The orange dust monster is back, cutting stone up on the scaffolding ready to repair the gable end wall. Our stunning new old oak window looking, well, stunning. Lucy pointed this out at the weekend, this is the middle lintel above the sitting room window (all the windows have three lintels to span the wide… Continue reading The return of the dust monster
Author: Zanna
Window wonders
“What magic is this?” remarks Laura as she arrives to see Glynn repairing the sitting room window. Glynn is spending his Sunday (and only day off ) repairing our centre-piece window, splicing new oak into the old where it is too rotten to be saved. You can see how rotten and warped the sill is,… Continue reading Window wonders
Three sisters
We had help this weekend from our older sister, Lucy (also our historical oracle), who came over to help out with the house. Some tasty food was consumed and Prosecco drunk to celebrate seeing each other again. Lucy was tasked with sanding the study window to begin with. Our socially distancing masks are a bit… Continue reading Three sisters
Acid house
Antonio and his team were back with plenty more acid thankfully, to continue cleaning the flagstone floor. This machine scours the stones with a huge wire brush removing the concrete. It’s a slow process and uses a great deal of acid as the concrete is bloody stubborn. Antonio and his team scrape a flagstone at… Continue reading Acid house
We need more acid, man
Today the specialist floor cleaners begin on the flagstone floor in the sitting room. A day we have been looking forward to. We cannot wait to see how the flagstones look underneath the red compound that is stuck all over them. This floor was hidden under a thick layer of concrete for decades, Cat spent… Continue reading We need more acid, man
Floors & walls
It’s beginning to look a lot like a house, amazing the difference a few floors and walls can make! Dan’s making good progress with the attic floor. It’s a very large space and has lots of fiddly edges, not to mention joists changing direction between rooms, all making it a bit time consuming. Add to… Continue reading Floors & walls
Last of the cement?
Could this really be the last of the cement in this side of the house? The brick and cement wall built on the side of the chimney breast to support the tie beam can now be removed. The tie beam has been extended and built back into the wall and steels added to strengthen it,… Continue reading Last of the cement?
It’s a goddamn monsoon!
The day started hot and muggy and by lunchtime we experienced the most severe storm this year, just like a tropical monsoon! It came through the tin roof on the scaffolding, through the windows, doors and walls, sometimes pouring, sometimes dripping, but almost everything got a soaking. In the morning Tom started pointing the sitting… Continue reading It’s a goddamn monsoon!
Humidity rising
The weekend weather was rubbish. Rain and heat, no sun but really bloody humid, the worst kind of heat. Perfect weather to don a mask and use a heat gun. The concrete slab in the study is busy drying, no-one is allowed on it until Monday. We were half expecting to find a cat in… Continue reading Humidity rising
One last discovery?
Just when we thought we had uncovered absolutely everything there was to uncover in the house, we discover something else! Also, today is concrete pouring day for the study floor. This is the only cement/concrete we are putting into the house (we have removed probably 5 skips worth of cement from the walls!) Adding concrete… Continue reading One last discovery?