Dan is making great progress on the dormers, both windows are now in place and look fabulous. It is amazing how much work goes into a dormer; the list of oak required was immense (this was ordered way back in June).
Cat continues stripping the paint from the landing window, she is working on the outside now.
The back of the house already looks so much better. The pointing has transformed the walls and the windows are nearly there.
Cat found some writing in pencil on the window frame after she stripped the paint from it.
We like to think it says “Jasper”, but it could be “Joiner” or “Rafter”. Our sister sent it to a colleague of hers who specialises in old writing and they think it could be “Jaxson”. This could be the name of the joiner who built the window. We will keep this visible as the inside of the window will just be oiled.
Dan is cutting a triangular notch out of this piece of oak so it will rest on the frame to form the front rafters.
The notches are finished by hand so they can be done carefully.
The two rafters with the notches cut, ready to fit.
The dormers are now taking shape. There are 16 rafters to make, 8 on each dormer!
The 2 windows on the back of the house look so different now they have been stripped of white gloss paint. They are not in bad condition, the back of the house doesn’t get as much weathering as the front so they are no way near as rotten as the front windows. Glynn is back on Sunday to repair the sills on these two, then we can prime and paint them on the outside.
The next big task for us is sanding and oiling the wooden floorboards upstairs. This is a test board fo the oils and finishes. We have a ‘wood protector’ that will be used on the floor in the bathroom, waterproofing and sealing this floor. The other floors will just be oiled. This is one coat of the wood protector, alongside it we will test the oil and see if they look any different.
Before we can oil the floorboards we need to have a good clean to remove as much of the stone dust from each room as possible. Walls, timbers, floors, everything needs a thorough clean. Zanna has hoovered the chimney breast; every stone and joint has been individually cleaned removing layers of rubble and orange dust.
The old window stay on the outside frame of the landing window. The central window opens and folds back onto this. The metal part on the top acts like a spring, holding the window open. To release the window to shut it, this spring is squeezed.
We have barely been into the back garden in recent weeks, it’s a bit of a disaster area, but the plants are surviving 🙂
