Evenin' all

I don't know if this is the correct forum in which to post this query...but here goes anyway (and please forgive the laymans terms)

I was hoping to get a friend to put some cupboards and shelves in the living-room alcove of my end-terrace 1930's house (just moved in a month ago).
She has discovered, however, that one of the previous owners had wallpapered said alcove straight on to the brickwork and some rather loose/hollow-sounding cement-like covering ? render (ie - when I removed the wallpaper, in some parts of the alcove you can see the brickwork, in other parts, the cement/render).
It looks as though this this alcove on the outside wall is only one course thick.

So my question is.......if I want to go ahead and put cupboards and shelves in, do I need to do anything to 'treat' the wall first?

My decorator was on the phone to a friend who mentioned something like Thermacromix? but we didn't really understand what they were talking about

Yours hopefully
D

that would depend on whether you have damp problems and if the wall really is a single skin...
i'll take a guess the wall youre talking about is the end of the terrace, not a party wall, at the side of the chimney breast and is in fact a solid 9" wall (not a cavity wall) as opposed to a 4" single skin wall...
if the answer is no to both questions i would personally hack all the sand and cement render off (assuming what is still barely attached to the wall is as loose as it sounds) and enlist the services of a plasterer to replaster the wall using a sand/cement based backing plaster with waterproofing additives and a skim finish...
if it turns out that wall is 4" single skin, i'd be ringing the surveyor who carried out your survey when you bought the house and asking him why he didnt mention this before you bought it... same goes for the damp, if there is any...

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http://www.peterborough-plasterer.co.uk/

Your assumptions are right about the alcove being on the end-terrace beside the fireplace. I can find no evidence of damp on the walls, floorboards or carpet.
I don't know how bad the render is - it just sounds very hollow in places.
There is stone-cladding (harling) on the end terrace - but I don't know if that makes any difference.
I hope the wall is thicker than 4 inches!!

90% chance it'll drop off easy enough with a hammer mate, when its like that theres no point patching it, its just as easy to start again...
there are other methods you can adopt that would be easier for a diy'er such as batten and board with added insulation... needs about 2" depth though...
obtain some 25mm cellotex (8x4 sheet 20 quid, builders merchant) and gripfill it to the brickwork..
obtain some 25x50 treated tile lath and fix vertical studs @ 400 or 600 ctrs (or 1 either end and one in the middle) to the wall through the cellotex using 100mm concrete 'starfix' screws...
screw some 12.5mm plasterboard to the studs using 32mm drywall screws...
make it a good fit in one piece and all youll have left to do is fill and sand the screw depressions, caulk the edges and paint it...

_________________
http://www.peterborough-plasterer.co.uk/