Advice on gravel needed

[Moo]

Gosh - I wasn't thinking of the whole lot! Just a small selection, to give us a flavour of the house as it is now.

Can't we just all get on?

Oh, yes please!

 

[Tom]

OK. This is the front

This is the back. I am NOT responsible for the sixties extension.

This is the kitchen

This is part of the lounge

This is part of the Oak floor upstairs

As I haven't uploaded many pictures since 2007 (apart from those I've wanted to used in posts here) that's all I can quickly lay my hands on. I'm happy to upload some more later, if you like.

 

[MatthewC]

DWB - Thanks for the pictures! After all the fuss, it wasn't at all what I was expecting - apart from the block extension and the roof (neither your work!), it seems to have lots of lovely features, especially inside where I envy your fireplace in particular. It is also work in progress obviously, so I don't see how anyone can really complain in any case. Few (any?) of us on here have the money to do everything we would like to do (to a house or anything else) and so aesthetic jobs like the roof clearly have to wait until they reach the top of the priority list.

If you want to bring your path breaking skills to Oxfordshire somewhen in the next nine months, you'd be very welcome. Along the side of the place I am buying, there is a concrete path whose level is about ten inches higher than it should be, given the level of the original floor inside, and it'll need breaking up completely. What was the tool you were using - can it be hired and would it do more than 4 inches of concrete?

Matthew

 

[philpjuk100]

The pics do not do the house justice! the scale is not evident,it is a huge undertaking,I am in awe of this property and the work done so far.phil.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

It's a lovely day out there. Please let's not do this all again?

Can I join your gang, FW?

Me too.

xx

Of course - it is the gang which wants everyone to get on! We'll call it the anti-gang Gang !

8)

Jaqy - an impressive scale of works, as ever. Like you, I really do hate those windows and that roof though! :evil: The windows appear to have paper-tape on the inside. Are you sure they've not been put in by you?

Also - the blurred photo of the fireplace - what is that small feature towards the top left of the picture in the stonework?

 

[Flyfisher]

Any chance of a scan or photo of the 1706 drawing Jaqi ? It would be interesting to see what the roof and windows originally looked like.

 

[biffvernon]

I don't remember attacking you personally, Biff. If I did, I'll apologise. I thought I was disagreeing with your 'green' policies.

Ok, I'll treat you to a bar of chocolate if you become an eco-warier.

The only thing wrong with your roof is that it's covered with solar panels.

(Ducks.)

 

[skier-hughes]

The only thing wrong with your roof is that it's covered with solar panels.

(Ducks.)

What's wrong with that?

 

[Tom]

@ Matthew.....Thank you for your kind comments about my house. I'd love to help with your concrete but you're a little too far away :wink: I used my Makita breaker (the best Christmas present I've ever had!!) to do Joce's concrete and our own, of course. They can be hired and are very easy to use. Mine struggled a bit at Joce's because the steels are blunt as they possible could be (my fault...I should have had them sharpened after the builder borrowed it!) but normally it would eat through 4" of concrete. The trick is to work about 4-5" from an edge, working along. You'll get a feel for it very quickly, when you'll know when the concrete is about to break (you'll feel the resistance change and the noise will change, too). At this point, keep the power on and pull the breaker back towards you a little. This breaks the piece off and pushes it forward out of the way. If it's particularly tough, you can try and dig out underneath the concrete before you break it. This makes it much easier because the resistance is less. Sorry, that's the best way i can explain it.

@ Phil.....I am very humbled by your comments. Thank you.

@ FamilyWiggs.....I don't deny putting the windows in.

The windows are hideous, I have to agree, and will be replaced with Oak ones when we can get around to it.

When we bought the house it had single glazed windows with secondary glazing, which were very loose and threatened to fall out of the wall whenever they were opened. Because we intended living in the house, we had the plastic windows put in almost straight away. There are two windows which were replaced, because of a change in size, about 3 or 4 years ago and they are one in the kitchen and one in the living room. These are the ones with the plastic film on the frames. We put plastic in because they were cheap and quick. They'll all be replaced eventually.

The small feature in the blurred picture is a stone crest. There were originally two in the front door surround. The one you see was still there when we bought the house, although the other half of the surround had been hacked away. Fortunately, the second one had been removed first but, unfortunately, had been incorporated into a hideous sixties stone fireplace!! We carefully removed it and had both put in the wall in the living room for safe keeping. They are the crests of the two families who married together and had the house built. When we had the door surround redone, we had the stone mason carve replicas of the crests into the new stone. So, it went from this.....

....to this.....

Cost for propping up the front wall (rubble infill, so it had to be needled through with RSJs), removing existing stonework including hood (carefully, as it was to be put back), quarrying new stone, carving new stone, putting in new stone.....£15,000.....not including an actual door :roll: I hope you like it.

@ FlyFisher.....The drawing I have is only a copy. I'd happily scan it in but it's in storage at the moment. We live in a caravan and everything that's not of immediate use is in storage. The oil paintings are not owned by me, unfortunately. However, I may be able to get a photo of them...but I'm not promising, so don't hold me to it!!

 

[Tom]

I don't remember attacking you personally, Biff. If I did, I'll apologise. I thought I was disagreeing with your 'green' policies.

Ok, I'll treat you to a bar of chocolate if you become an eco-warier.

Ooooo, you're gonna have to be way more persuasive than that, I'm afraid :lol:

The only thing wrong with your roof is that it's covered with solar panels.

(Ducks.)

Did you miss a word out? I think my roof's heavy enough with all those concrete tiles,without solar panels as well :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

Don't worry about the drawings if they're not to hand, I'm sure you have plenty of other things to be getting on with.

And that's a seriously impressive entrance!

 

[Tom]

Thank you, FF I must admit to being rather proud of it. On the first picture, you can see where they'd hacked all the roll off the right hand side, as well as removing the top. The left side was bricked up completely and there was just a single door in there. I'll try to find a picture of how it was....if I can.

 

[biffvernon]

The only thing wrong with your roof is that it's not (edit) covered with solar panels.

(Ducks.)

I think my roof's heavy enough with all those concrete tiles, without solar panels as well

That's unlikely to be a sound argument.

 

[Tom]

I think my roof's heavy enough with all those concrete tiles, without solar panels as well

That's unlikely to be a sound argument.

Fair enough. I don't like how they look, either. However, and this might please you, we are seriously considering a wind turbine. We have enough land to site one well away from the house (without annoying other people) and the exposed site means that we should be able to generate more than we need. It's just such a shame that the cost of these is so massive (about £17,000), otherwise I'd have one sited tomorrow.

 

[biffvernon]

No, I would not be pleased to buy a £17000 wind turbine. ( A Proven 6kW perhaps?). There's a power law thing with wind turbines - double the size and you get four times the energy. So I'd regard the Gaia costing around £50000 is a sensible entry level unless you are off-grid, when the economics are very different. At the moment the Feed in Tariff makes solar pv much better for household economics than small wind power. Of course in energy terms that's not so true but the market place has been distorted by the FIT.

 

[Tom]

Bif, I can't remember the model we were vaguely looking at but it was through Segen. It was a couple of years ago now and was nowhere near the serious stage because of the cost. But £50,000??? :shock: That's outrageous! Why would any 'normal' household buy one of those?

 

[biffvernon]

They wouldn't. Wind turbines are not for most normal households. Better to buy your electricity from Ecotricity.

 

[Tom]

Well, quite; at that price I'd have to win the lottery :lol:

Do you know much about hydro power? I also half thought about harnessing the power from the river but I don't know how feasible that would be. Even if it just powered the outside lighting, stables and electric fencing. Or is that cost-prohibitive, too :roll:

 

[biffvernon]

River? I know a little. It's almost certainly a non-starter for several reasons, but there are circumstances where it is viable. Tell me more about your river.

Now, back to the gravel. Somebody has asked me what I think about this: http://preview18.838888.co.uk/Clients/ltp/

My response is probably unprintable but I would like to hear if anybody knows anything about this product. I'd be particularly interested in it's water permeability (a good thing and often required by the local authority these days) and how long it lasts and what the materials go into it.

 

[skier-hughes]

Is that the right link Biff?