Final day of soda blasting and they finished the loft, cleaned the staircase and moved to the outside and cleaned all the door and window lintels, which meant we could safely watch the process in action. David precariously balancing on the scaffolding at the back of the house (this bit is not boarded out) cleaning… Continue reading Grey
Category: Exterior
Soda blasting, day 2
David and Neil are back, have finished off the ground floor and are moving up to the first floor. We gave up on the cleaning last night. There is little point until they have finished as each day everything gets covered in a thick layer of white dust. We are so pleased with how these… Continue reading Soda blasting, day 2
Spaceman!
We have been looking forward to this day for a very long time, since we had the inglenook fireplace soda blasted by David 2 years ago. Soda blasting is an approved process for cleaning up old timbers and stonework in listed properties. Sand blasting is generally no longer used. So we were delighted when we… Continue reading Spaceman!
It’s international floorboard day!
“Did you know it’s international floorboard day today?” Cat said to Colin as he arrived to help with the last push before the soda blaster arrives tomorrow. Cat and Zanna brought the floorboards out of the house through Cat’s bedroom window. Jasper waiting for Colin to arrive (he knows he is coming). Colin has arrived.… Continue reading It’s international floorboard day!
De-nailing day
Almost everything has been done inside the house ready for the soda blaster on Wednesday, so to escape the dust Cat spent the day de-nailing the old timbers that have come out of the house. These are the amazing old nails that are coming out, all hand made with square bodies. We will keep these… Continue reading De-nailing day
All four corners
Tom has all four corners of the house to strengthen and repair. After our discovery of the earlier steeper roofline, we now know why the corners of the walls are cracked and crumbling away. They were built at a later date, but very badly and with small bits of stone, not large coursed stone, and… Continue reading All four corners
Before & after shots
Estate agent photos from 2016 before we moved in versus where we are now. I’m not sure we are doing this right… Front of house Sitting room Sitting room Stairs from sitting room Dining room Dining room Study Landing Zanna’s bedroom Cat’s bedroom Bathroom Rear of house Back garden Old front door
Tie beam, could this be the root cause?
The beautiful timber that spans the entire building is called the tie beam, so called as it ties the front and back walls together, at least it should. Ours is no longer doing this and could indeed be the root cause of our problems. When we purchased the house, we knew that it had roof… Continue reading Tie beam, could this be the root cause?
We found a hidden window!
This morning all the ceilings were taken down exposing the full attic space and it looks incredible. A few more horrors have been revealed, but we’ve also just discovered an old window in the gable end that has been blocked up! You can just see the blocked up window in the middle of this photo,… Continue reading We found a hidden window!
‘Stranger Things’ sized chasm
Friday has come around quickly this week. We are still trying to find someone who can cut the oak, but have found two companies who will supply AND cut the oak, thereby reducing the logistics and cost, quite dramatically. We would prefer to use the oak from Doug, but there would be so much wastage… Continue reading ‘Stranger Things’ sized chasm