Hello Newbie here

[FamilyWiggs]

Feltwell - thanks. We thank our lucky stars every time we look out on it. However, for part of the year it is obscured by horizontal rain/sleet as the valley turns into a 100mph wind tunnel. :roll:

 

[Tom]

Post below has pictures of my abode - grotty garages now gone, new (and rather scarily large) garage is nearing completion.....

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9699&p=111096&hilit=double+garage#p111096

Your house is lovely...I love all the different angles. And it does look HUGE!!!

 

[Nigel Watts]

My front (old photo before railings were reinstated)

and back (taken a few years ago when building work was still underway)

and inside:

 

[judrop]

I said I would try to post some pics ,and this seems to be the appropriate place, so her goes "wheelwrights cottage", Please be gentle with us ! LOL !! Ju and Phil :wink:

 

[judrop]

three more wheelwrights pics(phil this time)

 

[HeatherJ]

Hi All
I am a long-time lurker, and thought that (as someone was posting a 20th century house) I would take the opportunity to come out of the shadows to introduce myself. My DH and I own a brick and (lime) stucco house which was designed (I think) by a British architect called Eden Smith in 1923, but the house is in Toronto Canada! Whenever someone who has been in Edwardian english houses comes in they remark on what an english feel there is to the house, and it is not a bit like other houses in the area. The construction techniques are very different to those that the local trades are used to dealing with, so they always want to rip everything out. The agents details from 2005 (complete with pictures and floor plan) are here: http://juliekinnear.com/toronto-houses/449_willard_avenue/ The details are usual agents speak and make the house sound rather fab, but they aren't very true unfortunately.!

All of the work we have done so far is removal of asbestos, replace boundary fencing etc. and removing everything that was done in 1969 when the PO moved in. (We are the third owners, and it was untouched prior to, and since 1969). I have also done quite a lot of paint scraping and we have a nice red and black brick arts&crafts fireplace in the living room (but how to I get the bright blue milk paint out of the grooves in the brick?) and lovely gumwood trim in mostly good condition. We have redone the kitchen after 2 years as it was unbearable and removed the kitchen sink from the third bedroom. The original oak windows are, and will remain, intact. We plan to get new wood storm windows to replace the aluminum ones. We are hoping that we can fix the damaged parts of the floors and refinish them.

In Toronto we don't have many old buildings - the oldest in the entire city in only 1794 and all of the "heritage stock" is Victorian. There is very little knowledge about and appreciation for old residential buildings, and it is almost impossible to get information and supplies. Even linseed oil paint has to be imported from the UK via a USA importer - two lots of excise duty and taxes make everything hugely expensive. I lurk and devour any information I can get re lime mortar (I have to reparge the basement and fix the stucco) etc. (No hope of lime putty here - it is builders merchant lime or nothing...)

So - any ideas about removing milk paint from brick?
Best wishes
-H.

 

[Feltwell]

Your house is lovely...I love all the different angles. And it does look HUGE!!!

Thank you! It really isn't huge - I'm not going to pretend it's a 2 up 2 down, but it's not that big. Just tall, and the fact it's a semi makes it look bigger - plus it's not very deep, it doesn't go back very far at all.

Being a Norfolk boy originally, I too love those big skies that you get in that part of the world. You've clearly done a huge amount of work on your house, it must be very satisfying to see the lovely original building slowly emerging.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Great to see some of the regulars' fab houses again, and the beautiful Wheelwright's cottage too!

HeatherJ- welcome to the forum, and don't feel that you can't start your own new topics to ask questions about your lovely house, even though you're in Canada. I don't see why our friendliness can't extend to Canada! It must be very hard to get the building materials, but you can do a lot to make your own, for example lime putty can be made at home (don't ask me for the recipe but people on here do make their own lime putty I think I'm right in saying). As for your paint removal, email strippers of sudbury and see what they say! (http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/contact.htm)

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ju and Phil :wink:

Ah - just realised, you are the other half of the phillipjuk100 team in Newark. That's what I did to my husband - got him to join then nicked it off him! :wink:

 

[Pford75]

Welcome to the forum - and thankyou for sharing pics of your lovely house. I lived in a 'modern box' as a child, but an aunt owned a 20's house that always felt like an exciting place to explore, so I have fond memories.

In keeping with the trend, here's ours.....

 

[judrop]

:lol: Hi JoceandChris ! Thank you for your kind comments about Wheelwrights, we do love it, have only been here 20 months but have always yearned for a period property, close proximity to work and decent schools ruled where we resided when we were younger (a 1971 bungalow in the Leicestershire Wolds, we were very happy there too ) anyhow when we decided to retire we managed to find Wheelwrights, and are delighted with it, it is perfectly serviceable, having been "done" in 1986 and re listed, there are things we would like to do , but until we have sold our previous home, funds are too low to contemplate it.
I see you keep chooks too,we got our 3 ex batts in July and our two "babies"( 18 week old pullets) when we sadly lost one of our girls BB.
Your home too looks delightful, and you are obviously working very hard on it, it will be a never ending joy !
Thanks again Ju and Phil

 

[judrop]

In keeping with the trend, here's ours.....

In keeping with the trend, here's ours.....

[/quote]
WHAT a beautiful home, oddly as a child I lived in a rambling Victorian house, strane twists and turns in life, wonderful house congratulations ! Ju

 

[philpjuk100]

Yes it certainly is beautiful,but those moles can be a pain,when I were nowt but a lad my dad had some land in north wales with a caravan on it,he used to dig soakaways for the sink drain but they used to block up and he used to have to dig another one each season until he stuck the pipe down a mole hole and never had any more problems!phil.

 

[MdB]

Here is ours:

Before:

During:

After:

What we did (pretty close to a rebuild) is not recommended for a period property due to loss of historical fabric. However, we have been careful to keep almost everything of any age with the wall and other things we have removed only dating to 1970.

 

[kirstickle]

Wow you guys have some amazing properties! Make mine look positively modern! Looks like they have been a labour of love too. Well the survey came back today, and apart from wet rot in the garage roof, and some work needed to the chimney stacks, it all looks OK. Got some builders coming to have a look on Wednesday just to get an idea of the cost etc. Luckily they re frineds of ours so they should be nice and honest. Now I just need some ideas as to how to make the lounge with THAT fireplace NOT look like a pub!! We are thinking of taking the carpet up (its bad) and if the floorboards are OK (we have had a peek and from what we saw they look pretty good), simply sanding and varnishing. Wouldn't really want the same colour as the wood on the fireplace, think it might be a bit much. Any ideas? Thanks x

 

[MdB]

It's worth checking here before doing anything (so I have learnt...). For example, you probably don't want to sand those floorboards (at least not heavily). Cleaning might be enough. See Joce's pictures of what she has done to her floorboards for example. Good luck in getting your house.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Kirstickle - varnishing an antique floor is like putting Audrey Hepburn in orange fake tan- please don't.

Don't use a giant floor sanding machine either. A gentle clean, a linseed oil, should be enough. Pick off spots of paint with a little scraper or wire wool. Keep the patina of the years it has.

If you want to get into the period, think shiny reflective surfaces - mirrors, mirrored furniture, geometric patterns, the tomb of Tutankhamun, chrome, glass, glamour, jazz, shrimp pink and silver and jade - what fun!

 

[kirstickle]

LOL, OK, maybe not varnishing then! Will have a look at Joce's pics for inspiration x Joce??

 

[Moo]

maybe not varnishing then!

That "maybe" was a typing error, wasn't it?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, if we must hold my floor up as being the model which to follow - which really it isn't - and every floor is different -look at Page 5 of this thread

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10707&start=60

Bear in mind the final picture is very dark as it was taken in the evening with the shutters closed and just dim light, it's actually more red brown than it appears.