Anybody out there in Lincolnshire?

[Coz]

I am new to this forum (only just found it) I wondered if there are any of you in Lincolnshire? We are in Little Steeping (Nr Spilsby). We have a Grade II listed cottage which we are hoping to renovate so any tips will be gratefully received. I am trying to find out what paint colours would be used externally (windows and doors) We have been given listed consent to replace the windows as they are horrible 1960 casements and replace them with Yorkshire Sliders but the conservation officer says they must be painted and we have to supply colour samples.

 

[middi]

Welcome.

If you can, one or two pictures would be nice .

As to the window colour scheme, apart from the obvious acceptable white, any colour you like provided it is represented wthin your area and used on similar age buildings. The CO would look at it favourably.

Middi

 

[MatthewC]

Welcome to the forum, Coz.

I'll say it first: can we have some photos of your cottage please?

You'll find lots of good info here (I know I have). I'm sure someone will be able to give a good answer to your question (possibly Biff who makes them for a living).

Matthew
http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/

Edit - damn - Middi beat me to it

 

[MdB]

What colour scheme do you like? That would be my first choice.

 

[JoceAndChris]

You could think of a dark, invisible green perhaps? Called invisible as you don't really notice it all that much, and it makes the glazing bars look very narrow? What colour is the masonry? The modern sagey greens can look very tasteful. I'd say avoid brilliant white.
Anyway, a warm welcome to the forum, there are a number of us from Lincolnshire on here. I'm in South Lincs, on the border with Leicestershire.
We'll be very happy to read of your progress and decisions, do keep posting!

 

[Penners]

We have a Grade II listed cottage which we are hoping to renovate...I am trying to find out what paint colours would be used externally (windows and doors)

Welcome Coz. I imagine you have a fair way to go before you actually get round to painting your windows, so I suggest that you make a practice of keeping your eyes peeled whenever you go out. Look at other properties - particularly any that are similar to yours - and see what colour schemes you like. In the meantime, do post some photos of your house here - I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

There are several forum members in Lincolnshire, among them a skilled window-maker called Biff Vernon. I've seen some of his work, and I was very impressed with it.

http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk/intro.htm

I should add that I have no personal involvement with Biff's business.

 

[Coz]

Thanks everyone - i will try and put some photos on. The windows that are in now have a dark green colour B and Q gloss it looks like. I am thinking of either a lighter sagey sort of green or a warm cream. Hopefully our work will be starting shortly. We have LBC and PP for an extension to the side of the cottage to put back what was a washroom - to become a utility room. We also have permission to replace the windows and put in a wc and basin into the main bedroom with a wall and door. Also we have permission for a run of outbuildings to be built in a barn style from the rear of the garage to be a workshop, bee keeping equipment room, honey preparation room and a wood turning workshop. Cant wait to get started especially with the utility room as it means we can then have the kitchen done and finally have some semblance of normality. The cottage was originally built around 1750 but even though it was listed - some stupid chap tried to knock it down. The council caught him and made him rebuild it . I don't think they could have checked on it much because the bodges we have found definately don't go with the cottage. We want to do it sympathetically.

 

[Penners]

honey preparation room and a wood turning workshop.

Remembering my wife's bee-keeping days, and the fine layer of stickiness that seemed to lie everywhere after she'd been using the honey extractor, may I recommend you to keep the honey room and the wood-turning workshop as far apart as possible?

You've heard of tarring and feathering....? :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

I should add that I have no personal involvement with Biff's business.

Phew, that's a relief. But yes, I do live not too far off at North Somercotes and windows seems to be the day-job.

Is it a mud and stud building?

It's pretty unlikely that any windows on these cottages in 1750 had any paint at all - that was for the rich folk. Early windows would have been of oak and did not need painting anyway.

Pine windows were first painted with white paint - lead carbonate in linseed oil. Rich colours were introduced in the early 19th century with the advent of relatively cheap chemical dyes that replaced the much more expensive mineral pigments. Dark colours were popular for a century and more. White paint became dominant again after World War II when titanium dioxide pigments became widely available. They had the advantage of not yellowing in polluted air that was the scourge of lead paints. And not poisonous.

It would be interesting to hear what your conservation officer's views on preferred paint colour are. (Is it Rob?) The only paint worth using is a real linseed oil paint. Holkhams do an 'old white' that is a titanium dioxide pigment with a little iron oxide added to soften the brightness of the white. Personally I like the dark green.

 

[Coz]

Thanks Biff - no it is built of brick with a red clay pantile roof. Looking at photos from 1914 or so the front had wood cladding but we think that may have been some sort of lean-to affair. Yes it is Rob - he is the one who is stipulating painted windows. We asked to have oak but he said they have to be painted.

 

[Penners]

I should add that I have no personal involvement with Biff's business.

Phew, that's a relief.

I call that jumping to conclusions.

I might be just the kind of thrusting, canny, streetwise, cuff-shooting marketing executive that your business needs.

 

[biffvernon]

Not sure that we do thrusting in Lincolnshire, otherwise I'd say you're hired.

Brick and pantiles is, of course, what many mud and studs appear to be. The brick skin was added in the nineteenth century. But maybe your's is all brick.

Painting the outside may be called for to blend in with the neighbours. What type of wood underneath the paint is of course not visible.

Here's the architypal Lincolnshire mud and stud - no brick skin or pantiles - and this happens to be in the same village.

 

[Coz]

Yes I know - we've been and had a look around it. It is quite similar to ours inside. Ours is red brick though and from the earliest pictures we can find it looks as if it was always brick. Mind you - they didnt have cameras in the 1750's. Our architect says that if the council were coming round now it wouldn't be listed as it has been so messed about with in the past but we like it!!

 

[Coz]

PS Biff - we are still hoping to have oak windows its just that they will be painted on the outside. So - we may well be asking for some quotes from you please.

 

[Penners]

we are still hoping to have oak windows

Good decision - they should last you a mere 100 years or so.

 

[Feltwell]

I'd sincerely hope for a bit longer than that - my Victorian softwood ones are still going strong with only relatively minor attention at 110 years.

The 1980's softwood ones are completely sh@gged though

 

[biffvernon]

The oak windows should last much longer but Little Steeping is on the fen so will be washed away by the rising sea level.
:wink:

 

[Penners]

But surely the windows will float to the surface.

 

[Coz]

Don't think i like your tone Biff!!

 

[Penners]

You'll soon discover, Coz, that Biff occasionally dons his Merchant Of Doom hat. I suspect it's something to do with his living only inches above sea level, and anticipating that, when climate change encourages the North Sea to venture inland, he's likely to be first on to the raft.