My house is an at least 200 year old farmhouse with 18 inch thick fieldstone walls. It is the house I grew up in and I love it dearly. Before I was born, my father cleared out the lathe and plaster in our living room, laid insulation against the fieldstone and nailed paneling to wood strips which held the insulation to the wall. We just discovered all that after looking under one piece.
We are going to tear out the paneling. What we really would like to do is to go all the way down to fieldstone and leave it there. We'd do a wainscoting below the windows (to lighten up the wall and to run electricity). My question is whether it would stay warm enough in our Northern NY winters. Eighteen inches seems plenty deep to keep out the cold, and we have a powerful woodstove in the room. It would seem that stone would radiate heat the same way brick does. It also only involves one 20 ft wall. What do you think? Is it feasible?
Taking down paneling. Now what?
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