Dust rains in our dinner

[CHRIS]

Dragonfly

You say that you are in the process of sourcing suitable timbers to replace the rotten stuff, make sure that it is infact not just around the outer layers of the timber that is powder and that the heart wood may still be strong as steel - try and screw a screw all the way in or hammer a nail in (without knocking the whole house down). If you are going to have to replace I think brand new timber is the correct way to go as it can mess up correct identification of various additions etc. (looks better in my eyes when contrast with the old) and by treatment you mean a nice mix of pure turpentine and bees wax not some nasty spray that will only penatrate .01mm into the wood dont you.

I have some pictures here of some new windows that the local CO loved (and they are DG units)

Or at least for this year!!

After a bit of a delay I have got some pictures of our house online and want to thank my mate Middi for all his help.

http://web.me.com/chrisjamesgill/Mill_Row_/Welcome.html

enjoy

The chalky plaster may be a nasty gypsum based 1980 easyfill type product that has got overloaded with moisture having been applied directly to the brick.

Joce

I would ditch the idea of the brick and rake out all the loose pointing and the replaster the whole lot in a nice lime mix with plenty of hair and paint with a nice limewash or distemper. This is what I ended up doing after messing with wanting an exposed brick fireplace and avoided the 1990 NYC USA loft conversion look (I used to live in one). I think you should get a copy of the little green lime plaster book and have a go - its good fun and very rewarding.

PS I have seen the Beeck stuff used on a few jobs in the city and is very nice but quite expensive. The paints are nice to use and have been around for a long while and I dont know of any problems like you get with some other exterior paints

http://www.beeck.de/english/produkte_en/prbe_fr.html

http://www.spab.org.uk/html/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-2-brickwork/ Check out the bit about replastering internal brickwork!

http://www.spab.org.uk/html/advice/statements/spab-statement-2-proprietary-colourless-water-repellent-suface-treatments-on-historic-masonry/

 

[dragonfly]

the nice thing is that the pointing of the brick is absolutely fine, just some of the bricks that are a bit dusty. My brother in law is a carpenter and has tested all the timbers - some are completely gone and others are fine, if a bit woolly round the edges. When we moved in, the wall in the dining room (directly underneath the bathroom) was alreay exposed so we know how great it will look. As we are going for a very natural look in the bathroom with (eventually) travertine tumbled marble around the wet areas, buffed up and shellaced (sp?) & beeswaxed floorboards (which BOL has done a superb job of butting together with no gaps!) & off white clay-based paint to the plastered areas, The red brick will make a great contrast. I'm not against plastering it if it really looks bad when we have finished, but we can't plaster onto what is already there or it will just flake off again, so will make a final decision once we get a feel for the overall look. Thanks for the pics of the windows. Something to discuss with the CO later!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I would ditch the idea of the brick and rake out all the loose pointing and the replaster the whole lot in a nice lime mix with plenty of hair and paint with a nice limewash or distemper.

You might be right, but there 5 rooms of exposed brick, so not a small job. Must go nd find some Georgian kitchens to have a look at. Anyone know any good uns?

 

[Pford75]

http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=241

Whereabouts are you?

 

[Moo]

Must go nd find some Georgian kitchens to have a look at. Anyone know any good uns?

I've not seen any in Magnet, or B&Q, or even in the style magazines. If that's really what you want, I think your best bet would be a reclamation yard (but visit a museum first, to get some of idea of what you're looking for.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Pford, why are you telling me to make a herringbone path? I've got enough o

Must go nd find some Georgian kitchens to have a look at. Anyone know any good uns?

I've not seen any in Magnet, or B&Q, or even in the style magazines. If that's really what you want, I think your best bet would be a reclamation yard (but visit a museum first, to get some of idea of what you're looking for.

Silly! I meant in a nice country house, like Burghley house, 'cept that's Lizabethan. I understand "very little was fixed...shelves and dressers...invariably left open...The Georgian kitchen was designed around a large central working table, which was sturdy and plain and easy to keep clean by scrubbing", and that I may need a smokejack and an iron swinging crane.[*] This is what I want to see.

[*] Georgian House Style, Ingrid Cranfield

 

[Penners]

Must go and find some Georgian kitchens to have a look at. Anyone know any good uns?

If you really want to research the Georgian kitchen, here are two suggestions - both metropolitan, I'm afraid.

Do you know the Geffrye Museum (http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/)? They have roomset displays of interiors through the ages, plus a Library & Archive where you can do research (I think you have to pre-book that facility). It's been a while since I went there, and I can't remember whether they have a Georgian kitchen display, but you could always contact them to ask.

Are you a member of the Georgian Group (http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk/docs/pub/index.php)? They have a reference library and a bookshop, and might be useful to you.

 

[Moo]

And, if you can find a copy (first stop, your local library), "Life in the Georgian House" by Cruikshank.

 

[Pford75]

Pford, why are you telling me to make a herringbone path? I've got enough on!

I actually meant to post a link to some pics of a rather lovely Georgian Kitchen from a house we looked at buying (it's called BlueBridge House and is in Halstead in Essex)......but I got my cut 'n' pastes mixed up and instead sent you the URL I've been browsing for a project i'm doing for my brother...sorry.

Depending on where you are, there are some good kitchens in NT properties (I particularly like the kitchens in Blickling Hall in Norfolk)

 

[Pford75]

I'd also recommend Judith Miller's book on period kitchens

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Period-Kitc...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233240086&sr=8-5

 

[Penners]

it's called BlueBridge House and is in Halstead in Essex

...and has views down the hill over a particularly attractive industrial estate, that's named after it.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Pford, why are you telling me to make a herringbone path? I've got enough on!

I actually meant to post a link to some pics of a rather lovely Georgian Kitchen from a house we looked at buying (it's called BlueBridge House and is in Halstead in Essex)......but I got my cut 'n' pastes mixed up and instead sent you the URL I've been browsing for a project i'm doing for my brother...sorry.

Depending on where you are, there are some good kitchens in NT properties (I particularly like the kitchens in Blickling Hall in Norfolk)

If I recall correctly, the Blickling kitchen currently shown to visitors is something of a fake, with various 1920s and 30s elements brought in from elsewhere (because when the Trust took the house over, it had a then-new 1950s kitchen). Certainly not a Georgian kitchen in any way shape of form.

 

[biffvernon]

We've got a couple of exposed brick walls. They kinda got left like that after the plaster fell off and we rather like them. Absolutely nothing periodishly authentic about them but what the hell.

 

[Pford75]

Penners - Didn't know you were from round those parts?

When we were looking for what is our current place, Bluebridge was one of the serious contenders. Sadly a couple were separating and it was very much an unfinished project. The proximity of the fairly major road was the killer....but it is a house of lovely proportions and the gardens were amazing.

Gareth - You're probably right, I can't vouch for the age of the kitchen at Blickling...but it certainly had a much older feel to it (even if faked)

 

[JoceAndChris]

Certainly not a Georgian kitchen in any way shape of form.

Mr Hughes, thank you for saving me from kitchen imposters. That house is Jacobean anyway, I want to visit a good Georgian one.

Pford, you are very kind and I will order that book which looks a treat. Wish I could sneak round Bluebridge.

This thread is interesting; I start out thinking I will do one thing and end up feeling quite different and utterly ignorant for liking exposed brick. Oh dear. Does anyone else like exposed brick apart from good old Biff?

 

[MdB]

Does anyone else like exposed brick apart from good old Biff?

It depends on the property and the room in the property. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I am very much for doing what you as the owner thinks looks best / is best for the building rather than return it to a state it may or may not have been in year x. Bare brick can always be plastered at a later date. Going the other way is sometimes difficult, especially if c****t was involved. If the house is important (ie listed) then an appropriate finish is important, but if it isn't I think a greater leeway is allowed for the owners tastes, especially if what ever is decided is easily reversible by a future owner. Others here disagree with me on this and tend towards liking whatever the finish was historically. The liking of exposed stone, exposed brick is a modern trend and would have been considered a low status finish in the past. I do like it myself though and we are exposing a lot of old stone wall here and pointing in lime. If a future owner wants to plaster over it, then they can if they wish. No historical materials were lost in our case as it was just cement render on top, the lime render having almost all been lost.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

I like exposed brick, if it's nice brick. I like stripped pine doors too, though they are hopelessly unauthentic. And I imagine a 'proper' Georgian kitchen would be pretty rotten to live with and cook in. The point is though that it really doesn't matter what I think because it's your house and you have to live with it. If you want to create a working museum with a scrubbed pine table and a pig going round on a spit over the fire and the whole thing lit by candles that's great, and if you want a slick 21st century affair, all glass and stainless steel and little blue LEDs that's great too, if you're happy with it. You've got the whole of history to draw on, and no one style is more correct or more authentic than another. For example, lots of my customers like clear wood finishes on bits of joinery, where a paint finish would be more in keeping with age of the house. But we live in a world with different aesthetic sensibilities now, when 'natural' materials are appreciated more for their colour and texture and 'naturalness'. So if exposed brick floats your boat then that's what you should have.

Having said all that, I do feel that a sympathetic hand is needed when dealing with the fabric of older properties, and you should think long and hard before making irreversible changes. Not all the old materials and techniques are the best for the job though - builders used the best of what they could get at the time and materials technology moves on. It's a case of judging everything on it's merits, and with experience you will start to find out where you lie on the spectrum which has museum quality restoration at one end and progressive development at the other.

Enjoy your house, your way.

 

[biffvernon]

exposed brick is a modern trend and would have been considered a low status finish in the past.

Maybe some of us are happy in our low status

 

[Jon Maine]

Nothing wrong with exposed bricks or masonry in correct context, I am not rendering my chimneys, cellar or external walls. :wink:

 

[MdB]

exposed brick is a modern trend and would have been considered a low status finish in the past.

Maybe some of us are happy in our low status

Ditto