Hi everyone,
I'm new to posting but joined a while back and have been a long-time lurker at this veritable font of useful information
DH and I are not new to old houses as we've previously restored several properties to their former glory, including a large detached late Victorian villa (previously unsympathetically divided into flats, first in the 1920s - two flats - then in the 1960s into four, which was how we bought it) and a rather unusual Tudor house that had been completely dismantled in the 1930s and transported around fifty miles where it was (relatively) sensitively rebuilt with additions in the Arts & Crafts style by a master builder training his sons in the trade :wink: Neither of these properties were listed, although as we are firm believers in 'doing right' by the buildings we choose to inhabit, this wouldn't have mattered a jot anyway! We absolutely adore the old and have a firm dislike for the new and uber-modern - although this does have a place, of course......usually on Grand Designs, lol!
Our current house (purchased in 2011|) is a thatched, three-storey Georgian village house built of local stone (ashlar blocks to the front elevation, rubble stone to the rear) on the side of a hill in Wiltshire. Unlike our previous three houses it is attached, but it is also not listed. It was purchased as a *project* and was considered un-mortgageable - fortunate as we didn't require one - although the previous owners had re-thatched (great!) and put in new oil-fired heating (not so great, as they'd instructed the heating engineers to run the pipework around the outside of anything that stood in their way - including some old kitchen units :shock: ). They had also begun the laborious process of stripping back all internal lime plastered walls to the original stone, with the intention of leaving them bare in an undisguised attempt to recreate a *Disney* interpretation of a cottage - something we feel was totally out of character with the relatively grand facade and Georgian proportions of the rooms!
Our intention was/is to reinstate Georgian features where possible/practical, whilst retaining the cosy feel to some of the smaller rooms - for example in the snug we have retained the vast inglenook fireplace (uncovered and *rebuilt* by the PO complete with fake bread ovens and fake stone (cement - yuck!) supports) but added a reclaimed fire surround of appropriate age/style and hung wallpaper, having first re-plastered (in lime).
Not long after our purchase we happened to be accosted outside by a former inhabitant of the house who had been a child there during WW2. He was an amazing source of info, describing, for example the Georgian panelling in some of the rooms - unfortunately now lost, no doubt stripped out by the PO - and the fact that pigs were once kept by the stream that runs through the large-ish (1/4 acre) garden.
As a result of this encounter we attempted to obtain any pics the PO may have of the property whilst under their ownership (20 years) - they still live locally so we occasionally see them - but apparently none exist
In any case we have now been here two years and have been living on a building site (something we're very used to!) for most of that time. We always intended it to be a five year project as we are very *hands on* (both coming from design backgrounds - DH interiors and myself fashion) and tackle much of the work - except electrics and the more complex plumbing - ourselves. We have rebuilt a dilapidated (literally collapsing) attached outbuilding into a gorgeous new kitchen and have had the place completely rewired.
However, now to our *problem* - when we purchased there was a noticeable smell of damp, particularly in the dining room-to-be which is attached to a small cottage next door - the stone walls are around 1.5 - 2 ft thick - but being built on a hill, the floor level is some two feet higher on the neighbouring side. Not only that, but this neighbouring house is empty and has been for the two years we've been in residence - apparently the owner is old, lives elsewhere and has lost interest in maintaing the cottage which was previously let out.
The floor in our dining room-to-be was concreted over (grrrrr!) by the PO and we don't know what lies beneath - other rooms have a mix of quarry tiles and more recent replacement stone flags - but poking a torch into a small hole leads us to believe there are no nice surprises (original flags for example) below. Indeed, I believe the reception rooms downstairs originally had floorboards/suspended floors. We could dig out and replace with limecrete, but our intention was to fit oak flooring throughout the snug and dining room, continuing this into the 1980s extension (built as an annexe by another owner) and which we intend to be our summer sitting room as it has French doors out onto a large terraced area. Furthermore, as the damp is no doubt a result of the difference in ground levels between the two properties, due to the house's position on a hill, would this make a huge amount of difference? We intend to restore panelling to the walls of this room btw.......
I should add we didn't bother with a survey when we bought - we rarely do - perhaps this is more than a little blase, but we feel that with old houses there are going to be acres of issues and surveyors these days not only want to cover their own backs, but also seem determined to discourage you from buying these neglected treasures. As we weren't governed by the need to borrow we threw caution to the wind and trusted our instincts that this was a good house - beneath the PO's attempts to make it something it quite obviously wasn't - and in need of someone to rescue it :wink:
Would love to add some pics, but for now I'll leave it at that - just hoping someone can advise our best method to tackle this damp problem.......
Thanks all!
Mims x
I'm new to posting but joined a while back and have been a long-time lurker at this veritable font of useful information
DH and I are not new to old houses as we've previously restored several properties to their former glory, including a large detached late Victorian villa (previously unsympathetically divided into flats, first in the 1920s - two flats - then in the 1960s into four, which was how we bought it) and a rather unusual Tudor house that had been completely dismantled in the 1930s and transported around fifty miles where it was (relatively) sensitively rebuilt with additions in the Arts & Crafts style by a master builder training his sons in the trade :wink: Neither of these properties were listed, although as we are firm believers in 'doing right' by the buildings we choose to inhabit, this wouldn't have mattered a jot anyway! We absolutely adore the old and have a firm dislike for the new and uber-modern - although this does have a place, of course......usually on Grand Designs, lol!
Our current house (purchased in 2011|) is a thatched, three-storey Georgian village house built of local stone (ashlar blocks to the front elevation, rubble stone to the rear) on the side of a hill in Wiltshire. Unlike our previous three houses it is attached, but it is also not listed. It was purchased as a *project* and was considered un-mortgageable - fortunate as we didn't require one - although the previous owners had re-thatched (great!) and put in new oil-fired heating (not so great, as they'd instructed the heating engineers to run the pipework around the outside of anything that stood in their way - including some old kitchen units :shock: ). They had also begun the laborious process of stripping back all internal lime plastered walls to the original stone, with the intention of leaving them bare in an undisguised attempt to recreate a *Disney* interpretation of a cottage - something we feel was totally out of character with the relatively grand facade and Georgian proportions of the rooms!
Our intention was/is to reinstate Georgian features where possible/practical, whilst retaining the cosy feel to some of the smaller rooms - for example in the snug we have retained the vast inglenook fireplace (uncovered and *rebuilt* by the PO complete with fake bread ovens and fake stone (cement - yuck!) supports) but added a reclaimed fire surround of appropriate age/style and hung wallpaper, having first re-plastered (in lime).
Not long after our purchase we happened to be accosted outside by a former inhabitant of the house who had been a child there during WW2. He was an amazing source of info, describing, for example the Georgian panelling in some of the rooms - unfortunately now lost, no doubt stripped out by the PO - and the fact that pigs were once kept by the stream that runs through the large-ish (1/4 acre) garden.
As a result of this encounter we attempted to obtain any pics the PO may have of the property whilst under their ownership (20 years) - they still live locally so we occasionally see them - but apparently none exist
In any case we have now been here two years and have been living on a building site (something we're very used to!) for most of that time. We always intended it to be a five year project as we are very *hands on* (both coming from design backgrounds - DH interiors and myself fashion) and tackle much of the work - except electrics and the more complex plumbing - ourselves. We have rebuilt a dilapidated (literally collapsing) attached outbuilding into a gorgeous new kitchen and have had the place completely rewired.
However, now to our *problem* - when we purchased there was a noticeable smell of damp, particularly in the dining room-to-be which is attached to a small cottage next door - the stone walls are around 1.5 - 2 ft thick - but being built on a hill, the floor level is some two feet higher on the neighbouring side. Not only that, but this neighbouring house is empty and has been for the two years we've been in residence - apparently the owner is old, lives elsewhere and has lost interest in maintaing the cottage which was previously let out.
The floor in our dining room-to-be was concreted over (grrrrr!) by the PO and we don't know what lies beneath - other rooms have a mix of quarry tiles and more recent replacement stone flags - but poking a torch into a small hole leads us to believe there are no nice surprises (original flags for example) below. Indeed, I believe the reception rooms downstairs originally had floorboards/suspended floors. We could dig out and replace with limecrete, but our intention was to fit oak flooring throughout the snug and dining room, continuing this into the 1980s extension (built as an annexe by another owner) and which we intend to be our summer sitting room as it has French doors out onto a large terraced area. Furthermore, as the damp is no doubt a result of the difference in ground levels between the two properties, due to the house's position on a hill, would this make a huge amount of difference? We intend to restore panelling to the walls of this room btw.......
I should add we didn't bother with a survey when we bought - we rarely do - perhaps this is more than a little blase, but we feel that with old houses there are going to be acres of issues and surveyors these days not only want to cover their own backs, but also seem determined to discourage you from buying these neglected treasures. As we weren't governed by the need to borrow we threw caution to the wind and trusted our instincts that this was a good house - beneath the PO's attempts to make it something it quite obviously wasn't - and in need of someone to rescue it :wink:
Would love to add some pics, but for now I'll leave it at that - just hoping someone can advise our best method to tackle this damp problem.......
Thanks all!
Mims x
