Hello Newbie here

[kirstickle]

Floor looks amazing Joce. I will definitely be following your lead here. Thank you.

 

[Tom]

Kirstickle, I'm in the middle of doing some test samples of a few products for floors, as the whole subject got Joce and me in a complete pickle!! The tests consist of;

1 Liberon Floor Sealer
2 Liberon Floor Wax
3 Holkhams Linseed Oil (my preferred method, so far)
4 Liberon Liquid Beeswax
5 Liberon Floor Sealer followed by Liberon Floor Wax (Joce's method)
6 Holkhams Linseed Oil followed by Liberon Liquid Beeswax

I'm part-way through these and am going to take pictures of the results and post them here. These are all being tested on new kiln dried Oak. Joce and I agreed the other day that the Oil is giving a lovely depth to the grain and darkening the colour, which is what I want, whislt giving a gentle sheen without being too shiny. I'm hoping it will give people an idea of what might happen if they use a particular product.

 

[Ushy M]

Well here's our little cottage - formerly two as you can see - don't know when they were converted, though we have a Francis Frith pic from 1965 showing it as two.

And here's the back - complete with scary eucalyptus tree!

 

[kirstickle]

Aah thats beautiful. Have you had to do much work to it?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Your cottage is sooooo cute Ushy M! Beautiful! I can just picture that cat of yours sitting on the step.

 

[Ushy M]

Aah thats beautiful. Have you had to do much work to it?

Thank you for yours and Joce's kind words! Bet you can't wait to move into your fab new house kirstickle!

Weell... So far, we've had one chimney repaired/rebuilt as we discovered it was actually rocking on its base :shock: . We've been addressing the damp on the gable end wall (which is in the churchyard) by digging a French drain and installing a land drain, removing the cement pointing, repointing in lime and doing some hydraulic grouting. We've stripped the cement plaster off the inside of that wall and this is currently drying out prior to replastering in lime.

We've addressed the worst of the howling draughts by insulating gaps/spaces with sheepswool, repairing windows so they shut properly and fixing up homemade secondary glazing. We've repaired the modern extension to make sure it's actually tied in to the rest of the house. Oh, and we had the ridge and front coat of the thatch replaced - fascinating to watch but nose-bleedingly expensive!

We wouldn't have known how to approach much of this stuff without joining SPAB and this forum - it's good to have a new contributor.

Next jobs are to replace the chipboard flooring upstairs :evil: with elm boards, and remove the plasterboard ceilings* downstairs. These are currently suspended on modern joists (attached to the original main beams on joist hangers :roll: ). Replacement joists should I think be oak (?) properly morticed/tenoned into the main beams. So we'll be coming back with LOTS of questions on this!

* A quick chorus of "Right said Fred" anyone?

 

[Flyfisher]

Having finally finished our roof it's probably as good a time as any to post a photo. It's quite liberating, really, to no longer worry about rain seeping into the building. The second photo shows an unfinished part of the main roof (apart from the main work-in-progress), which is over an 'outshot' that requires a complete rebuild due to terminal water damage over many years, but that's a project for next year.

 

[middi]

PLANET DESTROYER !!!!!! shame on you

Have you any idea as to the size of boiler to heat that house ? :wink:

 

[Pford75]

those moles can be a pain

Correct. In fact, we took the radical steps of enrolling ourselves in a Lantra course earlier this year. This qualifies us as pest controllers and enables us to purchase phosphides ourselves. Professional pest control of rabbits and moles is v.expensive when dealing with a large plot. The photo I posted was from before the Lantra course. The situation is much improved now....we get the odd single molehill, but these are swiftly dealt with.

The rabbit population is also now under control. May seem harsh, but things had reached epidemic proportions....and although not widely known, it is illegal to fail to control the rabbit population if they are breeding on your land.

 

[Jon Maine]

PLANET DESTROYER !!!!!! shame on you

Have you any idea as to the size of boiler to heat that house ? :wink:

Yeah, must be bigger than mine

 

[Flyfisher]

Have you any idea as to the size of boiler to heat that house ? :wink:

Indeed I do, which is why the new gas boiler only serves the 'minor wing'. I'm still looking at wood burning stoves with a back boiler for the main part of the house and I really need to make a decision now that the newly opened-up fireplace is almost ready for one.

 

[Jon Maine]

Surely a woodchipper and a large hopper feeding a green wood chip biomass boiler would be the solution?

 

[judrop]

Aah thats beautiful. Have you had to do much work to it?

Have to agree quite delightful !

 

[JoceAndChris]

Having finally finished our roof it's probably as good a time as any to post a photo. It's quite liberating, really, to no longer worry about rain seeping into the building. The second photo shows an unfinished part of the main roof (apart from the main work-in-progress), which is over an 'outshot' that requires a complete rebuild due to terminal water damage over many years, but that's a project for next year.

It's so beautiful! My word! I'm reeling at that. I hadn't seen it before - many congratulations on going for that incredible property and setting it straight. And it's HUGE -how many rooms, dare I ask?

I was also fascinated to search on your early posts and read this http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7027, sorry to be so nosey but there you go, can't help it I'm afraid.

Would you mind updating that thread, or starting a new one, with the progress of the house, and whether or not it has turned out to be more than you can manage? Or am I overstepping the line of nosiness here? You are always very interested in other people's houses, please say more about your own.

 

[philpjuk100]

MOLES! we had a bad mole problem,not so much the holes but the land above the runs sinking,I do not have a "lawn" just grass that I mow,I was about to send them elsewhere using a pipe attached to my smoky vintage motorcycles exhaust when "odie" our ginger tom discovered them! he can catch and kill them but they appear to be too tough for him to dismantle so he just leaves them in the kitchen,he does not understand why he gets praise for this whilst he gets a rollicking for bringing in voles and bluetits! we now have very little mole activity and are thinking of hireing him out! he sits by a mole hill for hours.phil.

 

[Moo]

Joce - if you like the house, you should see the gardens (or should I say 'grounds'?) ...

 

[JoceAndChris]

I know FF has grounds that require a tractor and Lord knows what else. Why are we being deprived or a virtual tour?? Pleeeeese.

Odie is lovely, Phil! I would always urge a period property to have a cat or three as its first line of defence. Mine guards the chickens constantly.

 

[Flyfisher]

That was an interesting old thread to re-read Joce and just goes to show how little I knew back then and how much I'm still learning. I have to say it was the people I've met through PPUK and our CO who inspired me to think I could realistically take it on and tackle most of the work myself - a rather important factor as I couldn't afford to pay for the necessary work to be done. In this regard, Middi deserves an honorable mention for all his help and support.

Given the size, it has surprisingly few rooms, although they are fairly large I suppose. For example, in the photo showing the roof in progress there are only three rooms on the ground floor and four bedrooms (one of which is little more than a large walk-in wardrobe). The tall section dates back to 1550. The adjoining addition is C17 and the other addition is C18 but precise dates are unknown.

So far, I don't think it has turned out to be too big a project although there are times when I do waver slightly - mostly when I get stuck on something, which is when Middi usually gets me back on track. I think our secret weapon is that we haven't given ourselves a deadline for completion and we're pretty relaxed about the state of the place. This approach helps keep the stress levels under control. At least there are no more buckets required to catch rainwater in the bedrooms!

 

[skier-hughes]

I think our secret weapon is that we haven't given ourselves a deadline for completion and we're pretty relaxed about the state of the place. This approach helps keep the stress levels under control. At least there are no more buckets required to catch rainwater in the bedrooms!

Thankfully we've never needed buckets, but we have the same approach, it will be done in it's own time, I say to Jo it's taken 600 years to get here, she often retorts just don't let it take another to get where we want!!

 

[Ushy M]

Flyfisher - can't see your photos!(Just Image x) I wonder what I'm doing wrong? Maybe I need to change some settings.

Agree all period properties need at least one cat! Phil - our cats are keen molers too - I believe they don't eat them because they taste bad. I like the idea of poisoning moles with motorcycle exhaust fumes - I'm amazed Mr M hasn't poisoned himself that way given the clouds pouring out of the garage. Odie is v. cute - why Odie btw? (Our cats tend to be named after Royal Enfield models - Constellation and Tomahawk in this case!)