Over the last nine months I have had a lot of dealings with the District Council on planning matters. I thought I would avoid a lot of hassle by appointing an architect, but he seems to have been surprised and annoyed by their attitude as well. When the Council granted Listed Building Consent for the internal work I did not particularly like the look of the conditions, which said that I had to get their approval for all sorts of details before doing the work. This is done by submitting another application to discharge the conditions, and it seems that they can take almost as long discharging the conditions as giving the LBC in the first place! I would have hoped that I simply had to tell them of the exact details, but it seems that they actually APPROVE fine detail like the EXACT type of woodburning stove, or the type of the extractor fan (vent?), even though they had pictures of "something like this" in the original application. Personally I think that they are exceeding their brief and making unnecessary work for themselves plus delay and stress for people like me. What they don't seem to appreciate is that there are lead times on purchases and, for reclaimed materials, you must buy it when you find it, not wait for approval, so I have already bought or ordered a good number of expensive items in anticipation of approval.
I wouldn't really mind if they were consistent and operated to a set of clear rules. As it is, those of us who try to play the game seem to be penalized by having to go with their timescales and capricious decisions; in contrary fashion, 200 yards away there is a sizeable development taking place on a listed pub in a conservation area, with scaffolding and hoarding on the busy pavement, and they have not even made any applications at all, let alone got approval - no planning permission, no Building Control and no LBC. Why are they not being stopped forthwith?
Anyway, the good news is that we have just found out (via the planning website) that the application to discharge the conditions has now been "permitted" so at last we can do all everything in the LBC application submitted in January. I am very glad about this as we have already done the door, ordered an expensive window, bought a woodburner and a decorative arch with mantel, and are about to complete laying the limestone flags in the kitchen on the limecrete floor. It's nice to be legal...
To balance the equation, I have met a Building Control Officer who is most pragmatic, helpful and (frankly) non-threatening, giving advice on how to meet or interpret the rules. I can work with this sort of person!
Tuesday 31 May 2011
Saturday 28 May 2011
Decorating with Limewash
Our (my) intention was always to have internal plaster which was fit to be limewashed. 
At that early stage I had not researched exactly what was involved; this has only become apparent recently when I realised that I just had to get on with choosing materials and some colours as (obviously) we want most of the decoration done before we move in - and that isn't very long!
Before I start talking about limewash, I have remembered that there was another matter mentioned in my deleted blog entry which deserves repetition:
the electricity supply company came at last and sorted the array of cables to the pair of houses! This is worthy of mention because the front of the house looks so much better, and I want to pass on my grateful thanks to Elaine at the Southern Electric call centre for taking ownership of this issue which had been outstanding since early January. This is how the house looks now, without loose cables:
Other tasks are moving on gently, with increasing urgency. The bath is in place and I am now tiling the bathroom so that the plumbers can install the basin and loo. The floorboards are all back in place, and I am working sporadically on the skirting, as well as starting to sand the woodwork. Unfortunately the doors all seem to be done in some sort of shellac (I think) which clogs sandpaper in 20 seconds; I eventually found that it comes off as a nasty hot goo with a heat gun and scraper, after which it can be sanded. If you think that sounds laborious, it is! I have also found a contractor to install our dropped kerb, for which I now have permission. This should get done in a couple of weeks, and then he'll prepare the driveway as well.
Back to limewash: having worked for so long on the plaster, the last part of the process almost took me by surprise when I realised that it was time to choose some colours for all the walls. We bought a lot of sample pots which were tested on inconspicuous places like the wall behind yet-to-be-fitted kitchen cupboards. My first impressions were that this wasn't going to work, as it looked awful when I was applying the first coat. It improved considerably when it dried, which encouraged me to apply a second coat the next day. This looked even more awful when wet, but as it dried the full depth of colour started to appear, and I knew we had a winner (even before applying the third coat). TOP TIP- when testing limewash colours, leave a bit of the area with just one coat, so that you have something to compare to (and you can be impressed!).
We then had more long discussions on the colours, with plenty of mind-changing - some colours did not work at all, and others were used in alternative places after being deemed unsuitable where we planned them. Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered my limewash from Mike Wye which duly arrived two days later (with the final load of mortar and plaster for the kitchen wall). Limewash comes in 10 litre or 20 litre containers, and my calculations showed that I needed more than 10 litres of each colour, so I had to order it in 20 litre containers. Sadly, no-one else was present so I had to unload the entire one ton pallet (five 20 litre containers as well as 34 ten litre tubs of mortar/plaster) by myself. TOP TIP - plan deliveries for when you have a helpful contractor present!
Applying limewash is an interesting experience. It's not really like any sort of paint that I had previously encountered, being a suspension of lime putty, water and pigment; limewash settles out VERY quickly so an essential tool is a mixing paddle to attach to a drill. It must be well mixed before use, and you even have to be careful that it doesn't separate while you are using it. Also, you mustn't overbrush it; if you do, it goes all stiff and basically gives you a build-up of lime putty and hence the patchy finish which I had observed with my samples. So, after a quick visit to my local DIY store for a paddle, I decided to make a start and do the first coat of yellow in the hall; Jane was coming down on Friday at lunchtime and so I was able to do most of the stairs and landing as well before she arrived. She then spent the afternoon doing the lounge (in pale green), and Phil the Spread spent the same time doing both back bedrooms - one in a different yellow and the other in mint green (this has a yellow tinge which should mask the occasional yellow stains of old dampness in the plaster).
This week the limewash was applied by myself, Phil and Jaye in every spare minute. I also tackled the ceilings which have been done in a matt white breathable (NOT vinyl etc) emulsion. The Regency plaster looked white until I painted it!
We managed two major errors: firstly we bought everything in 20 litre tubs. This was because we were told that a litre covered between 3 and 6 square metres depending on the porosity. At the last count we seemed to be covering over 12 square metres with every litre, probably because the surface plaster is so fine; the result is that I have lots of unused limewash! Secondly we bought a colour which we then decided that we didn't like, so I have almost 20 litres of that going spare.
We are delighted with the results. Photos do not do it justice.
At that early stage I had not researched exactly what was involved; this has only become apparent recently when I realised that I just had to get on with choosing materials and some colours as (obviously) we want most of the decoration done before we move in - and that isn't very long!Before I start talking about limewash, I have remembered that there was another matter mentioned in my deleted blog entry which deserves repetition:
the electricity supply company came at last and sorted the array of cables to the pair of houses! This is worthy of mention because the front of the house looks so much better, and I want to pass on my grateful thanks to Elaine at the Southern Electric call centre for taking ownership of this issue which had been outstanding since early January. This is how the house looks now, without loose cables: Other tasks are moving on gently, with increasing urgency. The bath is in place and I am now tiling the bathroom so that the plumbers can install the basin and loo. The floorboards are all back in place, and I am working sporadically on the skirting, as well as starting to sand the woodwork. Unfortunately the doors all seem to be done in some sort of shellac (I think) which clogs sandpaper in 20 seconds; I eventually found that it comes off as a nasty hot goo with a heat gun and scraper, after which it can be sanded. If you think that sounds laborious, it is! I have also found a contractor to install our dropped kerb, for which I now have permission. This should get done in a couple of weeks, and then he'll prepare the driveway as well.
We then had more long discussions on the colours, with plenty of mind-changing - some colours did not work at all, and others were used in alternative places after being deemed unsuitable where we planned them. Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered my limewash from Mike Wye which duly arrived two days later (with the final load of mortar and plaster for the kitchen wall). Limewash comes in 10 litre or 20 litre containers, and my calculations showed that I needed more than 10 litres of each colour, so I had to order it in 20 litre containers. Sadly, no-one else was present so I had to unload the entire one ton pallet (five 20 litre containers as well as 34 ten litre tubs of mortar/plaster) by myself. TOP TIP - plan deliveries for when you have a helpful contractor present!
This week the limewash was applied by myself, Phil and Jaye in every spare minute. I also tackled the ceilings which have been done in a matt white breathable (NOT vinyl etc) emulsion. The Regency plaster looked white until I painted it!
We managed two major errors: firstly we bought everything in 20 litre tubs. This was because we were told that a litre covered between 3 and 6 square metres depending on the porosity. At the last count we seemed to be covering over 12 square metres with every litre, probably because the surface plaster is so fine; the result is that I have lots of unused limewash! Secondly we bought a colour which we then decided that we didn't like, so I have almost 20 litres of that going spare.
Friday 20 May 2011
A Missing Blog Entry
I just want to say that I posted an update on a few things on Thursday May 12th, but it has disappeared! Apparently there is a problem with Blogspot and they had to reset things back by a couple of days on Friday 13th (no, I'm not superstitious); although there has been a promise to restore the missing ones, mine has yet to re-appear, which is MOST FRUSTRATING as I spent a couple of hours on it.
Of course, it is very difficult to remember exactly what one wrote, and any attempt to do it again would be of lesser quality. In future I'll keep a draft of what I post...
For the record, it was mostly about doing a bit of limestone wall in coursed rubble - the bottom of the French door which will now be just a window. On the left is a photo of my handiwork, of which I am quite proud, although it did take an awfully long time. I have deliberately left the pointing deep so that eventually I can point it in the same colour as the old pointing, but I couldn't do the matching as the same time - it all took a very long time!
Of course, it is very difficult to remember exactly what one wrote, and any attempt to do it again would be of lesser quality. In future I'll keep a draft of what I post...
For the record, it was mostly about doing a bit of limestone wall in coursed rubble - the bottom of the French door which will now be just a window. On the left is a photo of my handiwork, of which I am quite proud, although it did take an awfully long time. I have deliberately left the pointing deep so that eventually I can point it in the same colour as the old pointing, but I couldn't do the matching as the same time - it all took a very long time!
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Laying a Limecrete Floor Part 2
This week has seen the completion of a major item on the critical path for us to move in: the slab for the limecrete floor has started to go off very quickly - as I was told that NHL5 would - so we have laid the screed. Again I had Chris and Shane to help - Chris had done a few floors before (but not in lime), and Shane was expert at mixing (but not lime), so they relied on me for the technical input. I relied on Mike Wye and the internet!
The screed uses NHL5 and sharp sand, in a 1:2 mix by volume, 75mm thick (as advised by Mike Wye). Be advised that a LOT of sand is needed! For some reason I have had trouble in calculating the required amounts of sand and NHL5, and we ran out of both during the first day, so stopped with two-thirds completed (see join across the floor in the photo on the right).
I bought some more of everything and we finished the job two days later. It was much easier to do than the slab, as we had a decent solid base to work on, and Chris now loves to work with lime.
Chris is a bit of a perfectionist and was slightly upset with the need for a join; he was then even more upset to discover that the last half tonne of sand was from a different supplier and so was a darker colour (although you can't see it in the photo).
He was not comforted by my reminder that we are laying flagstones on top and so neither the colour change or the join will be seen.
The sand situation was not helped by my general lack of understanding about volumes and weights of sand. I suppose I should not have been surprised as, after all, I knew how much stuff had come out of the ground in the kitchen. We ended up using just over three tonnes for a 21 sq metre floor. As I expected to use less than two tonnes, I had a one tonne bulk bag of sand delivered, and supplemented this with repeated visits to a local DIY store to buy their loss-leading bagged sand at £1.07 for a 25kg bag (in a quantity of ten or more). The result of using more than three tonnes was that I made a lot of unexpected visits, and they ran out!
So far as I can tell, our floor must be thicker than designed - perhaps the slab sank a bit on the loose lay LECA? We laid the screed up to a fixed level (as opposed to laying a specific depth), so it might have been deeper in places without us noticing. Otherwise I do not see where all the mix went went. The floor area is 21 sq metres and I was told I would need 21 bags of NHL5 (i.e. one per sq metre); we had four bags left from the slab (why?) so that made 25 to start with, and yet we ended up needing 30 altogether - so each mix only did 0.7 sq metre.
For the technically minded, we used a large diesel drum mixer on hire as we realized that my own mixer was too small - we would have been doing twice as many mixes! In truth, the hired mixer was also too small, as it took 30 mixes to do the screed; if you overload it then it won't mix properly. Each mix comprised one 25 kg bag of NHL5 (30-35 litres) and four and a half 25 kg bags of sharp sand (about 70 litres), and used about 15 litres of water. Other people recommend a pan mixer for better mixing - we did not experience much balling, having followed the mixing method recommended by the manufacturers (although there was more balling with the LECA - see Part 1 - and we did have to stop it and scrape the mixture off the interior, which was tedious). One unexpected issue was that my wheelbarrow is now on its last legs - two welds have broken and the sides have bowed out.
Then it was the weekend so I went to see my grandson:
This blog entry was late in being uploaded for various reasons such as tiredness.
The screed uses NHL5 and sharp sand, in a 1:2 mix by volume, 75mm thick (as advised by Mike Wye). Be advised that a LOT of sand is needed! For some reason I have had trouble in calculating the required amounts of sand and NHL5, and we ran out of both during the first day, so stopped with two-thirds completed (see join across the floor in the photo on the right).
I bought some more of everything and we finished the job two days later. It was much easier to do than the slab, as we had a decent solid base to work on, and Chris now loves to work with lime.Chris is a bit of a perfectionist and was slightly upset with the need for a join; he was then even more upset to discover that the last half tonne of sand was from a different supplier and so was a darker colour (although you can't see it in the photo).
 |
| This is me not Chris as I deleted the photo of him by accident |
The sand situation was not helped by my general lack of understanding about volumes and weights of sand. I suppose I should not have been surprised as, after all, I knew how much stuff had come out of the ground in the kitchen. We ended up using just over three tonnes for a 21 sq metre floor. As I expected to use less than two tonnes, I had a one tonne bulk bag of sand delivered, and supplemented this with repeated visits to a local DIY store to buy their loss-leading bagged sand at £1.07 for a 25kg bag (in a quantity of ten or more). The result of using more than three tonnes was that I made a lot of unexpected visits, and they ran out!
So far as I can tell, our floor must be thicker than designed - perhaps the slab sank a bit on the loose lay LECA? We laid the screed up to a fixed level (as opposed to laying a specific depth), so it might have been deeper in places without us noticing. Otherwise I do not see where all the mix went went. The floor area is 21 sq metres and I was told I would need 21 bags of NHL5 (i.e. one per sq metre); we had four bags left from the slab (why?) so that made 25 to start with, and yet we ended up needing 30 altogether - so each mix only did 0.7 sq metre.
Then it was the weekend so I went to see my grandson:
 |
| Proud Grandad with sleeping grandson |
This blog entry was late in being uploaded for various reasons such as tiredness.
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