less work and money to maintain also.

Pictures would help. From your description I would be reasonably sure that it is a frame house with brick veneer. Is it a concrete block or stone foundation?

while I’d prefer to keep the plaster, it bulges in some areas and creates snag points on the walls and there Are a lot of patches that just weren’t done properly, so replacing it with Sheetrock would allow me to fix it all at once and in terms of the bathroom I’m going to build in, it will also allow me to open the walls to allow the plumbing and electrical to be run faster(and cheaper). The Walls and ceilings all over the house are textured and some rooms have already been converted to Sheetrock and they textured those to match the plaster(poorly). When I did make some holes in the walls for things like new outlets, I didn’t find any paper under the texturing layer, just solid plaster. Seriously, the house has probably been worked on by 5 different contractors and none of them even tried to match the work of the others. The drywall work was sloppy and they used too much joint compound in some areas, none in others. ill try to post some pictures on my Profile under a new project for more details and so you can see what I’m talking about.

The house is sitting on a cement foundation. Not block. I just wasn’t sure if cement could be covered and not have it look like I’m trying to hide something. I haven’t seen any code against it in the UBC or in my local city/county codes.

How would anyone not there know? Get someone out there to cut into it and see.

The exterior of cement foundations is sometimes finished off with a skim coat of cement, but only if the cement finish is uneven and the skim coat is needed to make it look smooth. The skim coat looks a lot like a stucco finish.

Its also very common to paint the cement foundation. Some in my neighborhood have used paint matched to the brick color, which looks a little odd in my opinion, and others have just used gray paint.

Bruce

Did you do this? We want to take out a closet since it's too small and it connects on either side to the brick exterior. We would probably put some premade armoires, so if we go that route we'd need to make it look nice if they were moved. I believe the wood floor stops at the walls so it seems like we'll have to patch in flooring and theirs a cavity between the closet ceiling and the attic so I'm not sure what we'll find (finished ceiling or exposed insulation? If you have photos or anything from what you found, I'd appreciate it!

You need to have the plaster examined for asbestos before you start any projects in an old home. Its not worth the future health problems by skipping this step. That goes for pulling up old linoleum (glue asbestos) and removing old plumbing pipes that look like they are wrapped in paper (asbestos insulation). For sure the paint has lead in it so during any sanding or airborne dust make sure you have a respirator. My house is 100 yo in 14 months.

Sure, but out home was built before asbestos was used in residential building construction and we’ve had what is new construction removed or encased which was primaily the HVAC. We also had a full home lead testing done and this area is clear, so we’ll still want dust control, but no lead risks. We’d also likely have a professional do this, but I’d like to get and understanding of the scale and scope of work I’m potentially walking into.

There used to be asbestos in toothpaste as an abrasive. Blow dryers had asbestos liners until the early 70s. In 1991 the ban on asbestos was overturned but there was a limit put on how much asbestos could be in a product.