Blink and you miss it here! Dan had already nearly finished the fix for the rafters by lunchtime! This is the front side of the roof, the side where the wall has moved out by over a foot so the fix is quite pronounced on this side.
You can see the old rafters attached to the wall plate underneath the new rafter fix. The wall plate sits on the inside of the wall now, it would have originally sat on the outside. That is how much the wall has moved outwards over the years!
Everything is also now strapped down so it won’t move. The wall plate is strapped to the wall and the rafters are strapped to the wall plate. This strapping will help to tie the walls in laterally, helping to prevent them from moving out any further.
The metal strapping from the new joist ends to the old joists.
The dust creator sitting next to the end ‘coping’ stone. This is the big bastard that sits at the bottom stopping all the other coping stones from slipping off the roof. It’s about 2 foot long and is immense. So is the dust creator.
Extraordinary George carrying buckets of mortar up the ladders. We can barely even lift these buckets. George used to be a fireman.
Tom is making great progress repairing the gable end wall. He has raked out the pointing, replaced crumbling stones where necessary and tying in areas where the wall is weak. He is also working on reinstating the blocked up window.
Our fabulous mouse lamp who will live in the cubby hole in the sitting room.
Fabulous packaging to go with the fabulous lamp.
Not only do Jasper’s ears still smell cheesy, today he has god awful wind. His bed is directly below my desk, so I have a smelly candle burning…
Cat’s bedroom doorway, looking from inside her bedroom. No that isn’t a window, it is a hole in the roof. Tom has removed some of the slates so he can repair the lintel on the doorway, the lintel that was barely spanning the doorway yet carrying the weight of the gable end wall and roof above. At the same time he has raised this by a few inches so we don’t have to duck walking through. It was lower than 5 feet previously! We didn’t even realise this was possible until after Tom had done it. Amazing. Tom thinks of things and does them before we have even thought of them.
The lintel above Cat’s bedroom door viewed from the roof line. There are already two timber lintels spanning the doorway, but this side now has a concrete lintel making it super strong.
Cat continuing to strip the paint from the rear study window frame. Another epic task she wishes she had never started.
The outside sill is a little rotten, but other than that the frame is in really good condition. Another lovely timber window.
Stripping the paint from the metal bars is the hardest task. It is so stubborn and just heats up the bar to a ridiculous temperature without the paint bubbling as it should.
The inside is now getting sanded and it is coming up beautifully. This will definitely be left as oak on the inside.
There is even a lovely old timber window sill on the inside.
The angled shapes of the wooden mullions are lovely. We didn’t even notice these when they were painted in white gloss.
Cat is working in a wind tunnel here, and the wind today is bloody freezing. She’s wearing winter clothing today.
Speaking of wind, here is Jasper farty bum doing his very best Labrador eyes after Zanna has finished her fish and chip dinner.