Reflections on the Last Two Years

Now that I have a bit more time for activities other than building work, I've been thinking about what has been acheived in the last two years and two months.  Specifically, I've been thinking about two aspects of the work, namely the things I've done which have really pleased me, and the things that I would rather had been done differently.

Under the latter heading come a few things which still bug me:

• The attitude of the Conservation Officer - this relationship seemed to have gone wrong near the start, but I still don't really know why, other than because (just possibly) the CO really IS an unhelpful person.
• The fact that Highways at the County Council told me that I could not widen the existing gateway to make a single driveway entrance for both houses as it was too close to a junction, but then (after I had made an entrance in the old wall) they allowed my new neighbour to make a new entrance even closer to the junction!
• A newly laid slate has slipped from the roof to the gutter, but the roofer has yet to come and fix it.
• The new kitchen sash window is four over four, not two over two as the rest of the windows.
• There is still no vent to the kitchen...
• Thames Water fitted an external meter in the pavement and this has been found to be a joint supply. Now we have to get an internal meter fitted, but that would have been so much easier if done before the new kitchen was fitted, as I intended.
• My new loft hatch is not quite square, because the joists were not parallel!
• The new extension is not exactly as intended - the roof is higher, the chimney lower and the plasterer gave me incorrect answers to two clear questions, with the result that the internal work I did is not perfect; one window cill has thicker render than he said, so it's almost level with the top of the lower window frame, and a plastered stud wall is thinner than the rendered blocks that it rests on.

Looking at the good side, there are lots of things which make me smile:

• The stone wall where I filled in the bottom of the old doorway
• The wall which I lime-plastered myself (the stone wall which is the join between the old house and new-build extension)
• The new 6' stone wall beside the front door, and the attached gates
• The new sash window which cost just £95 from a reclamation yard
• The front room floor where I replaced bits of joists and re-laid most of the boards plus some reclaimed ones
• The stud wardrobe frontage which I built for the master bedroom
• The wood-burning stove in the kitchen, in the alcove which I "found" by removing the old tiled fireplace
• The recently fitted secondary glazing (we are cosy, and it is quieter now)
• The limecrete/black limestone floor in the kitchen (laid by Chris, Shane and me)
• The black limestone floor in the new extension which I laid entirely by myself (on concrete...)
• The extension roof on which I laid over half the slates in just over a day on my own, much to Chris's surprise
• The casement window in the new extension which I salvaged from the old extension and did a major repair job
• The 1800+ Imperial bricks from the old extension which Jane and I salvaged and were re-used in the new extension (I only had to buy about 200 more)
• All the other little bits and pieces from the old building which I laboriously removed, kept and re-used
• Buying my own mixer, instead of hiring one
• Deciding that I would manage the entire process myself, instead of paying a builder to project manage it

Actually, the whole place makes me smile - it just feels so safe, solid and secure, just as a home should feel.

Doing Things Wrongly

I do hate doing things wrongly.  I always have [Edit - I mean "I've always hated doing things wrongly", not "I've always done things wrongly"!].  In particular, on this house I have wanted to "do it right" and, mostly, I think I have succeeded.  I'm going to live in this house for years and I hate the idea of continuously seeing something I did wrongly and thinking "I wish I'd done that better".  There have been one or two places where it's not perfect and I've persuaded myself to live with them as they "add character" (great excuse for old buildings).

Now, I've just painted something wrongly.  I've been using satin finish paint on the woodwork in the new extension and it looks very nice.  It's a cream colour which is basically the colour of the old woodwork and it sets the doors off nicely against the white of the plaster.  I've done both sides and the frame of the door from the kitchen into the extension (see previous picture) and I had done one and a half sides of the door into the utility when I ran out of paint.  So, on Tuesday at a local well-known store, I bought a second tin after some considerable searching for the right type; I returned home with my prize and continued the task, finishing off the first coat on the half finished door, and then doing a second coat on the side I'd already done as it looked a bit thin.  For good measure I did the door frame and also some touch up in a few places on another door frame.  All seemed well until I went to wash the brushes; I was sure that satin finish paint is washed in warm soapy water but, to my horror, I found that nothing happened apart from a mess of globules.  Check the tin - "clean brushes in white spirit" - so, out with the white spirit and still I didn't catch on. 

Later, I checked my work and found that it hadn't dried.  This was odd as satin finish is quite quick drying.  Looking at the door I suddenly realized.  It was still glossy.  With a sinking heart I checked the tin.  "Full Gloss." All is explained.  B****r!

I could leave the one side in gloss but I just don't like gloss paint internally; if I do leave it, then I'll forever look at it and be reminded of my own stupidity.  There seems nowhere else to go but back to the store and buy a tin of the correct stuff, and then forget that Tuesday ever happened. Apart from wasting my time and £11 for the paint, I still have the issue of whether I have any use for that paint and, if not, what do I do with it?

Wheelbarrows and Contractors

The wheelbarrow is dead; long live the wheelbarrow!

I forgot to mention my new wheelbarrow.  The old one (above left) suffered fatal injuries at the hands of various contractors last year; clearly it wasn't as resilient as I first thought (in this link).  You can see the frame and bucket are only attached by the front brackets - all four welds have gone, as have the sides where the stiffeners are kinked.  I actually saw that happen when we were doing the floor last April (see this link) - a full load of mortar from the mixer was being settled down by shaking the whole thing from side to side and both sides suddenly went outwards by an inch or two with a kink in the middle of each side.  This was most noticeable as from then on the wheelbarrow scraped on both sides of the old French window as we pushed the next mix inside for Chris to lay.

Of course, the sideways action described above is unlikely to be in the design specification, and I'm sure that this action is what caused the welds to go as well.  Everyone who has mixed a load in my mixer has done it, so why don't the designers think of it?  It soldiered on but eventually died in the autumn, so I'll take it to the metal recycling somewhen - anyone want a used wheel in good condition?

Anyway, I needed to have a useable one so I found one of a different design (above right) which hopefully will prove more durable - and I don't intend to have any contractors misuse it!  It has already helped move several tons of materials from the front to the back and carried the mix for the floor in the extension, plus more recently the mixed lime plaster for the wall.

Talking of contractors, we have had possibly the last contractor job done this week, as Kurt the sparky has done the 2nd fix in the new extension; we now have light and power - and hence a working washing machine as well! When I've tidied up I will post a few photos of what it looks like, but right now it's rather messy.  I lost count a long time ago of the number of different workers there has been on this building in the last 16 months, but a quick count reveals at least 39 people from 18 different "organisations" (and I'm bound to have forgotten some!).  Most have been excellent, and I have had very few reasons to complain.

So, although I can't hear a fat lady singing, it's all over bar the shouting.  This is actually quite a milestone, I realize: everything left to do on the house and garden will be done by my own fair hands.  There are hundreds of jobs around the pace and I don't have a list - that would be too depressing!  My project management technique is to decide at the weekend what I think are the most important tasks to be done, and make a list of what I would like to achieve in the week.  Thus the next weekend, if I have done nearly everything on the list, I can feel pretty happy with myself and make a new list for the next week. And so on...

PS In case you hadn't noticed, it's spring.  I am very happy to report that my hedge and trees, planted at the end of last November (see this link), have survived the (admittedly mild) winter and are now about to burst forth with lots of new shoots.

A Loo and a Washing Machine

Well, the plumbers have been, and most efficient they have been too.  In about four hours the two of them fitted the new loo, the corner basin with tap and outlet, the tap and outlet in the utility sink, and the washing machine supply and outlet.  Apart from the lack of electricity for the washing machine, we are all ready to go once the sealant sets, so I'll probably have an initiation ceremony tomorrow when I'll fix the worktop and base unit properly.

I have spent a fair bit of time on odd jobs in preparation for this event.  Once the floors were laid and grouted (see this page from January) I had to do tiling behind the loo and basin, assemble the base unit, cut the worktop and fit the steel sink in it, and then fit and paint the skirting board that goes behind the sink unit (as this will be visible beside the washing machine).  I know that professionals do this sort of thing much faster than me, but it still seems to me that there is no real reason why I should pay someone for a job that I can do - and I can feel proud of the achievements afterwards!

I would post some photos of the utility and loo in the extension but, like our main bathroom, they are so small that it is almost impossible to get a decent and meaningful photo.  It's all black (worktop), white (all tiles, sanitary ware and the base unit) or stainless steel (the sink), so please use your imagination!

I now need to finish the plastering so that the electrician can come and do his second fix.  I didn't properly appreciate the time required for the lime plastering (I have no excuse after all the other work done here) and really I should have started it before doing the floor if I wanted to finish earlier.  Never mind, where's the hurry?  I guess the electrics will get done in about ten days time, and I've plenty to keep me busy whilst the plaster goes off.  For instance, today I stripped and painted a 6ft cast iron downpipe and a hopper which will be a job to fit in place of the ones for the bathroom grey water outlet.  The fitted ones are in danger of falling off the wall and, as we've lowered the ground level, they are too short.

Lime Plaster and Grouting

It seems a very long time ago that I last used any lime mortar.  It was certainly before the winter set in, but I suppose it was perhaps even September last year.  Well, today I was at it with a vengeance, as I tried my hand at lime plastering for the first time.  It's all very well looking at someone else doing it, and talking about it, but there's nothing like actually doing it yourself, on your own.  There's no-one to blame if it goes wrong, and there's not even anyone to ask for help.  The trouble with plastering generally, but especially lime plastering, is that it's so messy.  If ever I have complained about plasterers being messy, I apologise, as I have found out for myself that whatever you do with plaster, some gets on the (wrong) walls, the floor, all the tools, the ladder especially and of course oneself.

The task was to plaster the old wall which forms part of the rebuilt extension.  It's the wall which forms part of the kitchen and the old brick extension was built outside, so what once was an exterior wall became an internal wall (see photo left).  Apart from this wall, the entire extension is in modern materials but with lime in the pointing to give that softer look.  When we demolished the old extension, I removed all the old plaster (lime and modern pink) on this wall and of course found some lovely Cotswold stone underneath; well, it's coursed rubble, not squared but it's still lovely.  I did contemplate keeping the stone visible but there were several reasons not to.  Firstly, there used to be a hatchway in the wall which I removed and bricked up about a year ago: I had no thought of having an unplastered wall so the bricks seemed a good idea at the time, hence the plastered square in the centre of the wall in the above photo.  I think we plastered it as I thought we'd keep the old plaster (never thought it would come off so easily!).  I don't think I ever mentioned this hatch on this blog, so here's another picture, from the kitchen side (right), before we did the kitchen last June.  The wall is almost 18 inches thick, so it used 70-something bricks going right through to the extension side. 

Secondly, we fitted T-pieces to the water and heating pipes (which you can see in the pictures) to take them through the wall in preparation for the extension.  So these all come out on the extension side, at about a metre up as you can see in the photos.  I've forgotten why they weren't at floor level, which would have been a better idea!  Possibly the second fix plumbing was done after the kitchen fit?  I love hindsight.


Anyway, I managed to do the haired scratch coat on about half of the wall today before getting tired - it is tough on your right arm.  This was two mixes, which I think was not bad considering the spread and his mate used to do five in a day, but I was on my own and my grandson came to see us.  (No further excuse needed!)

I've also been grouting the black limestone floor, which is tedious and, if you're not careful, very hard on your knees; last time (in June) I got housemaid's knee!  So, I've been doing that job in small goes and have now done about 80% of the extension floor, so I'm almost there.  Left, you can see some gaps unfilled, but the rest of the floor is done in the same yellow mortar as can be seen near the camera. I should point out (just in case you've not realized) that the floor and the wall are in the same room, so cleaning up all waste mortar soon after it is dropped is essential to avoid staining on the limestone.  Next time I'll mention my technique for cleaning lime mortar off black limestone (exciting stuff - I must have become a nerd).

Last of the Black Limestone Flags

Well, I hoped to finish the black limestone flags on Wednesday a week ago; I'm pleased to say that I actually achieved this on the due date, to my surprise!  They are not perfect, but then they were never going to be, considering that I'd not done this job before.  Believe me, just because you've laid a few wall and floor tiles of the ceramic variety, don't think that qualifies you to lay a 40mm+ mortar bed and large (i.e. heavy) limestone flags of up to 30mm thickness; it is VERY hard work when you are mixing, levelling, cutting and laying all by yourself.  Apart from the second day, I did two mixes every day and found that this was a decent amount of work which left me tired but not (quite) exhausted.  On the second day I did three mixes and realized my mistake when I sat down in the evening and didn't move for four hours!

Levelling the bed for the individual stone thickness, so that the stone was at the correct height in relation to others, was one problem I had anticipated; I had not realized how difficult it would be to get the heavy stones perfectly square in relation to each other, and with the right gap.  Either they were level but too high, or were sloped, or angled, or the gaps were not right.... or all of these!  You also have to be careful with the order of laying as you obviously don't want to lean on ones just laid.  Since I was doing two mixes and then calling it a day, this wasn't too much of a problem, apart from where I was cutting an edge.  In an ideal world you would lay the stones in the middle and work out to the wall, but then you have to cut and lay the ones at the edge with the wall, so what do you stand on to do that?   My solution was to work with my back to the door (see above), so that the last one was in the doorway, which meant that I laid cut stones against the wall and worked away from the wall.  However, this was my undoing as I dropped the last one in, lovely and level, one cm below the door, and found that it was too small! Instead of 10mm, I had a 25mm gap either side of it, which could have been largely avoided had I measured and cut the edge ones more accurately to suit.  Hopefully, the grouting will hide this sort of blemish, and no-one else apart from Chris will notice where the floor is not level.

I mentioned last time about choosing to use an irregular floor pattern, but forgot to mention how I did the actual irregular design.  I only had three widths of flagstone, 45cm, 60cm and 75cm, all 60 cm long.  I found some unhelpful advice of the internet which suggested that five different sizes was the minimum for an irregular floor.  However, I didn't want to cut them except where they abut the wall as the edges are attractively dressed and I quickly proved that dressing is another skill I don't have (quite apart from the effort in cutting up to 40mm of limestone!).  So I just sat down with a pencil, eraser and squared paper and tried it until it looked right.  Being multiples of 15cm, it was just possible to achieve a layout which looks random, but it was actually hard work, even for an engineer.  The trick with the layout was to not work from the edges; I started designing at the doorway to the kitchen, and moved towards the centre, then worked back towards the edges, as those edges would be cut if needed.  There are two basic rules for an irregular floor. Firstly, never have four stones meeting at one corner; you always need to have a T junction, not a crossroads!  Secondly, don't have long joints covering several stones; for the sizes I have, I decided that three stones was the longest joint I wanted but had to go to four a couple of times. 

Having finished the flags, I moved on to do the floor in the loo and utility (i.e. carrying on out of the door in the photo to the external back door).  The floor in here will be ceramic tiles (450mm square and about 8mm thick.)  These are much easier as they will be stuck onto the bed once it is set, thus giving myself two goes at getting it all level - once with the bed and once with the adhesive.  You've got to make life easier for yourself where you can!  I've done the bed and am now waiting for it to set, so I've gone back to grout the limestone flags.

NB In the photos above, I'm quite pleased with the ledged and braced door you can see.  This is re-used from the old extension, and is fitted in almost the same place with the original latch.  I did have to buy some new T-hinges but even these are identical to the ones I threw away.  I might have to paint it somewhen...

More Black Limestone Flags

We got the first fix plumbing done a week ago, so the time had come to get on with the floor in the new extension.  I bought the black limestone flags some time ago; these are the same as we fitted in the kitchen last May, which looks great (see this link).  Chris and Shane did wonders with the kitchen floor so of course, I wanted them both back for this one.  However, I knew Shane had broken his leg, so Chris was going to do this with me doing all the mixing and cutting.  If that sounds like hard work, yes it is, and I wasn't really looking forward to the job.  Then earlier this week Chris came round and said that but he's been rather busy with a spate of roof work after the recent high winds, so it would not possible for some while.  Time to bite the bullet: let's do it all by myself!  So, I have been really busy this week and can vouch for just how tiring this sort of work can be.

Of course, it is not so clean now

I'll give some detail of the complexity of the task: firstly, you need to decide the pattern for the floor.  Ours would have to be the interesting completely irregular floor to match the adjacent kitchen, so that decision was easy.  Then, there is the question of the mortar mix; I decided to use up the hydrated lime left over from the brickwork on the extension, and a quick internet search gave me a 1:3:10 ratio of cement: hydrated lime: sharp sand (see this link).  For a bedding mortar you must use sharp sand (NOT building sand), so I ordered a tonne bag from the local merchant, which arrived on Tuesday; this had to be barrowed round the back before dark as we had previously had a couple of hundred kilos nicked one night from the front garden!  Now, I have my own cement mixer (right) so I just had to hire a grinder and I was ready to start.  So, I started and immediately found that I wasn't ready as I couldn't find the (previously purchased) disc for the grinder! Sigh...

So next morning I eventually found the cutting disc and now the fun started: make the mix and try to get the right consistency - too wet and you weaken the final mix, too dry and it becomes really hard work.  Then you lay the load to the right thickness (how?) and completely level (really?) so that the stone (of uneven thickness) is nice and level at the right height when laid - perfectly placed in relation to the other flags and correct in three dimensions.  I was matching the level of the kitchen floor (where I started) and wanted to get to door on the other side the room at the right height with a nice level floor in between.

What I found was that I could only do three mixes (or perhaps just two!) before I really became very tired.  This was enough to do about six flags and took me about 4 hours.  Although this sounds really slow, I worked out that actually the two young fit lads would only do about 50% more flags than me in the same number of manhours, so perhaps I was doing OK (at my age).  Of course, the two of them would each do twice as many manhours as me in a day so yes, I am very slow.  I am fairly happy with the result so far (left), although the worst flag is one of the first ones laid - it is ever so easy to increase the depth without realising, and a very small amount on the spirit level is actually quite significant over these lengths.  In one sense, these are actually more forgiving than perfect square ceramic tiles, as they are meant to have character!


So here I am after four sessions without 60% of the floor done - completion next Wednesday perhaps?

The Plasterers' Return (See *** below)

Yes, the plastering has recommenced, not to mention the Return of My Favourite Electrician (see this link). Actually, Kurt came and did the whole extension in just a day, so I'm not complaining this time - I just haven't forgotten his lack of empathy with old buildings.


I've had a fair bit of work to do before the plastering, such as the installation of three windows.  The first was the sash window which we bought earlier in the year for a bargain £80 - and it's a 95% match to the existing two-over-twos.  This was a bit difficult to fit, due to the previously mentioned cavity closers (see this page), which got caught on the fixing brackets as the window was pushed in as it was all very tight.  The trick was to use a scraper to depress the closer whilst pushing the window, so I did this with the help of my son.  I have also fitted a window board.

The second window is my restored casement window.  The frame and casements were fitted very easily but then I had to fit the glass.  My masterplan here was to use a pair of old sash window panes (from the replaced front window), and cut them down to replace two broken smaller sash panes (see this link for the story on how one got broken), and then I could use the broken bits to cut down to 9x12 casement windows.  Although I thought I might do this myself, I found that a local company would do it very cheaply and with a far greater chance of success, so I invested £9 in this enterprise (much cheaper than buying a good glass cutter!).  Amazingly, the plan has worked, and we now have two draughtproof sash panes (fitted in the hall and back bedroom) and a complete pair of casements - so the extension is fully weatherproof for the first time since we bought the house.

I've also done a stud wall, above a door in the extension.  This was quite straightforward, apart from the fact that the blockwork around the door isn't straight, as both the carpenter and the plasterer have pointed out.  Ho hum.

I realise that I never posted any photos of the exterior of the finished extension, so for starters here is one of the extension itself.  80% of the bricks used were reclaimed from the old building, despite the patchy appearance.  Jane and I reclaimed these ourselves; ones with lime mortar were easy but where cement had been used they were a real pain.  The white ones were on the inside and I expect that they will clean up in time, as the white is old emulsion paint.  My restored casement window is on the left, obviously, although when this was taken there were still 5 panes empty of glass.

I did the gutter a week later and added the offset and downpipe on Wednesday evening (as we were expecting rain that night!).

And here's one (left) of the side of the house, showing the extension with the bargain new sash window which balances the old one at the far end.

Finally, here's the one (right) from the back, behind the stone wall. I have still to add the bargeboard but apart from that the exterior is finished.  Happy days!

Inside, once the plastering is done the plumber will come back, followed swiftly by me and Chris laying the limestone floor flags.  Second fix electrics and plumbing will finish things off, apart from decorating...

Today (Sunday) we held an Open House for friends and neighbours to see the inside, with some early mulled wine and mince pies.  We did this  the same weekend last year, when no-one took their coats and gloves off as it was still so damp and cold inside.  This year, people could not only see all the work that has been done but could also really feel the difference.  I lit the lounge fire and the woodburner just for the effect, but they weren't really needed as it is a very warm house.  One amusing thing was the couple from along the road who live in an even older house; they came in and both stood right in front of the woodburner as their house is always so cold and draughty!  It's this sort of event that makes you realise how much work has been done in twelve months.  No wonder I'm tired.


**** "The Plasterers' Return" (as there's two of them) or "The Plasterer's Return" (as there's actually only one plasterer and a labourer) or even "The Plasterers Return"???  Is "return" a noun or a verb in this usage?  I don't know the answer, but I've put this question in to forestall the comments of my even more pedantic daughter, who might be able to give me an answer.

Roofing and Tree-Felling

Well, we slated the roof last week, which took longer than I thought it would.  After Saturday doing the insulation and battens as reported in my last entry, I spent a day and a half (Monday and Tuesday) doing as much of the tiling as I could on my own as Chris hadn't shown me how to do soakers at the edge. I covered an area with diagonal edge from the base of the wall up to the level of the rooflight, which I reckon means I did over half of the total required (photo right).  I also fitted the rooflight myself before Chris came on Wednesday and we then spent a lot more time doing not much slating; the window was tricky to secure due to

Doors, Roofing and Insulation

I've had the replacement chippie (who did the rafters last week) back to fix our new FLB (***see below) external back door, complete with a rim lock and brass knobs, into the frame.  Of course, I forgot to buy a weatherboard so I'll do that myself later this week.  He also did a new frame for the old door from the kitchen into the extension, which was hanging

The Extension Arises Anew

Well, 'Er Indoors has been away for the last two weeks, and I have been VERY busy.  The main visible task has been completion of the brickwork for the rebuilt extension (mostly using bricks reclaimed from the previous structure), despite the efforts of both the weather and the scaffolders.  On Saturday the replacement joiner did the new roof without cutting himself as his predecessor has done (at his own workshop, I hasten to add).  So, we are now ready (photo right) for the roofer who I hope will be able to come fairly soon to do the slate roof and the leadwork.

I have also been trying to do numerous small tasks inside (plus a few large ones) in an effort to give the appearance of making some real progress while she's been away.  I've been diverted by a number of other tasks: some of these were house-related, such as collecting the new rooflight, and going to the reclamation yard for more bricks.  However, others were total diversions, such as helping my daughter put up shelves in her new (first!) flat in London, playing with grandson, attending a hearing of the Council's

The Rebuild Continues

Colin completed the foundations (left) several weeks ago, and at last Pete the brickie has started.  He has been in for most of the last two weeks, and we now have the internal block walls (photo below left) and external brick walls (photo added belatedly, right) erected up to head height.  I am pleased that all the materials I bought were the right ones, apart from a couple of things: a window was the wrong size - far too small (I don't know what I was thinking!) - and the door ordered, with the help of staff who assured me "Of course, we wouldn't sell you a door and frame of different sizes", and then did exactly that!  The door frame was easily fixed the same day and a larger window has been ordered, although I will still have to pay for the smaller one.  However, I was very pleased today to discover a use for the smaller window in the block wall above the toilet door, to give more light in what could be a very dark little cell! There was one error in construction when Pete filled in the wall where the sash window is meant to be fitted; fortunately this was spotted very quickly and easily rectified. There is one other issue with the materials - despite careful use of an Excel spreadsheet, I seem to have bought at least 60 too many blocks.  Offers on a postcard...

We are essentially rebuilding the old extension exactly as it used to be, but in modern materials with a lime mortar finish to match the rest of the house.  This does mean that we have to rebuild the chimney (which extends to the second floor fascia) even though we won't use it as such.  Although I did intend to keep the old one, it was much easier to knock it all down and start from scratch.  One side benefit of this is that the chimney breast can be a lot smaller than the old one, thus allowing better use of the space in the room.

The only real issue this week was the scaffolders, who declined to come as planned on Thursday due to the weather, which was correctly forecast as very light rain for much of the day.  I never thought that scaffolders could be so "wussy" (to use the word said by their receptionist).  So they promised to be here first thing on Friday.  Their idea of "first thing" is not the same as mine, as they turned up at 9.20am, went for a drink and the first pole was unloaded at 9.50am!  The job itself took far longer than they had said, so Pete only got going on site at 12.45, and so we lost more than a full day.  I hope they are better when they come to add the second lift next week, but I'm not holding my breath.

I have been refurbishing a double Georgian style casement window, as illustrated previously (see "The Lull before the Storm").  The frame was totally rotted (and the new one has been delivered already), but the two attractive casements are in not bad condition (see detail right), considering they are probably over 100 years old.  One needed a few epoxy repairs at the base joints, but the other (which was fixed, not hinged) needed the bottom section of frame replacing, as well as the bottom of both verticals.  I have now completed all this and primed them as well, ready for fixing hinges - I really do find this sort of repair joinery very satisfying, especially the stage at which you paint primer over the lovely wooden detail.  I am looking forward to finishing this task soon, but of course I can't fit the window now as the scaffolding is in the way.

Most of the glass was old, wavy and thin; just one sheet was new and thick (and also very badly cut).  However some of the eleven old panes are cracked, and I have a plan:  I have two very large panes left from the old 2 over 2 sash window which was replaced (two were already broken), and I'd like to cut these down to replace two not so large broken sash panes elsewhere in the house.  I then want to cut those smaller panes to provide three or four small panes (about 12 x 9") for the casement window.  However, I am thinking of getting a professional to cut the glass for me as it's a one shot task - right first time or not at all.

Finally, I have had to find a new chippie for the roof joinery as Barry, who did the main roof last year, has cut his hand badly and will be out of action for several weeks.  He has recommended Colin who lives nearby - I reckon recommendations from tradesmen are pretty reliable: a good tradesman is not going to recommend a useless mate, is he?

The Lull before the Storm

It might appear that not a lot has happened in the last two weeks as the new floor and foundations for the extension are still untouched (photo right).  However, we have fitted new carpet on the stairs and landing which really makes a huge difference to the feel of the house.  I have been making plans and the brickie is coming this Monday, and then the work will begin again in earnest.  The materials are here (see below) and I have the joiner, roofer, plumber, electrician and plasterer all lined up (in that order) for the following weeks; the hope is to have the new "look-alike" extension done by the end of November.

I forgot to mention an oddity that we found while doing the excavations.  The extension had its own rising main, fed from the same main in the street as our "proper" rising main in the kitchen, but what we found was that the cast iron pipe carried on under the garden wall and supplied next-door's external tap!  This might seem insignificant, but while the community centre was being built at the back, this was the tap which supplied their water.  Fortunately, I only had a water meter fitted in June this year, which was after the construction had been completed...

Since the foundations for the extension have been done I have been busy reclaiming bricks to re-use for the external wall; we now have 1800 in three piles in the garden (right), which should be about enough; the remaining ones are difficult as they are in cemented blocks of three or four; on these you can spend ten minutes with bolster and mallet, and still only end up with one or two good ones.

The materials for the brick/block work was all ordered and delivered last week.  It was unloaded from the road and dumped in my front garden using one of those lorry-cranes with a good reach.  Then I had the task of moving it all round the back so as not to attract the attention of people who like to appropriate things.  There were lintels, wall plates, blocks, insulation batts and lots more.  I had been quite surprised that we require 450 blocks as well as the reclaimed bricks.  I was even more surprised to find that "lightweight" blocks weigh over 7kg each, so yes, muggins here had to hand every single one (that's over 3 tonnes) into the wheelbarrow, trundle it round the back 50 times (!) and then stack them all again on pallets so they don't get muddy; this all took four hours...  (photo above left).  I could only take 9 blocks each journey as I thought the tenth might be the straw that broke the wheelbarrow for good - it really is on its last legs after being abused by too many overloads.  The really annoying thing was that it was only as the last pallet was being unloaded that I remembered a good idea I had had a long time ago - if I asked nicely, perhaps the lorry could go round the back to the community centre car park and unload over the wall? D'oh!

One task that has been keeping me busy is the refurbishment of a pair of casement windows from the original extension (photo right). I wanted to re-use these as they both have mostly antique glass, as well as being very nice old bits of joinery.  The right hand window has never been hinged but was simply nailed in place, with a rebated edge for the other window to close on as there is no central pillar (mullion?).  The window frame was past retention, being totally rotted by the long-term ingress of water in the old roof, probably from the leaking chimney flashing.  (NB I was unaware that the same water ingress had also rotted the purlin which I thought was the only good bit of wood in the entire roof structure! Isn't ignorance bliss?)  The right hand window needed a new bottom piece of frame, and then I found that both the vertical bottom ends were also rotten, so there was more work than I expected.  The old glass was carefully removed (mostly successfully) and all the replacement wood was found from an old sash which had been taken out of the front window in June.  Now it just needs priming and re-glazing, and the new frame is being made by a local joiner.

Now, as I said, tomorrow it all starts again!

The End of the Old Extension

 
Well, a week is a long time in building.  It's Friday and the last eight days have been most productive, as it was only the previous Friday that we demolished the old extension (above and right).  My trusty friend Chris came to do this task, accompanied by Dwayne (or Duane?), as Shane has broken his leg quite badly in a motorbike accident.  NB The brickie (see below) is called Shaun so I'm in danger of getting confused by these young men - well, I reckon they are young as they are half my age.

After all the hassle about our proposed new extension, everything has been refused and I just want to repair rebuild the old one "as is".  My original intention was to leave a large part of one wall including the chimney, although this would have made the foundations a bit difficult.  Having unintentionally got permission to demolish the whole extension, I decided to do it as per the permission as that would make the whole task much easier.  However, this meant that Chris had to demolish the tall chimney, which proved to be quite well built.  I won't post the photos of this as it would only generate a lot of comments about health and safety.  Suffice it to say that he did it safely and we were most relieved.


The rest of the extension was in a worse condition than we realised, and it took less than seven hours to reduce the whole thing to separate piles of bricks and wood (photos above).  Jane and I then spent the whole of Saturday sorting, burning and tidying as the apparently spacious garden had quickly assumed the role of an untidy and very crowded building site.

On Monday the groundworkers Colin and Ryan arrived with the digger (right) and dumper to clear the site and reduce the level of the topsoil and concrete which has been the Achilles heel of this property for decades.  When we first saw this house, there were two distinct problems: the water falling on the house and the water coming in through the high ground all around it.  We tackled the roof first, but now almost a year later it was great to see a start being made to rectify the high ground issue (caused largely by adding layers of concrete up to the side of the house!).

Huge amounts of soil and rubble were removed, piled in the front of the house and taken away by the 18 ton grab lorry (left). This did five trips over the next four days, so it was probably almost 90 tons removed.  This is hugely more cost effective than using skips.

Tuesday was a special day - the (expensive) archaeologist was coming at 8.00am to observe the digging of the foundation trenches.  She hoped to find a mediaeval grave or two, while I stood beside her hoping for exactly the opposite.  I'm pleased to say that I won!  I had also booked the Building Control Officer (BCO) to come at some stage to agree on the required depth so the whole process was a bit fraught but it all turned out OK.  Then to my surprise the ready mix concrete turned up that afternoon and we poured the foundations as well (photo right)!  Colin does not hang around.

On Wednesday the oversite brick and block work was done (i.e. up to damp proof course level), and more soil was removed; on Thursday the base and Celotex was laid for the floor, the old drains along the side of the house were removed (plus the soil on top!) and new plastic pipe was laid up to the existing inspection cover near the front.  The old soil drain is just visible in the photo left, running up beside the new block wall.  Getting rid of this was a nasty smelly job as there was not much fall on the foul drain...  Lastly, on Friday morning, more ready mix arrived for the floor, and the job was done, although the lowering of the inspection cover near the front will wait until we have finished the extension.

NB I wrote most of this on Friday but didn't post it until Sunday, partly because on Friday I fell asleep watching TV at 6.45pm!

Let's Start Again

Well, after much hassle, we now have permission to rebuild the service wing (photo right), and so the fun starts again, very soon.  The story on the conservatory has fully justified my caution in an earlier blog when I said that I was not counting chickens as far as the council went.  I WAS RIGHT!  We had originally proposed rebuilding the service wing and adding a similar size extension on the large blank brick wall (photo below), but this was refused as it "would harm the symmetry of the pair of listed buildings".  (The service wing of the other half of the semi can been seen in the left hand photo in the distance.)  At a meeting in June, the Conservation Officer (CO) actually suggested what we could do instead of the original proposal - an oak conservatory.  Although it wasn't really what we wanted, it seemed a good compromise, so that is what we applied for; unfortunately the dear person has now gone back to her original comments about the conservatory harming the symmetry.  So the meeting was utterly pointless and has cost us time and money for no good reason.

When I saw the CO's objections posted on line, I suggested to my architect that we should withdraw the application for Planning Permission (PP) and modify the one for Listed Building Consent (LB), as the work would not now require PP.  However, although the application was revised to delete the conservatory, we now have both LBC and PP for just the service wing - even though we don't need PP at all.  The subtle point here is that the archaeological requirements were only specified on the PP application, so if that had been withdrawn as I suggested, we would not have had to pay for any more archaeology.  I'm actually in favour of history and archaeology but they are a bit expensive!

Anyway, we shall get on with the new project as quickly as we can, as winter is approaching and we want to have it fully functional well before it gets cold. Talking of temperature, we've noticed that the house maintains a pretty constant temperature at all times, between 16 and 17.5 deg C, even when the outside temperature fell overnight to 7.5 deg C.  I reckon this is pretty good with no heating on at all, especially as this was noticed before I plugged up the draught holes around the new windows.

Following some comments from within the family ("how can you have a new toy and not play with it?"), I finally lit the woodburning stove (right) for the first time the other day.  The process was very simple and the stove worked as advertised; it is wonderful to see a real flame in the kitchen, and the heat from the stove is most noticeable.  I think the size (4.5kW) is about right, apart from the fact that, being small, it needs fairly frequent attention.  I lit it, stoked it up and went to my doctor's appointment; when I returned 90 minutes later, the fire was burnt out (but I was kept waiting for 30 minutes and then the doctor was particularly talkative!). 

The following day I tried the new "decorative arch" open fire in the lounge (left) for the first time. Unfortunately Jane was late home and so didn't see it until it was just a few embers, although I kept it going for four hours.  Like the woodburning stove, it burned a lot of the stuff that I had kept from the house renovation, such as the very old roof battens.  These were so old that they had not been treated - you mustn't use any painted wood (a lot of mine was lead painted) or treated wood (e.g. cut ends of battens or joists, or pallets) whose vapours could damage the very expensive flue.).  I suspect that the acquisition of suitable wood will become a major topic of daily life for me.


Anyway, whilst writing the above my groundworker called by, to see how things were going.  So we agreed to start next week and now I just need to make sure that we can do the demolition this weekend, get the archaeologist to turn up next Tuesday morning and also submit a Building Control application.  Back to the grindstone!

The Next Phase

With the impending arrival of autumn (given that we have hardly had a summer, again), I've had a breather this week and done very little on the house.

Our thoughts are now turning our focus to the question of the "service wing" extension at the back of the house.  My understanding is that the house has had three major phases: firstly (in 1834?), it was a rectangular schoolhouse of squared limestone with a ridge roof running east to west; the front was at the eastern end where there is part of an archway visible in the wall.  Then they converted it to a pair of semis, facing south (we own the western half, on the left of the photo right), adding a larger rectangular structure (in coursed rubble) to create the back rooms and allow for the front doors to be positioned on either side (just visible on either side of the photo right); we have dated this to prior to 1870.

Finally they built the brick extensions at the back on either side as the kitchens. This extension (left and right) is a brick built, single storey structure with a simple slate roof, set at an angle which appears too shallow for slates.  The brickwork is now in poor repair, one wall (photo below right) is bulging badly with loose bricks and daylight visible!  Additionally the roof structure is rotten after the years of damp neglect, and the ground around has been concreted at the level of the floor inside, adding to the damp problems.


Our plan is to repair this building with a new roof and re-positioned doors and windows.  Originally we wanted to extend it but this application was refused as it would have spoiled the symmetry of the pair of buildings.  Our plan now, with the Conservation Officer's verbal agreement, is instead to add a conservatory which, being obviously new, does not have the same effect on the symmetry.  This conservatory will be a solid piece of structure, hopefully from 6" square oak in a natural finish (if we can afford it!), although the CO has said that it should have a brick wall at one end so that the conservatory is not visible from the front... words fail me.  I'll do anything that gets it done and saves me having to have further interaction with such an unpredictable person.  The application is in and so now I need to come up with some decisions.

The major decision is how to do the repair work.  The building is single brick but we will have to make the walls thicker to meet Building Regulations; hence, does everything have to be done in lime?  I am all for it as a general principle but if this is not actually essential for breathability, it would make sense to make the entire finished extension using modern materials, even with Thermalite blocks on the inner skin!  Then a builder I know just threw a huge spanner in my works by suggesting that the inner structure could be an insulated wooden frame.  I have no idea as to whether this would be acceptable to the CO.

Then the next question will be the materials for the conservatory - the ideal desire for green oak will be simply a matter of whether we can afford it.  Hopefully, as it's not large the cost will be vaguely sensible...

Then all I have to do is to enlist the required contractors and we're off!  Firstly the lads to demolish most of it, then the groundworker to remove a lot of concrete and earth, then also do the foundations and drains, then the brickie for the footings and walls, then the same demolition lads to do the roof structure, slates and lead.    Finally, we'll get the same plasterer, electrician and plumber back.  Sounds simple, doesn't it?

[Edited 6 Sep to include photos of service wing]

We actually live here now

Never move house just before you have a holiday.  We have just returned from a 16 night camping holiday to our "new" house, and it just feels so strange; after all, we had only spent 13 nights here before the holiday, so we didn't really know what it was like to live in this house after spending so long restoring it.  We came inside and walked around admiring the handiwork as though we had never seen it before!  Do we actually live here now?  We own it, it's all ours!  We had even forgotten where things were - which drawer contained the cling film in the kitchen; more importantly, where was my clean underwear?  I didn't realise how bad it was until Jane came home tonight and asked why there was so much stuff in the sink.  "Have you forgotten that we now have a dishwasher again?"  Or is that just my age?

Apart from my memory, the other trouble now is motivation.  For the last nine months I have been working to a plan (sort of) which basically was to do all the necessary things so that we could move in.  Having achieved that, I now have serious problems in personal motivation and prioritization.  There is so much to do in the house, quite apart from our plan to re-build the brick extension (which is about to fall down) and sort out the garden/drive.  I can see why people talk about taking ten or more years on their period property renovation, so I must stick with the weekly lists of tasks and make sure that I achieve what I aim for each week.  There are also loads of boxes containing the assorted miscellanea of 37 years of marriage, and for once I do not have a storeroom or garage to hide them in; in fact, I don't even have a store for my tools which are now getting in the way.

The good news is that we have submitted our revised planning application for the brick extension and conservatory; my aim is to start the repair of the existing building in September (for which we don't need planning permission) and hope that the full approval is forthcoming soon after.  However, after previous encounters, I am not counting any chickens as far as the council are concerned!

Conservation Officers and Planning Permission

I am SO dischuffed.  Our planning application for an extension at the back of the property has been rejected on the recommendation of the Conservation Officer who considered that an extension would "significantly damage the symmetry of the pair of [semi-detached] houses".  As far as I am aware, this is the same CO who, on the phone last August , recognised the house from my description and told me that my plans sounded "wonderful".  The refusal was terse in the extreme so I don't even know whether there is any future in an appeal or in submitting a revised plan to include something more obviously new (as opposed to matching the original building) such as possibly a conservatory.  The only consolation is that as we changed our plans last autumn, we can still move in; the original idea was to have the new kitchen in the extension, and so a refusal would have had a severe impact on our occupation date.

In any case, we do have to rebuild the existing extension; the end wall, which supports the purlin for the sloping roof, has a large bow with some loose bricks and I think it would be in danger of falling down if we wait too long.  So, back to the drawing board and consider all the options...  Perhaps the new solution will prove to be cheaper than our rejected plan - at least THAT would cheer me up!

We have done some painting at the front (photo right) on the cement rendering (it's not stucco!).  Our bay window on the left is now surrounded by fresh paint, which matches the other half next door.  Also, it makes a statement to the numerous passers-by that the house is NOT being demolished, as believed locally. We'll do the upstairs bit soon, and then do the bit beside the front door (hidden to the left). 

Talking of the front door, we have now got a superb renovated door (photo left) in a new frame which is all very secure (at last).  We just need the electricity company to come and finish their job of fitting new supply cable (we've only been waiting since the first week of January!).