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?
Category: Exterior
Window removal day!
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!
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…
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?
Plumbing begins
The plumbing first fix began this morning with Billy and Andy installing the water pipes for the new bathroom and the radiators. We had no services in this side of the house at all, so the only pipework was old pipework for the radiators, and that was too narrow and pretty furred up with orange… Continue reading Plumbing begins
Still cleaning
The big clean, day 2 and we have more help. Good job as we are all utterly exhausted and Zanna has cricked her neck so is out of action. Ken and Cameron arrive with snow shovels, ready to do the tough job of shifting the dust and soda out of the ground floor and into… Continue reading Still cleaning