Just watched Restoration Man...comments?

[jackpoint]

Just watched the episode when a couple restored a grade 2 school with a courtyard.
The end result is really down to taste, but was somewhat surprised to see the guy (looking like) drilling for an injected damp proof and putting up cement render internally, presumably to combat damp.
Surely there's enough readily available information saying that these aren't ideal solutions to a damp problem? I think we picked these tips up within a few days of googlin' or am I all rosy specked?
Any thoughts?

 

[plasticpigeon]

I don't think the chap embraced the principle of restoration really. In my humble opinion, the windows, although leaded, had very badly proportioned frames. It was also very obvious that the wall he claimed had blown over in the wind was knocked down with a lump hammer.

The previous episode had a young(ish) couple put in a Herculean effort to restore a Shropshire farmhouse. It was beautifully finished and made a very lovely home, but once again, even though the windows were obviously made to a superb standard (they were oak with bronze casements), I still think the orange colour, and the lack of mouldings made then look very flat and rather modern and incongruous with the rest of the house. I might be showing a bit of ignorance here, and maybe they were totally in keeping, but i feel that windows are a feature that are often not dealt with very well in a restoration.

 

[Feltwell]

I agree with PP. The schoolhouse just evoked feelings of "it could have been more" to me. Whilst the guy clearly put in a huge amount of effort, and the vast majority of viewers would have loved the results, the attitude just didn't seem quite right to me for a listed building - wanting to remove the (perfectly good) built-in cupboards for example, which the CO stopped. The wall in the courtyard - hmm, I have sympathy in this it did make it very awkward to use the space, but looking at the prior state of the wall if a sledgehammer wasn't involved then I think a "convenient" good hard lean whilst having a cup of tea / fag / kitkat would have had the desired effect! The bricks could have been reused in a much better way than a tiny panel on one wall.

If cement and injected DPC was involved then the LBC should have stopped this? I know - should.

The Shropshire farmhouse really was a Herculean effort, and a lovely building. Not sure I agree with the experts view on why it was classically Georgian brick on the front and rustic timber frame at the rear - my first thought was a later makeover to make an earlier timber frame house appear more up to date and fashionable, in a similar although even more intrusive fashion to the changes done to Flyfisher's house.

 

[malcolm]

I have a lot of sympathy for the guy. Being an old school he would presumably have been going through a change of use as well. Building regs would have treated it as a new build which tends to eat up the entire budget and makes it difficult to retain anything nice and original. Stuff that's been there for hundreds of years is suddenly no good any more. He seemed to be quite frustrated throughout most of the programme.

 

[Penners]

I don't watch restoration programmes any more. They're bad for my blood pressure and they scare the dog*.



* Well... in truth, it's me that scares the dog by shouting at the television.

 

[a twig]

I like watching them as it generally makes me feel better about the state of our place Don't always like/agree with what they are doing, but it's "entertainment" though.

It's a lot better than the "I'm an X Celebrity Big Brother Factor" rubbish!

 

[TheRoost]

Building regs would have treated it as a new build which tends to eat up the entire budget and makes it difficult to retain anything nice and original.

That seems totally at odds with being Grade II listed, what is the point of a building being listed if 'new build' building regs apply when restoring, when the regs conflict with what makes a building listed in the first place?

Saw the Shropshire farmhouse episode but not this one. At least on Grand Designs, the majority seem to be using lime and other traditional methods when restoring old buildings.

 

[formerly known as]

If you watch any one of the property type programmes, you will see any number of inappropriate works being undertaken. In reality, very few refurbishments have an emphasis on conservation.