Project Management

You know those house shows on TV where someone says that he/she is going to do the Project Management for their project, whilst also doing a full-time job, and not having enough money so they decide to do a lot of work themselves?  And usually the couple decide that this is also a good time to have their first baby?  Well, now I know for sure that they are absolutely stark staring mad!

Often the people on TV end up making poor decisions, paying more for work because of their tight schedule, and getting very stressed about everything.  I know I'm not in the first flush of youth but once you start the pressure is relentless and it is all so tiring and time-consuming.  All I have been doing is some work on the joists in the lounge but I keep getting interrupted, and so have not been able to do the loft access or plaster removal which I thought I would have done by the end of November.  I wanted to do this project at my own speed so I didn't get stressed and could enjoy the whole process.  The reality is that as soon as you get a contractor in, you are working to HIS schedule, not your own, and normally contractors want to get things finished pretty quickly (assuming that you haven't paid them in full up front and they just clear off with your money!).

Anyway, we've been having a few scheduling issues with the chimneys which have impacted the roofer's schedule.  Hopefully the rendering on the back chimney will be done this weekend which will allow a bit more scaffolding to come down, leaving the way clear for completion of the leadwork, followed by the last of the slating then the "mucky work" which is where the roofers have to use cement to fix all the ridge tiles.  We might even get the rest of the scaffolding down in the next two weeks; the upper front lift has already come down, revealing the newly rendered front chimney (which will weather soon, I hope!):

In all that work there will also be the installation of our new cast-iron gutters and downpipes, which all arrived yesterday.  These are VERY expensive and are what you should fit on a listed building; people were counselling me to use a form of plastic which is said to look like cast-iron (really?).  For me this was a conscious decision made in advance of purchase of the house, and it was also an argument that I did not want to have with the Conservation Officer.  In my view, if I say that I will do a project properly, and then suggest using plastic guttering, I will immediately lose all credibility and that will impact all future proposals that I make to the Council.  So, pick your arguments and build up your credibility by being conscientious in what you are doing with your bit of heritage.  Possibly, later, they might just be more sympathetic when you ask for a major decision in your favour...

My first wheelbarrow

It feels like one of those rites of passage - the purchase of your first wheelbarrow.  Not one of those namby-pamby garden wheelbarrows but a large solid "contractor's wheelbarrow", built to endure the rigours of a building site.

The scaffolders' version!

This is my wheelbarrow

This was required to facilitate the rendering on both the chimneys, which need some considerable attention.  I had the task of removing the old render, some of which fell off and some just refused.  The issue is that you can damage the brickwork if you hit too hard, as the lime mortar is softer than the cement render.  You can also hit your own hand, graze your knuckles under the chisel, and generally just get VERY tired by hitting a chisel with a 4lb mallet about 10,000 times in one day whilst perched on the top lift of the scaffolding.

Phil the Plasterer asked me to get the materials for the rendering.  Now, this sort of thing always happens with me, even though I asked for clarification, so I shouldn't have been surprised this morning when the lorry bringing the requested seven bags of "fine washed rendering sand" actually arrived bearing seven one-ton bags!  I did not have either a need or a place to keep one such bag, so I had to make a trip myself to the aggregate yard to allow the work to proceed.  This was an experience which Jane and I shared with some trepidation; it is the sort of place that you don't want to go to unless you have been there before.  However, they were very nice about the morning's error (whoever's fault it was), and sold me 250kg of sand for £6 (NB they weigh the vehicle in and out - seems odd in a car).  Phil assured me that their rendering sand is the best there is, but then added that the 250kg of sand was an under-purchase!  Well, I could hardly have got any more sand in the bags, and how was I to know how much sand I had put into the bags myself, shovelled from a pile of 500 tons?  (Top tip: when carrying open bags of sand in your car, do make sure that they are securely stowed and do not move when you brake.)

The rear chimney has had the top six courses rebuilt with "engineering bricks", and has also been fitted with four new chimney pots (excuse scaffolding poles):

It all looks so new, but I'm sure it will weather.  I discovered a new word during this job: the mortar around the actual chimney pots is called "flaunching".  I would have liked to use reclaimed pots but frankly it is very unlikely that one will find anything suitable which is serviceable, having seen the damage on the ones we removed.  Mind you, I was a bit surprised that they were so bad that the brickies threw three of them off the roof onto the hardcore pile!  Not even good enough for garden ornaments, it seems.

So, today the front chimney had its scratch coat done by Phil, while I spent a while reclaiming about 35 of the bricks from the same pile for eventual use in our extension, which saved about £15 and made me feel good.  The top coat will be done tomorrow, the roof is now almost half slated, and hopefully we shall see some major progress this week with the rest of the lead work being completed.

A highlight this week was when I carried a roll of lead up the 10 metre ladder, discovering at the top that it weighed 37kg, and wishing I hadn't felt the need to compete with Chris the roofer.  A day later he asked for help in carrying 400 slates up, 20 at a time.  After four goes with only 15 each time, I gave up and watched him.  That was when I discovered that he is less than half my age!

Theft of Lead

When I first met the roofer, I asked what they did about security of scaffolding.  His reply was memorable: "You're from London, aren't you?  It's not like that round here!"  Sadly, I have been proved right, and last Thursday night some little d******d went up on our scaffolding and helped himself to one bit of lead at the base of the newly installed valley. 

Sadly, being the lowest piece, the damage caused was the maximum possible.  For his troubles, the perpetrator has got some lead worth about £8, but he has caused about £500 worth of damage/repair work.  Probably about 30 slates have been destroyed, but to do the repair properly, almost 200 slates will have to be removed which will cause a good few more to be damaged, at over £1 each for reclaimed slates (or £3.50 for new Welsh slates!). 

This morning I asked the scaffolder if he knew of anyone who does scaffolding alarm systems.  "No," he said, "we have never needed to use anyone for that!"

Is it really only three weeks?

We seem to have done so much in only three weeks; the roof is progressing slowly, thanks to the usual autumnal weather, but at least we have seen the first slates go back on.  Encouragingly, we don't seem to have lost as many slates as first thought, so just a few reclaimed ones will be needed to complete the job.  Also, the scaffolding has been extended (see the platform above the gutter level) to permit work on both central chimney stacks, which should start next week.

This week's drama was inside.  I decided to take up a few floorboards in the lounge (the rest of the downstairs is solid floor); we knew that there was some issue with the joists where they meet the wall which has the solid hall floor and stairs on the other side.  In fact, the twelve joists are in better condition than I had expected, thanks to a good-sized air space underneath, apart from three places where no air could circulate due to builders' rubbish.  The end of the joists do not rest on the solid foundation as I had expected; rather, there are four small brick walls which support the joists, each with a bit of four by two acting as the sill plate on top of which the joists rest.  After I had taken up the two floorboards closest to the solid wall, I could see that there was indeed some rot/woodworm etc in some of the joist ends and in a few floorboards. Also, the sill plate was rotten in a few places.  Well, that's still fixable. 

I think that the ends of the joists should not actually contact the solid wall but they do - someone had thought it a good idea to fill the gap with mortar, which then enabled the joist ends to become damp and hence rot.  Also, the plaster was too low behind the skirting boards and actually touched the floorboards, again helping dampness to spread and causing rot.  I could add some photos of really bad bits of rot but I'm sure you know what it's like - it looks OK but crumbles in your hand...

I was still thinking that I could fix this all myself when I cleared away some plaster and caused some mortar to fall off which revealed WOOD at the base of a brick wall.  It was with a sinking heart that I removed the plaster at the foot of the entire twelve foot wall to reveal that it was built of brick with a wooden foundation layer at floor level.  I went home both depressed and puzzled! 

The next day, further investigation revealed that this wood may be actually in quite good condition so I shall consider treating it and leaving well alone.  I then resolved to take some more floorboards off to discover the extent of the woodworm and rot on the joists, especially the joist beside the damp external wall (where someone has installed a raised concrete path outside).  Take my advice - be prepared if you do this, and know when to stop.  The first thing was that I found more wood in the external wall - this was a smaller piece which of course had rotted thanks to the damp external wall.  I think it was to help secure the skirting board, but it had long since ceased to serve any purpose except to act as a sponge.

Three hours later I had removed about half of the flooring in the lounge and, hopefully, I have found the end of the woodworm and rot.  I also had the joy of removing a twelve foot piece of skirting board complete without damage, only to see it split under its own weight as I picked it up - woodworm again!  More firewood.

So this time I went home via a well-known supplier of building materials to buy a load of new timbers with which I shall discover if I can fit a level floor, once I can find about twenty five feet of reclaimed 7"x1" pine floorboards which do NOT have woodworm and rotten bits!

Second Week Progress

Well, we've owned this house for two whole weeks now and the pace is relentless.  In that time I have had on site at least sixteen different people of almost every trade possible, apart from the plumber who is coming next week.  I'm still shattered but tomorrow I'm off for a charity meeting, so that's it until Monday.

This week I have had the electrical system disconnected entirely and replaced with a new circuit breaker box which supplies four sockets and the two storage heaters.  This was because I had no faith whatsoever in the existing system, and there seemed no point in checking it out when I knew that we would want a completely new system.  My caution was entirely justified today when, in removing the bedroom cupboards, I found that the square pin sockets were supplied by lead sheathed cable!  LEAD SHEATHING!!?  I had no idea that such a thing existed - at least I will profit by recycling the lead.

I have also had two chimneys checked so that I am now able to safely light a fire in both main downstairs rooms.  It really is amazing how much a room cheers up when you light a fire.  The effect was further improved when Jane then demolished the dirty, damp and dark cupboards beside the chimney breasts - suddenly we could see the room as we knew it ought to look.  One of these cupboards in particular was riddled with woodworm and I took much pleasure in burning all that wood outside.  The shelves were lined with local newspaper from May 1954, which included advertisements for the local cinemas which were showing Doris Day in "Calamity Jane" and the Marx Brothers in "Duck Soup".  Sadly this paper was too damaged to save as it was riddled with woodworm holes and so fell apart as we touched it.

The roof has progressed and Barry the Chippy will finish his work tomorrow hopefully, which will enable some slate to be refitted.  I think that completion of the roof is now intertwined with work required on the chimneys stacks, which is obviously a complication that the roofer is used to, so I'll leave him to it.

I was most impressed with the structure of the roof.  Essentially the load is carried by two large A-frames which Barry assures me are probably original:

These frames are staggered: the far end of the right hand A-frame is resting on an internal major structural wall and beyond that are two bedrooms, and the left hand A-frame goes to the far wall.  Here's another view of the right hand one:

We had wondered about using the loft as another bedroom but this A-frame is right in the way; the mechanics of replacing it would be hugely difficult and expensive (even if allowed) and if we didn't do that, I wouldn't want two rooms which were only six feet wide (the rather thin joists are at about 300mm spacing).

Finally, I also had a go at some pointing this week.  Given the exceptionally mild conditions forecast (as lime mortar does not like frost when setting), it seemed a good opportunity to fill in a few of the deep holes in the rubble on the side of the house.  This was done to bring it up to a 20mm depth, and the final pointing will be done when I have bought the matching colour for our lovely yellow/cream mortar.  I have found that pointing is time-consuming (as one would expect) but it also appeals to some deep desire of mine to put things in order and I find it very satisfying.  I am afraid that I have rendered a small part of the insect world homeless just before winter, but it's another small step forward.  There's a lot more to do!