A to Z of Period Properties

[DaveBrigg]

BORING INSECTS
Despite their misleading name, these insects can cause a lot of excitement. The main culprits include the death watch beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum), furniture beetle (Anobium punctatum), and in southern areas the house longhorn beetle (Hylotrupes bajulus). Females lay eggs in crevices or old holes in the sapwood, and the damage is done by the larvae munching on your timbers. Since they can't survive without a drink every now and again, the best cure for 'woodworm' is to keep humidity below 15%. SPAB do a handy guide here http://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-28-woodboring-insects/ If temperatures continue to rise, termite attacks are predicted to become more frequent in this country too.

Below, a Deathwatch beetle having a day out on the beech.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Below, a Deathwatch beetle having a day out on the beech.

Crikey - they're much bigger than I thought. :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

BARBICAN: from the medieval Latin "barbecana", meaning the outer fortification of a city or a castle, or, the turretty bit on your house. (thanks Penners for this word, which until you said it I thought just meant a place in London to go and watch boys in tights and girls on cellos!)

 

[JoceAndChris]

BODGE, BOTCH: A ruination, a muck-up, a mess. Past bodges are frequently the daily eyesore of a period property owner as you sit over your breakfast wondering how the previous owners could have passed such shoddy work. If your building is listed, you may have to endure some of these bodges forever, but, conversely, some bodges can be quite charming and add character.

Here's a typical bodged door handle in my house, how could they do that to a nice old cottage door?

 

[Nigel Watts]

BADGER SOFTENER: An expensive but essential piece of kit for doing fake wood effects which looks like a cross between a large paintbrush and a shaving brush. Waft it deftly over one's crude graining and it melts beautifully into a soft focus.

 

[JoceAndChris]

So is there any difference between a flat badger and a badger softener?

 

[Nigel Watts]

This is a badger softener. It will set you back about 50 quid, but the effect it can produce makes it worth it. It's essential for mahogany, perhaps less so for oak:

I have not come across flat badgers in woodgraining but I understand they can be used for softening small areas:

 

[worms]

Somehow when you mentioned flat badger I had this in mind...

 

[JoceAndChris]

They aren't nice though. They can smash up a henhouse, they're so strong.

Thanks for the info about those brushes Nigel- always wondered!

 

[DaveBrigg]

BETJEMAN, JOHN
Campaigner for the preservation of Britain's architectural heritage, particularly churches. He was a committee member of SPAB, which presents an annual award in his name for the highest standard of craftmanship shown in the repair of a church or chapel. (extensions and domestic conversions need not apply)

Some of his thoughts...
“The Church's Restoration
In eighteen-eighty-three
Has left for contemplation
Not what there used to be.”

"People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.”

“Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough.
It isn't fit for humans now.”

 

[DaveBrigg]

BURNT SAND MASTIC
Used for filling and sealing small gaps around window and door frames. Can be bought as a kit, comprising sand, oil and a drying agent, or made at home using dry silver sand and linseed oil. The homemade version just takes a little longer to dry. There does not seem to be a consensus over whether it can be overpainted or not.

 

[DaveBrigg]

BRICKS
Worthy of several pages of info. Knowledge of bricks can help you date your house, since they are one of the more permanant features on view. The use of clay bricks developed in Eastern England, and by Tudor times (1485 - 1603) their use was widespread. Tudor bricks were usually made very close to the building site, and so vary in colour, strength and size. They are typically 2" x 5" x 9", and soft in comparison with modern equivalents. The irregular sizes resulted in a need for wider mortar joins to even out irregularities.
Georgian brickmaking produced more regular sizes and shapes, so mortar joints could be narrowed. The bricks were produced in a wider range of colours, including lighter shades to mimic stone.
In Victorian times brickmaking was industrialised, and the railways allowed regular sizes and shades to be distributed across the country.

Early bricks are a lot softer than the modern equivalents, and so need a lime mortar. If repointed with cement, they are likely to suffer damage.

Bricks are also very collectable, and many period properties will have a garden full of specimens.
And now for 'C'
Who wants to define a conservation officer?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

A Conservation Officer is an immovable force.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

A Conservation Officer is an immovable force.

Nonsense! I'm frequently moved (especially by the plight of poor, defenceless old houses with unsuitable owners :? )

 

[DaveBrigg]

The change of letter may be a good opportunity to explain the difference between BUILDING CONTROL and CONSERVATION OFFICERS. These people work for the same council, sometimes in the same building, but have contrasting remits. Both have an interest in your property not falling down, but while Building control want you to follow the latest building regulations, the CO is working from the 1742 version.
For matters of safety and structural integrity, building Control seem to have the upper hand. Thus, while an authentic period property extension would probably be single skinned and have no foundations, BC are unlikely to let this pass without comment, and they are likely to frown upon you using a woodworm infested tree trunk to hold up the upper floors, even if this matches the rest of the beams and lintels.
When it comes to replacing windows, the single glazing card may trump the requirement to maximise insulation, depending on how you negotiate. Or if you tell BC in the first place.

 

[DaveBrigg]

COAL - nasty, dirty stuff, making a major contribution to global warming through emissions of CO2.

 

[DaveBrigg]

COAL - traditional fuel much loved by period property owners, providing warmth and cosiness in cold winter months.

 

[DaveBrigg]

CELLAR - The decline in need for a traditional cellar can be directly linked to the spread of supermarkets - with a Tesco's round the corner, there is no longer a need to grow your own mushrooms. For those wanting to live in a storage area for cold carcasses and coal, cellars can be converted. However, if you want to spend your evenings in a cement lined box underground, a derelict nuclear bunker may be an easier investment.

 

[DaveBrigg]

CAN - anyone else add their ideas? Or has this thread run its course and now needs a one way ticket to Switzerland?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

CORNICE - the uppermost part of a classical ENTABLATURE. When choosing a cornice for a period room, it is important that the missing FRIEZE and ARCHITRAVE should be allowed for in the overall height of the room, lest the result seem pretentious. A lavish modillioned CORINTHIAN or COMPOSITE cornice would look out of place, to eighteenth century eyes, in a downstairs loo or servant's bedroom.