Building Case Study: Repairing a Mudwall Home - Gray House Errol

This Refurbishment Case Study describes works undertaken in 2017 to repair the walls of a two-storey house in the Perthshire town of Errol.
The building is Category C Listed and located within the Errol Conservation Area, which has a concentration of traditional mudwall buildings. Gray House was identified as possibly being mudwall construction during a rapid survey undertaken in 2012 as part of the Tay Landscape Partnership (TLP), a landscape heritage project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and the Gannochy Trust.
In 2015, the house owner confirmed the building was mudwall and, concerned about its condition, sought advice on the appropriate way of repairing it. Advice was provided by specialist practice Arc Architects through the TLP, who subsequently provided a grant to support the programme of repairs. The wider works included repairs and replacement of windows and doors, but this study focuses on the repairs to the earth walls.
The repairs were informed by twenty years of research by the author into the conservation of traditional earth buildings in Scotland, and in particular the repair of the Logie and Cottown Schoolhouses. Those buildings were derelict and unoccupied, Category A Listed, single-storey structures in rural locations owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The Gray House project was the first repair of a domestic mudwall house, undertaken on a modest budget while the owner remained in residence.

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