Just moved into our project :-)

[LadyArowana]

Interesting that when they did the extension they built the new window to match the original, I wonder if they kept the original window open at that time or if it was bricked up? Nice find.

 

[stuart45]

Good work!! I know this is a really geeky question but are all the bricks in your walls headers?? I don't think I have ever seen that! Are you going to leave it brick or re render? I really like the look of bricks, but your house also looks good rendered.

Header bond was quite popular in some areas, especially with bricks that had blue vitrified ends. It is more expensive as it needs 100% of the wall built in face bricks.

 

[stuart45]

For what it's worth I like it in brick. Those brick arches were made to be shown. Is the one above the right window as fallen as it looks?

I prefer the brick as well. It does look like the arch needs rebuilding, although there is a lot of work in a rubbed camber arch. You can have the bricks cut for you nowadays, if you don't want all the work of rubbing and cutting.

 

[jackpoint]

Weird - posted a reply but it hasn't stuck, so apologies if this double posts at some point.

We all like the brick, and the neighbours like the brick too which is great!
Many things need some TLC, including the windows....day at a time and all that. May well try and give them a clean over the next few days.
The other 'arch' turned out to be a door not a window by the way.....

A little question too. Does anyone have an idea how to blend the porch brickwork into the newly naked stuff?

Cheers

 

[vicky whitworth]

You're doing such a wonderful job and that porch is horrid. Why spoil it for a ha'peth of tar? Take it off. It's like a big spot on the end of the poor cottage's nose

 

[stuart45]

A little question too. Does anyone have an idea how to blend the porch brickwork into the newly naked stuff?

Cheers

There are firms that stain brickwork to match existing work. Whether they can match yours though is something I am not sure of.

 

[jackpoint]

You're doing such a wonderful job and that porch is horrid. Why spoil it for a ha'peth of tar? Take it off. It's like a big spot on the end of the poor cottage's nose

We seem to be coming to that conclusion too :lol:, and thanks for the kind words!

 

[AMc]

A little question too. Does anyone have an idea how to blend the porch brickwork into the newly naked stuff?

Cheers

I'd render it or clad it in timber - you'll never get those bricks to look right. I wouldn't remove it.

 

[jackpoint]

Nothing too exciting this week, just a little earth moving.

On the right hand side our kitchen wall, and on the left, the reason our kitchen cupboards are damp
Our floor level is about two courses up from the bottom of the trench :lol:
At this point I must make special mention in despatches of our very lovely and understanding neighbours - Thanks so much for letting us dig your garden up!

And lastly, a little light relief.....
It was a hot day, but I can safely say i have never seen an English Bullterrier voluntarily roll in the mud before. Wonders never cease.

Have a nice bank holiday all!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

aww, we've just got one of those labs, 15 weeks old!!!

You know, I would take that porch off and re build in keeping, it's horrid!!

 

[jackpoint]

aww, we've just got one of those labs, 15 weeks old!!!

You will be doing plenty of walkies then. Those woofmutts are too exercise hungry for me!

You know, I would take that porch off and re build in keeping, it's horrid!!

The porch will be rebuilt, we have the technology

 

[Feltwell]

You know, I would take that porch off and re build in keeping, it's horrid!!

I think I'd just take it off and not bother with the rebuilding bit - it would like so much better without it, or anything else I reckon. The earlier description of "It's like a big spot on the end of the poor cottage's nose" is very apt!

Has the porch brickwork been toothed in to the front wall? Hopefully not - with any luck it's just freestanding or they've attached it with a Furfix - so your front wall brickwork is not too bad underneath. Same logic applies at the roofline - is the flashing stepped into the original mortar joints, or has it had the horror of a slot being cut across the original brickwork with an angle grinder?

The house looks so much better in brick, *if* you can clean it up enough to look decent. I reckon you will, from the pictures you've made a great start.

 

[jackpoint]

We have left the front of the house alone at the mo' as other things have taken precedence, but for the record we still like the oh so tatty brickwork
Had to remove bricks, then the dreaded ivy :evil: then replace said bricks on the kitchen wall.
While digging the kitchen wall ditch/drain we uncovered an airbrick 18" down :lol: and have got about quarter of the wall repointed now. Loving the tuck trowels!
This morning was spent removing the Rayburn and liner (sadly the existing liner was a wee bit small )to make way for a new double sided multifuel stove which will hopefully carry us through the cooler months - no thermostat for us yet. Also had to patch the last couple of courses of the chimney up and reseat the pot...all of which went far too smoothly :shock:

Cheers all!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Is that all you've achieved? :wink:

 

[jackpoint]

:lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Absolutely amazing. Well done.

Another vote for hating the porch and liking the naked brick (unusual for me to like things stripped as render often put on for a very good reason - but yours has come off a treat!)

 

[Moo]

Is that all you've achieved? :wink:

Sickening, isn't it? He got the keys to his project exactly five days before we got ours, and all we've got to show for it is a mown lawn, a few patches of stripped-back paintwork, and an even bigger hole in the kitchen floor.
You can go off some people, y'know.

 

[jackpoint]

My wife is of course nothing like this :wink: , and has told me to stop rushing around for a couple of days. Apparently she doesn't expect it to be finished until next year :lol:
I will admit to having been a little OCD trying to get things done.....but if you had smelt the place when we moved in you would have been in a hurry to dry it out too

Cheers!

 

[jackpoint]

Little update for you guys

The Rayburn sold on fleabay, and I think someone got a bargain. Multifuel stove is going in it's place in about ten days which is very exciting! There is a day needed this week to get the hearth all sorted to receive it - pictures to follow soon.

Invested in a new angle grinder to whip the old mortar/dirt mix out (what a Godsend that tool is!) and finished repointing the 'ditch' brickwork. Then it was a bit of a rush to get the membrane and polystorm crates in before the current rains came. Haven't talked to the neighbours yet about what slabs they would like it all covered with so that will be this week sometime and hopefully, when that's done, we can forget about that wall for a while....

The front wall got some attention over the last week or two.
Here is the filled right hand side butt joint.

The left hand side joint went from this (notice the first small attempt at tying it together near the top of the 'joint')....

To this. You can also see how much the 'extension' has moved. It's a little hard to fathom or explain but the bricks in the middle of the wall are forward of the main house by a good half inch, as well as being separated by the butt joint. Also, the courses of bricks match up until about top of ground floor window height, then the extension bricks gain some height on the main house until the courses start to match again mid bedroom window height :shock: Good characterful stuff!
While cleaning the joint out we could see the nails in the mortar courses that had originally knitted it together. Amazing.

More to come.
Cheers all!

 

[Lime]

To the casual eye the "extension" (the bit on the left of the above photo) looks older than the rest of the house.