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.

Secondary Glazing

I mentioned before how the Conservation Officer (erroneously in most people's view) sweepingly declared that "you can't have double glazing in a listed building".  That was in relation to a brand new sash window (far right below) which replaced a metal Crittal door and two windows on the side of the house (near right below), which seemed an inexplicable decision; I made sure that the design of the window will allow for double glazing if I so choose in the future, and the CO never realized!  I should point out that I agree that, in a building like this, one should not remove old sash windows and fit uPVC ones as they always look wrong - the thickness of the glazing bars is a real give away apart from the lack of wavy glass - but I did think that DG in a new window would be allowed. Anyway, with that history, I was never going to bother to mention the subject again to the CO, and so the house has remained draughty with a corresponding high gas bill last winter. As a result, I turned my thoughts to secondary glazing, and recently this came to the top of my list of "Things to do before winter". 

Secondary glazing is acceptable on period properties without conservation consent as it a reversible change (other than a few screw holes), and also it is not like double glazing, in that the space between the two panes is not sealed so it does not provide the same barrier to heat loss.  Basically it does reduce heat loss to an extent, but it also reduces draughts and noise.  The sash windows in this house are ideal for secondary glazing as the frame of the sash provides a good flat surface for the inner sheet.  You can get complicated systems which, for instance, add sliding glass in a frame, but I chose a simpler system which comprises a sheet of acrylic with a soft plastic edging strip, held against the sash window by little nylon clips and screws. I'm sure there are other suppliers, but I bought all my stuff from Tubeway Easyfix (http://www.tubeway.co.uk/).  They were kind enough to send me, free of charge, a plastic mitre block for cutting the plastic edging, which got omitted from my order.  Since this item retails at £7.05 + VAT, I'm glad I didn't pay for it; you would think they would always throw such a little bit of plastic in for nothing.

There are relatively few issues with this system, although the price of the acrylic sheet surprised me; I used 2mm thick sheet, although you can use 3mm or 4mm (even more expensive!).  One issue seems to be the size of the sheets; most of my windows are 90cm wide, and so need acrylic sheet which is about 95cm wide; of course, one of the standard widths is 92cm so I had to go to the next size up, with consequent additional waste and cost.  One potential difficulty is cutting the acrylic; I was told that could probably score the acrylic and break it like glass, but even with 2mm thick, this just did not work reliably.  Hence it had to be cut and I quickly proved that you cannot use a hand saw as this causes cracks along with a very rough edge. However my jigsaw with a fine blade proved to be the business so long as you don't move it too quickly, but even then you need to support the edge at the point of cutting or you get a jagged edge with cracks.  Straight edges help with positioning the clips, so I always made sure I had an edge cut by the supplier along the bottom when I fitted the first clips.

I've now done five windows, including the large one in the main bedroom.  This one was so large that I was unable to buy a sheet of acrylic big enough, so I have made a wooden horizontal support which runs across in line with the join in the sashes, so that it isn't seen from outside.

This support was made from four bits of stripwood, and there is a groove top and bottom to hold the edges of the acrylic; the strength is primarily from an expensive piece of hardwood (30mm x 10mm) which forms the visible side in the room. Photos of the system are quite difficult to do, as all they show are the windows and you can hardly see the edge of the acrylic, which is the whole point really.  However, here's a detail picture so you can see the edging and the clips:

The draughts have largely gone and the difference in room temperature is quite noticeable; it really does make a difference and there is now less need to keep all internal doors closed.  I've still got to do one in the hall, one in the extension and a pair in the bathroom (left); the bathroom ones fell to the end of the list due to the refurbishment work needed on the window frame and the fact that I will have to re-fit the venetian blind on another bit of stripwood to hold it away from the acrylic. The main renovation of all these windows will get done next summer (if we have one) and the main aim will be to keep the old glass wherever possible.

Having eliminated a lot of draughts, I will have to make sure that the house is still well ventilated - there has been no dampness or condensation anywhere in the last year since it dried out, apart from what we caused with cooking and showers.

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!

Discharge of LBC Conditions

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!

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!).

Landscaping, crows and "Vision Technicians"

Following on from the recent granting of Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent for our proposed driveway (through the foliage on the left of the photo), there are conditions: one is that we have to get a landscaping plan approved before we can start work on it, and another is that we have to provide two off-road parking spaces and a turning space BEFORE we can occupy the house.  I was surprised by this second one as the absence of the driveway does not prevent us from occupying the house now, and so personally I'm not sure it is legal.  However, as things stand, we need to get on with getting the plan produced and approved.  Hence, this week, I have contacted a landscaper who sent a designer along on Thursday; she will send a plan very soon and hopefully we can avoid any hassle with the Council by just doing what they want.  In any case, I know I need some advice on what to plant and where, as the garden is very prominent and I don't want the passers-by to be upset when we cut down the huge cypress, the ash and the laurel.  The council Tree Officer thought that none of the trees had any particular "amenity value", either singly or as a group (which I was very pleased with!).

This week I have fought a battle against some crows, who were intent on building a nest in one of my chimneys, as evidenced by the twigs that kept falling into the lounge fireplace.  Despite the lovely weather this week I have lit a roaring fire on three days, sometimes with freshly cut yew producing some lovely smoke.  However, I have to report that I think I have lost as, today, there were no twigs in the fireplace but the birds can still be seen putting them in the top!  Now I shall have to wait until the little blighters have produced their family before I can clear the nest and put something over the chimney pot to KEEP THEM OUT!

There seemed to be some possible progress in The Mystery of the Free Step Ladder (see entry in March).  In church on Wednesday one of the churchwardens asked for my help in a task but said that the church stepladder (aluminium, very light) had gone missing recently.  I said that I had a couple of stepladders in my house and could fetch one in a couple of minutes, so I brought the "new" one (aluminium, very light) across for her.  We were now pretty convinced that it was indeed the missing one, but then someone found the Church's ladder in the church hall, so we still have no idea as to where the mystery ladder came from. 

Other highlights this week included successfully doing a trial fit of a bath measuring 150 cm long in a space 148 cm long (right - note recesses in the plaster on the walls); I have put two coats of satin black on the new front door but am still unhappy with the finish; and I have bought from Adam the joiner 20 metres of specially moulded skirting board which is now being installed in the lounge (left).  One other task was to repair some of the many damaged floorboards; I asked a local pine shop if they could produce two specially sized small boards of less than half a square metre, and thought that a trained man with the right machines would do it in less than 15 minutes.  However, I was astounded by the price - £60! - so I turned them down and, with some small difficulty, did them myself (lower right; ignore the gap to the lower board which is yet to be replaced).

Finally, we often have visits by interested parties, or friends of one of the contractors, or even their wives and children just passing!  On Friday it was a friend of Phil's who was wearing a useful looking leather belt/holster, so I asked him what his trade was.  "Vision Technician" he replied, without hesitation.  Seeing my slightly bemused look, Phil clarified things for me: "He's a window cleaner!"

A week without plastering

This has been quite a varied week.  Firstly, I spent a long time getting rid of over 200 ten litre plastic tubs, which were the containers for the lime mortar and plaster.  These have gone back to Mike Wye in Devon together with six pallets and about 130 lids (see photo left).  It's good that these items will get re-used, but getting them sufficiently clean was really quite tedious.  I even got a small refund and a thank-you for doing such a good job on the tubs, but I'm not looking forward to doing the rest in a few weeks time.

I forgot to mention the experience of the postman recently.  Whilst Adam the joiner was fitting the new front door, which was catching on the floor; the only way that he could open the door when he was inside was to lift gently on the letter hole and pull.  On one occasion, by coincidence, when the postman was actually about two milliseconds from putting a letter through the hole, a hand appeared on cue as if to take the letter...!  Shades of the Addams Family?

A really "fun" job today was re-instating the soil pipe to match the new position of the toilet in the bathroom.  I had previously removed the old pipe through the wall, although this necessitated wrecking the existing branch piece (see photo right) in order to get the wall pipe out.  Chris and Shane had then removed the old branch, plus the entire upper section of the soil pipe (complete, in one piece!).  Since the 100-year old joints in the cast iron pipes were done with caulking and lead, this was not an easy job, but they achieved it and saved me having to buy four sections of new pipe at over £77 each.  Then, this week I went in person to collect the new branch and right angle bend (cast iron, of course); this both saved a rather high delivery charge and enabled me to return some surplus bits (from the roof gutters) for credit.  Whilst I was doing this, the plumber's mate was drilling a new 110mm hole through the Cotswold stone wall; to my surprise, this was successful - he must have a really good drill bit.  Finally on Saturday, Chris and Shane fitted all the new pieces and re-fitted the old upper section which I had re-painted on Thursday.  I just need to fill the hole in the wall, and paint the untouched lower portion to match.  Most satisfying to see a job almost finished, although I must confess that the photo (left) shows a slight kink that I didn't notice before!  Can you spot the old hole in the wall?

Otherwise, this week has seen me doing an array of minor jobs such as fixing the tiles at the door from the hall to the lounge, fitting the boards for the bathroom floor (photo right; I said it was a small bathroom), re-fitting and repairing various floorboards after the electrician's tender ministrations (see "Kurt the Destroyer" last December), removing more loose and damp plaster (the last?) and putting two coats of undercoat on the new front door (photo, left).  The new front door and frame look great, which is more than can be said for the surrounding render and the loose electric cable.

Progress on plastering has been zero as both were off sick all week...  I actually felt quite lonely as it was the first week that I have had in the house without contractors being present for at least four days of the week.

Finally, the week ended on a good note as I found, on the council website, that we have been granted planing permission and Listed Building consent for our proposed driveway, subject to the usual plethora of conditions.

A floor to dance on, and A Mystery

This week's success was finding and installing some reclaimed flooring in the lounge.  I started the lounge floor job last November, and did repairs to the joist ends in one half of the room; basically the joists were rotten wherever they were close to a wall!  This let me keep the other half as a datum as I had no intention of doing a complete new floor from scratch.  However, when refitting the usable boards to the first half, I found that the boards were all different widths, which made the job immensely more difficult as I couldn't just use any board in any position, but had to find serviceable matching pairs to cross the room.  My next problem was that I went to the wrong reclamation company who didn't deliver the 24mm thick floorboards which they promised.  I then found that I was driven by the various contractors who needed me to do preparation of some sort to keep everything going (OK, I could have paid for someone else to take off the old plaster...) and the floor took a back seat for a long while.  Two weeks ago I found a gap in my own schedule and did enough of the floor to let me start on the other half of the room - hence the joist story earlier this month when I removed the remaining floorboards.

On Wednesday this week I re-visited another reclamation yard which had no floorboards when I had visited before.  This time I was lucky as they had a huge pile of reclaimed pile, 20mm thick and 200mm wide.  I reasoned that I could plane down the edge of the last 24mm board and so this thickness would be OK.  Then I persuaded the lad to go through the pile with me so that I could choose over 100 feet of matching boards of suitable lengths, and they even delivered for free that same afternoon! 

So, Thursday's task was to finish off the joists in the front half of the room where it had all been so damp.  I got quite bored cutting nine notches in lengths of new 4x2 to retain the same level when replacing the slightly different sized older joists.  This worked surprisingly well - I won't bore you with my calculation and cut marking technique but it worked!  The photo (right) shows the joists in the bay window; note that I have not changed the position of the joists at all - the ends you can see are original, apart from the two where I have added an end-piece after sawing off the very end in order to retain as much as possible of the original wood.

Then I started to fit the new (reclaimed) boards and the floor was virtually finished by Friday; it would have been completely finished but I ran out of screws.  I also had a single uncorrectable mistake, when my very last saw cut was 10cm short...  Fortunately Jane was going past the reclamation yard later, so she picked up another 2 metre length for me.  The photo (left) shows the almost finished floor in the same bay window - it's almost fit to dance on (if I could).

Other Progress

Plastering has continued; progress is slower than I had anticipated.  Doing the two skims over three major items takes two days, so in four days this week, Phil did three ceilings and three walls (plus a few other odd bits).  We hope to have finished the upstairs completely by the end of next week, and another week should see downstairs done apart from the walls with the two chimneys and the kitchen window wall.  We are progressing and the end is in sight, but it has been a long haul.

We have also just received Listed Building Consent for the various items already mentioned such as the new fires, the kitchen floor etc.  Hooray! First major hurdle over.

A Mystery

Finally, an unsolved mystery: I have gained a step ladder.  I don't have a photo of it but I'm sure you can use your imagination.  On Wednesday I thought I heard a sound at the back door, but when I checked there was no-one there.  An hour later, going outside, I noticed that there was an aluminium step ladder propped on the wall a few yards past the door.  Phil and Jaye agreed definitely that it was not there earlier, so where it came from is a mystery.  If it was one of my other contractors I cannot understand why they would leave it here now as they are not expected back for weeks.  In any case, anyone who knows me wouldn't just leave it without a word, they'd pop in for a chat, wouldn't they?

Plaster Progress, and Felling a Tree using Lime Mortar

Good progress on plaster has been made this week.  The first of the skim has been applied and the results are fantastic - Jane has "never seen such smooth plaster" (although I had never really noticed her caressing plaster before!).  I've been asked to always include photos, but seriously, it is very difficult to take interesting or even comprehensible photos of grey plaster.  Trust me - it is smooooth.

For the record, we have been putting on a haired scratch coat of 3:1 (aggregate:lime) mortar, followed by a float coat of the same without hair, then a skim of lime plaster (3:2) which is sponged, followed by a thinner skim of Regency plaster (really fine stuff) which is trowelled smooth.  Pre-mixed products take one variable out of the equation, and are available from Mike Wye (www.mikewye.co.uk) who have been very helpful with advice; I thoroughly recommend them.

It was the eighth delivery of a 900kg pallet of lime mortar and plaster which caused me to tackle a job this week which I had been deferring.  There's a holly tree near our front gate which is smothered in ivy; it's a trunk about ten feet high, very top heavy and leaning towards the pavement, about 25 degrees from vertical.  The rope in the picture right shows the true vertical.  I know how to cut a tree down, but this one needed special attention because of the safety aspects of the leaning - I did NOT want it to fall the wrong way!  I have a new 10 mm nylon rope and just needed something to attach it to in the middle of the lawn.  Thinking about this in the night recently (sad, isn't it?) I realised that the answer was a one tonne pallet of lime mortar!

So, when a delivery came at 10am one day this week, it gave time in the day to tackle this vexing question.  A pair of pallets was piled in the middle of the lawn, with my rope securely attached to the centre (so that the wood could not break and let the rope pull free).  The other end of the rope was tied around the top of the tree.  Then the mortar (in 45 ten litre tubs) was unloaded from the roadside by hand as normal and loaded onto the pallets and the tension in the rope was increased by propping another pallet underneath (see photo left).  Then taking a deep breath, it was time to start sawing a slice out of the tree on the lawn side.  I chose to start about a metre up, as that seemed about right (using my Chartered Engineer's judgement), and I was quite surprised how easy it was to cut the ivy/holly.  The "melon slice" was removed, but I thought that I had only cut about a quarter of the holly.  Nevertheless, we thought we'd try to just pull on the rope before I bothered to cut the opposite side of the tree a bit higher up.  Perhaps Jaye (the spread's labourer) is stronger than he looks, because with three rhythmic pulls, there was sudden movement and the whole top came towards us and fell at our feet (photo right).

The photo of the cross-section (left) shows that, in fact, I had cut about half of the holly tree as well as the complete ivy (which was actually a greater cross-sectional area).

The additional good news is that the view of the house from the road is much improved (right), even though neither Jane nor the neighbour noticed when they walked through the gateway!

Vandalism, an accident and flooring

Plastering continued this week, with much of the scratch coat being covered by the float coat, ready for the final skim.  This has been coupled with the start of the first fix plumbing, intermingled with floorboard work.  I've been delayed on doing the lounge floorboards by a reclamation company who are complete rubbish.  They promised me a new front door and some (fairly thick) pine floorboards; the door proved impossible for the manufacturer, and they sold the floorboards to someone else, and then blamed the 16 year old yard lad for this mistake.

We had some vandalism this week.  I arrived early one morning and found an upper main pane of the Venetian sash window (two over two) had been broken (to match the boarded lower one, broken before we bought the house).  There was glass both inside and out, and almost none left in the frame.  It looked like an attempted break-in, but if it was, why choose the front window, and break one of the upper panes?  Surely you go round the back and break one at waist height?  I called the police and, when I was talking to the (very) young constable, a chap came over from across the road to say that he had heard it (at 1.10am that morning) and had seen the miscreant departing on a child's silver scooter in the direction of the town centre.  The PC (scenting an arrest) said that he would check on the town centre CCTV to see if there were any good pictures of the unusual sight.  No news yet, but at least this confirmed that it was simple vandalism rather than attempted burglary, which consoled me slightly.

I forgot to mention my little accident the other week.  We are applying for listed building consent (LBC) for various things, including the replacement of two awful 1950s fireplaces with a woodburning stove and a nice Victorian fireplace respectively.  Unfortunately, I seem to have pre-empted this permission when I had to fit a floorboard under the end of the existing fireplace in the lounge.  As I lifted it slightly, its weight took control and the entire concrete facade fell forward, landing with an almighty crash which left the white concrete moulding in about twelve pieces, and an ugly gap into the chimney above the brown tiles.  Oops.  Hopefully the LBC will be forthcoming in March, which will make me legal!

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...

Urgent repairs, and consents

Those who have never bought a property probably have not experienced the frustration of having to wait while faceless people (i.e. solicitors) follow a process which is fairly commonplace but just takes ages...  They are confident in the knowledge that they will get paid anyway so what's the rush?

Urgent roof repairs needed

In my case I want to get on and get the roof fixed before winter.  Every time it rains I want to get up there and fix the holes but I can't because it isn't mine yet, so I just worry about the damage being caused.  All I can do is plan and try not to worry.  The impending onset of winter was in fact one reason why our offer was found acceptable, because the vendor could see that the property would suffer further if not repaired in some way so either he had to pay out for some work or else sell it quickly.  The worst case for him would have been still to own it during winter and watch it suffer, and then he can only sell it for less than now, or even worse the council serve him with an enforcement notice to repair the listed building. This photo doesn't do justice to the poor quality of the roof, but it really does have three holes in it!

So, I need to find a roofing contractor (see separate entry coming soon)

And an architect...

I also need to tackle the questions about the permissions to do the work and I have realised that the services of an architect might be a good idea; although I could do drawings and complete the forms myself, I would probably introduce delay due to my unfamiliarity with the system.  Also, I feel that a professional approach is more likely to get the council's blessing, and an architect will also be required anyway when we do the extension next year.

Consents required

The permissions required look daunting: apart from the normal planning permission and building regulations, we are in a conservation area and the building is listed.  The issue is that each of these may or may not apply to what you want to do.  Apart from engaging an architect, I think the trick is to get to know people at the council before you actually start work or even before you make an application - they like you more if you speak to them and try to follow the rules!  Locally they are very helpful and have a pragmatic view of things. For instance, before making the offer I spoke to a conservation officer who enlightened me about some things:

• If I repair EXACTLY like for like, I do not need listed building consent or any other consent, but even to remove someone's bodge and restore the building to its original state DOES need consent.  (We have a couple of ridge tiles missing and lead flashing has been used instead and strictly even this replacement will need permission to change.)
• Repair is always their preferred option, rather than complete replacement (especially do not re-point complete walls).
• "A house has to earn its keep" - they are realistic in their outlook on what you want to do, but it helps if your requests are reasonable as well!
• They like to see lime used on old buildings and hate to see cement ribbon pointing, UPVC doors/windows, plastic guttering etc being used on old buildings.
• Hence my proposed stone extension in lime met with immediate agreement as to being a good idea, despite the increase in ground area.
• There is a popular belief which is that only certain parts of a building are actually affected by listing.  This is NOT true - although it may be the case that only certain parts were the original reason for listing, once it is listed then the entire building, inside and out, and its entire plot including boundary walls, is all subject to control.
• If I want to make an access through a low wall, I won't need conservation approval as the wall is so low (I don't know the critical height) but I would need listed building consent as the wall was there when the building was listed.