Onto the Campaign Room!

[JoceAndChris]

I expect to be working on this through 2012 as it's a big project. I'm at the thinking through stage and I'm just trying to figure out how much of the room I need to pull out. Pics to follow - the most puzzling decision currently is whether to keep the concrete skirting and the plaster, or hack it out and see what I find.

This is what I mean by a Campaign Room, by the way - Empress Josephine liked them and so do I.

http://pambristow.com/2011/03/07/best-in-tent/

 

[JoceAndChris]

Outside the room - cement render (due to come off), York Stone plinth attached with cement, concrete fillet, concrete slabbed path.

Concrete skirting

Wooden floor under horrid 80s carpet

Cupboard doors as shutters

Delaminating gypsum

Horrid 80s vinyl wallpaper with damp spots And very odd cornice arrangement.

Terrible wardrobe, but the only wardrobe in the house

Nice little early 19th C fireplace all working well

Nice little lime plaster cupboard

Horrid plaster board ceiling, only lighting a fluorescent strip above the cupboard.

You see I have a lot to remedy - would you pull the plaster off? And hack off the concrete skirting? The room doesn't feel damp at all but clearly has been.The roof was in a bad way in the early 80s, I imagine it rotted out the reed ceiling that would have been here.

 

[LadyArowana]

You may keep the Kath Kidson bag, but everything else should probably go. I think the kitty will move of his own accord once there is nothing comfy to nap on.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: He prefers palatial, and just insisted on being in the piccy.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Gulp---- we need an indian summer so you can make headway before the winter hits. Good Luck!!

 

[Juju]

Hi Joce - sounds like a great idea for the room. I guess if you're tenting the ceiling then would you need to replace it as it would be covered by lovely fabric? In terms of the walls, I suppose it depends on budget whether you rip them out and replaster in lime... I guess you don't know yet what condition the walls are in behind the cupboards? I suppose if there's no damp in there, then maybe it's best to live with the gypsum etc. Actually would you rip out those cupboards or just replace the doors? I assume they're melamine or mdf or such like?

Anyway, yes looks like a big project whatever you do but should be fun finding suitable furniture. Don't forget to let me know if you're down our way at that campaign furniture shop in Stow-on-the-Wold!
Juju

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks for the encouragement Juju and Joss.

Oh that shop, it's just superb. They had the dinkiest Viccy knock-down shower this year, it was lovely. But to be honest excepting the cheapest campaign chest I can get my hands on, the campaign furniture will have to wait - next year's budget is going on a borehole and the fabric for this room (for which I'm highly tempted to try wholesale as I'll need at least 50 metres).

If, this winter, I can get the Spider Cupboard in the hallway converted into a wardrobe for His Lordship, the room stripped out ( yes, pull out the whole nasty fitted wardrobe thing), I'll be pleased.

Perhaps the walls, ceiling, concrete skirting, should just be left as they will all be covered with blue and white striped ticking.

Chris has been drawing plans to construct the wooden apex frame on which the cloth will be stretched taut. He'll have to rewire the room as well, unless we just settle for lamps - there are a couple of electric sockets. I love the planning stage - the preparation bit is always endless and physically difficult.

 

[Flyfisher]

Concrete skirting

We have some concrete skirting in the C18 part of our house; presumably not original and I guess it was put in at the same time as the concrete floor. Fortunately there seems to be no particular damp problem so I've left it mostly in place. It's actually quite handy as it's mostly within kitchen/utility area with a tiled floor, so very easy to swab down.

Does anyone know if this was a widespread thing or just fashionable during a certain period?
I imagine it would be more labour intensive than simply nailing a bit of skirting board to the wall so I wonder why they bothered.

 

[Carol]

Am watching this thread with great interest to see if anyone has the ultimate solution to concrete skirting. Have been gazing at ours for 12 years and not had courage to tackle it yet! Ours is in dining room which was a kitchen in previous 19th C existence. Scared to pull (smash) it off for fear of what I will find.

 

[CatherineB]

If, this winter, I can get the Spider Cupboard in the hallway converted into a wardrobe for His Lordship, the room stripped out ( yes, pull out the whole nasty fitted wardrobe thing), I'll be pleased.

.

Why does Macavity need a wardrobe?

 

[JoceAndChris]

For his top hats and coat-tails, of course, Catherine!

Goodness me, I had no idea concrete skirting was so widespread. I suspect mine is 50s, or 60s, I know it isn't 80s as the previous owner didn't do it. The 70s was a time when nothing happened at BC.

There must have been a point when they thought concrete was a great solution to sort something once and for all. :x

 

[Flyfisher]

Am watching this thread with great interest to see if anyone has the ultimate solution to concrete skirting. Have been gazing at ours for 12 years and not had courage to tackle it yet! Ours is in dining room which was a kitchen in previous 19th C existence. Scared to pull (smash) it off for fear of what I will find.

I removed a section of ours to make a new doorway and there was nothing scary, or interesting, to find - just the brick wall. I found it quite easy to remove using just a club hammer and bolster chisel along the top edge.

But unless there is a particular damp problem, I wouldn't bother to remove it. When painted, it's pretty much indistinguishable from painted skirting anyway.

Goodness me, I had no idea concrete skirting was so widespread. I suspect mine is 50s, or 60s, I know it isn't 80s as the previous owner didn't do it. The 70s was a time when nothing happened at BC.

There must have been a point when they thought concrete was a great solution to sort something once and for all. :x

Ours was definitely done before the mid-60s. I suspect during the tenure of the 1929-1958 owner and probably during the mid 1930s when the house was re-rendered and the kitchen/utility chimney was altered. I'm convinced this would have been the time when the cement render was applied -that new 'wonder material' that would outlast that nasty old lime mortar stuff.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I removed a section of ours to make a new doorway and there was nothing scary, or interesting, to find - just the brick wall. I found it quite easy to remove using just a club hammer and bolster chisel along the top edge.

But unless there is a particular damp problem, I wouldn't bother to remove it. When painted, it's pretty much indistinguishable from painted skirting anyway.

Ours was definitely done before the mid-60s. I suspect during the tenure of the 1929-1958 owner and probably during the mid 1930s when the house was re-rendered and the kitchen/utility chimney was altered. I'm convinced this would have been the time when the cement render was applied -that new 'wonder material' that would outlast that nasty old lime mortar stuff.

Interesting- that could easily be the age of this too as the house was given a makeover in the 30s.

Thanks for the technical advice on removal of it - I may leave it for now and review it when the outside gets stripped, I am worried about the levels of concrete that have been sloshed about at this point, and the damp problem in the kitchen underneath, which may or may not be related. As has often been wisely remarked on this forum, fixing damp is often a question of eliminating suspected sources of water ingress one by one. Unfortunately ours are very expensive and difficult to fix! If, next year, the borehole can be sunk and the underground rainwater pit emptied (as we'll no longer need the rainwater), then we can assess whether or not levels of damp in the kitchen impriove, as I'm convinced the rainwater pit just seeps its water into those underground walls and possibly into the spot where this concrete skirting has been fixed. As well as that water ingress point, there is the undoubted run off from the hill top to this concreted section. French drains must be installed, but that's part of a bigger job to herringbone brick path that bit.

Oh, it's so complicated the way that all these jobs are inter-linked. If only there were 50k or so to chuck at the problems now.

 

[Penners]

If you don't want boring, unromantic practicality, look away now!

Are we quite certain that a campaign room should take precedence in the schedule of works over a reliable water supply and the elimination of serious sources of damp?

Sorry to be tediously avuncular. :wink:

 

[LadyArowana]

Are we quite certain that a campaign room should take precedence in the schedule of works over a reliable water supply and the elimination of serious sources of damp?
:wink:

Yes, we are.

 

[Penners]

Well said, from the comfort of a well-appointed apartment with water on tap, Yer Ladyship!

 

[LadyArowana]

Well said, from the comfort of a well-appointed apartment with water on tap, Yer Ladyship!

:lol: True, but I think Joce has decided what she wants already!

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: I'm really hoping for water next year and would certainly prioritise that before hanging and furnishing the Campaign room. But there's a good few months of preparation for this room, that won't cost much at all, and will keep me out of mischief as we earn/beg /borrow/steal the 10-15k for the waterworks - whereas I can't drill a borehole and divert the rainwater pipes into soakaways at a distance from the house. Unless you lot are not sharing your handy tips, and that's actually quite easy to DIY? :lol:

We've spent £40k on BC in three years and in that time increased the land by 3 acres, fenced it, furnished the whole house, bought machinery, saved the dining room ceiling, rebuilt an old fireplace, fixed the damp on the West side, fitted a new watertight temporary roof on the end bit, had the toilet drain replaced, installed a manned burglar alarm, fitted smoke alarms, repaired, rewired and decorated 4 rooms, opened up the views, and harvested wood to last 5 years.

In 5 years' time I expect to be mainly finished on the house, damp, render, and all, and beginning on turning the garden into a version of Plas Brondanw. 8)

 

[Penners]

I can't drill a borehole and divert the rainwater pipes into soakaways at a distance from the house. Unless you lot are not sharing your handy tips, and that's actually quite easy to DIY?

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/technical-briefs/43-simple-drilling-methods.pdf

 

[MatthewC]

Getting back to the concrete skirting board, ours has gone where it was on externals walls as the lime plaster was bad and the concrete was clearly VERY damp behind (due to high ground outside); in fact the concrete almost fell off. On internal walls I have not felt the same need to do anything with the concrete skirting board yet, so it's on the 'sometime' list; however, I did remove all of the concrete "plaster" on both internal and external walls.

Looking at the larger picture, if you're removing the cement render outside (and the other bits of cement?), then it makes sense to do the delaminating gypsum plaster inside.

I'd like to know how you've done so much work in three years and only spent £50k!

Matthew