Burley Stoves and moderate despair!

[Mickey]

Hi,
Does anyone have one and what do you think? We have just bought a very unloved old school 1846 it has a very large living room (what would have been the classroom) 33 feet by 19 and want a stove that will keep us as warm as possible! Any views/advice very gratefully received. We are in Cornwall and it's freezing!

We are awaiting our conservation officer to get in touch following our submission of pre application form and fee to redo our roof, the property needs a new roof since it was converted in the early 80's and then listed, this has resulted in the most awful and unsympathetic treatment including the most ugly conservatory I've ever seen. Roof was redone at time of conversion by simply refelting over then cross laying some more battens on the top of the original ones, hence not enough upstand to allow for lead flashings to parapits and none of the chimneys were flashed either, whole strips of lead were used for valley's and gutters instead of being done properly in sections and are now split and leaking and the only thing keeping us dry at the moment is the felt and we are looking at 30 grand to put it right. Above the porch they have slapped on a sheet of polycarbon instead of a proper roof light it's all such a bodge and so sad for the building. All this before starting on the chocolate and mustard bathrooms which the previous owners (used it as their holiday home) did not seem to think sealant an important component and there is rot everywhere i am very scared thinking about how much water has been gushing down there and what things are like under the floor! Sorry but I do feel slightly better for sharing my woes. I know others have much bigger projects but it all seems a bit overwhelming at the moment. I won't even go into the wee (and I dont mean small Scottish) carpets we ripped out of the bathrooms....dirty people!

Mickey

 

[vicky whitworth]

Oh Mickey, don't despair. I feel for you. It's grim when you feel up to your ears in it all. But look on the bright side. This is your one and only opportunity to trying wee-ing on a carpet to see what others get such a thrill from! Go on - give it a go. You know you want to. When we were in a building nightmare (we had rush matting everywhere which harboured a range of small creatures) I tried to comfort myself by thinking of all the domestic work I didn't need to bother to do. No need to clean, scrub, polish at a time like that.

Can't comment on your roofing difficulties although others I'm sure will be along to do so. We have Franco Belge (not spelt that right) woodburners which come in a variety of sizes. Ours chucks out the heat and we have always been pleased with them. We like the plain glass front door as you can see the fire - when I clean the glass.

Happy Solstice. Vicky

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Take heart Mickey, with some thought it will all come out well in the end, many of us had worse or similar to deal with and are still here to tell the tale.

As you know, we all love pictures------- :wink:

Good Luck!

 

[MatthewC]

Hi Mickey. I know that feeling: "What HAVE we done? Can we really make this habitable?" etc.

You're on the right track, sorting out the roof as a matter of urgency. Then work down and it should all dry out. Look at my blog (the blue circle on the right) and you'll see my place was pretty bad when we bought it - but it's been worth it! In fact my place was built as a school in the 1830s (it is believed) but was then converted to a pair of semis before the 1881 Ordnance Survey map was done.

Is your roof slate (seems probable being in Cornwall)? Your quote for the roof is a bit more than mine, but not a lot - I guess that your roof is bigger as I only have half of this one. If you are going for a woodburner, you'll need probably a flue fitted and so it makes sense to have this done whle you have scaffolding up for the roof.

And the best of luck with your Conservation Officer...

Matthew

 

[angrybird]

Hi Mickey im into the forth month of renovation and I still have my hair (just), nails, what nails ,tears, tantrums and the swear box is full! But I do have an addiction! its PPUK. I have done things I have never thought possible , all because of the tips and advice ive either read or been given on here I am very protective over my lime stone walls in the house and in the garden all because of the confidence i've been given by the lovely people on here.
My house is quite large so I have a woodburner in the lounge and rads run off a wood burning Rayburn sited in the kitchen.

keep asking questions and the advice will follow remember they love their pics on here

good luck and keep your pecker up

Jacqueline x

 

[JoceAndChris]

Piccies piccies piccies please. Especially of the choc n mustard bathrooms.

It sounds lovely, and the feeling of chaos will pass. Roof downwards, elimination of water ingress, new wiring, plaster repair, removal of the things you hate most and then one room at a time. Once you've got 2 or 3 rooms you feel OK about your whole feeling about the project will change.

 

[88v8]

Well, things can only get better. At least you don't have the inherent damp problems that plague most of the posters on this forum. And you can sue your surveyor to recover some of your costs. Perhaps...

I think Clearview stoves take some beating, for economy, controllability, quality. Not cheap, but should last you a lifetime.
http://www.clearviewstoves.com/

Ivor

 

[Zebra]

But I do have an addiction! its PPUK. I have done things I have never thought possible , all because of the tips and advice ive either read or been given on here

Hear hear!

This is your one and only opportunity to trying wee-ing on a carpet to see what others get such a thrill from!

Oh why didn't I think of that when I had the chance!

I bought a second-hand 8kw Villager B stove on ebay for £380, although it cost several hundred pounds more for the flue, liner, register plate, pot hanger and all that. With the size room you're looking at, you need to get the biggest stove you possibly can!

Maybe get a few quotes for the roof, it might not be so bad. You'll find your way through it all, taking one thing at a time. Mine too has turned into so much more than I bargained for, but am learning as I go, and living with the nasty pink bathroom suite, and boarded up windows, and no front door, and all that. It's an adventure!!!

 

[Johnboy]

I also recently bought a second-hand stove from a chap on ebay, it's a Stovax Regency medium. Apparently they do it in 3 sizes. What I liked about it is you can 'run' it with the front open like a real fire. It's also got a gimmicky pot hanger bracket and grill plate. Should be handy if the aga breaks down!

 

[Mickey]

Hi and thanks so much for all the very kind messages Vicky, Jocelyn, Angrybird et al. of hope and support and feeling slightly guilty because plainly a milk chocolate bathroom as illustrated looks a whole lot more luxurious than your tarpaulin shower and impaling tap arrangement Zebra! Had two roof qoutes so we do know we are in the right (financially wrong!) ball park for the roof....out shopping today to cheer ourselves up, curtains are going to cost us about 2.5k...happy days :shock:
Rain, rain and more rain here in Cornwall hopefully the felt will hold up!
Mickey

 

[LadyArowana]

That looks like a really lovely property. Even the brown bathroom isn't too bad, although I can't smell the carpet from here :lol: when you have a scaffold up to do the roof are you going to get a bell for the little tower, would be interesting to have people ring that when they come to call.

 

[vicky whitworth]

It's so pretty. What about keeping the bathroom for now and doing it - the bathroom not the entire place - retro?

I wish you'd bought our village school. It's been empty for three years since they spent £4m of tax payers money on building something that looks like an out of town Tesco's but they call a school because, "the children can't be expected to be educated in a Victorian building' as I was told by the chair of Governors. The quote to repair the school - £300,000. Developer has the old building now but can't get the permission he wants to build in the play ground. Any one want to buy an old school in a conservation village in Devon?
Mickey, it's raining here too. Water wings on

 

[Feltwell]

Nice place Mickey. There's an old school building near Ironbridge, right next to the (listed) tile museum building, that was UPVC'd to death 2 years ago That nice wood effect plastic - lovely........

out shopping today to cheer ourselves up, curtains are going to cost us about 2.5k...happy days :shock:

I'd recommend shoving those to the very bottom of the list if you've got roofing problems! Get the place dry first and sort any structural issues before fancy curtains come into it. Others on here may disagree :wink: I agree that the bathroom isn't nice, but personally if it functions I'd make do for a while. The passage of time makes these things less noticeable (says the man with the wife that reminded him this week that the plasterless section of their kitchen wall has been like that for over 2 years now.........)

 

[Zebra]

I'd recommend shoving those to the very bottom of the list if you've got roofing problems! Get the place dry first and sort any structural issues before fancy curtains come into it. Others on here may disagree :wink: I agree that the bathroom isn't nice, but personally if it functions I'd make do for a while. The passage of time makes these things less noticeable (says the man with the wife that reminded him this week that the plasterless section of their kitchen wall has been like that for over 2 years now.........)

Hear hear. Get the structural stuff sorted first, because you discover things that need doing as you go along, which could mean that the "finished" bits have to be redone. nyway, gorgeous plalce (sorry, had a lgass of wine already), do keep us posted......