Today the windows that are being repaired are being removed and taken away by Lee Boswell, our leaded window expert, and of course the heavens have opened and it has not stopped raining since Lee arrived! The sitting room with just the window frame remaining. This window is the worst condition out of them all… Continue reading Window removal day!
Author: Zanna
Full house
A busy day in the house with our plumbers, electrician, another stone mason and our structural engineer. Tom in particular had a very busy day juggling many plates, preparing the way for the other trades. Here he is cutting the stone ready for an electric socket. Tidy job. Tom has brought another stone mason, Chris,… Continue reading Full house
The heatwave continues
We are down a Dan this week, but up a George, who is here again helping Tom. They are cracking on with raking out all the pointing on the external walls, another very messy job, but they are outside rather than within the cool, thick walls of the house. I would not want to be… Continue reading The heatwave continues
Before & after
These before photos were taken on one of our viewings before we bought the house, 4 years ago in August 2016. The transformations are astonishing! Dining room, looking through to the kitchen with the larder on the left. Landing looking from Zanna’s bedroom to the stairs. The now infamous broken tie beam was boxed in.… Continue reading Before & after
A very messy process…
Tom is fast becoming an expert at fitting these steel bars (commonly known as ‘Helibars’). This is a process for ‘stitching’ cracks in old masonry that is recognised and approved by conservation officers as it minimises any damage to the original fabric of the building. The steel bars get hidden between the stones, like an… Continue reading A very messy process…
Magnificent cutting machines
It was a very noisy morning with these two. Tom cutting stone and Dan cutting steel. Very cool toys though, I want one. Tom is filling in the gaps in the stonework today (he has run out of steel bars for now). All the fiddly little bits that need attention. This is the chimney breast… Continue reading Magnificent cutting machines
Oops…
So aliens dropped a scaffolding plank from the sky which embedded itself in the pavement creating a massive hole. Not really. But this is how the day ended… Our Anglepoise wall lights arrived and we couldn’t wait to see how they would look in the study. Channels cut and steel bars added in the 4th… Continue reading Oops…
The last corner?
The last corner! Or is it…? It’s the last corner in the older part of the house, but there is a corner in the dining room (the side of the house we are tackling in phase two) which Martin, our structural engineer, wants Tom to fix in this phase, annoyingly for Tom… Like all the… Continue reading The last corner?
Any old iron?
A day mainly working in the study, replacing old iron with new steel. Dan celebrating with a cup of tea, as he has just removed the last buttress (yay!) at the back of the study. George is able to dig out the rest of the study floor now the buttresses have gone, so it is… Continue reading Any old iron?
Weekend breather
We are still exhausted after the previous weekend (and the fact that neither of us have had a day off in weeks now) but we still have so much to do, think about and make decisions on. Colour matching the dusty blue paint colour that we found on the landing lime plastered wall. We will… Continue reading Weekend breather