Our Development

[moony8]

hi

We did a period property development a couple of years back which was featured on channel-4's property ladder.

It was more of a renovation than a restoration - although once we knew what we were dealing with - we did try to restore some of the original features of the cottage where possible.

Anyway - we have started a website to tell the full story of our development as very little was actually covered in the tv program.

Feel free to take a look - there are some links to websites we found useful for research. We will be adding more in the near future.

http://www.stormloader.com/users/moony/PLHome.htm

 

[Matt Green]

Once stripped back the entire timber frame was treated with a fungicidal system to help prevent further rot taking hold. Much of the brickwork around the base of the timber frame was also injected with a chemical DPC. This was to suppliment the physical DPC we also installed throughout much of the property.

Good work on getting the Highways Agency to dig you a French drain though.


Matt

 

[Nemesis]

Yes, pity about the chemical injection. And the fungicide. And the stripping back.

 

[moony8]

Good work on getting the Highways Agency to dig you a French drain though.
Matt

That took some negotiation as they didnt admit fault at first - but you cant argue with the photographs.

Yes, pity about the chemical injection. And the fungicide. And the stripping back.

How exactly do you carry out repairs on a timber framed building unless you do strip back? The entire back wall of this property had rotted away - as had most of the sole plates.

Also is stripping back blown/crumbling lime plaster filled in with concrete render patches and replacing it with new lime plaster bad?

 

[Manny]

Did you retain the original treads and risers or is the whole staircase new? Currently mine looks exactly like the first pictures of it, complete with layers of old paint and stair rod holes.

 

[Penners]

It was more of a renovation than a restoration

Ssssssss (that's a sharp intake of breath). Are you in the habit of sticking your head into lions' mouths?

 

[moony8]

Did you retain the original treads and risers or is the whole staircase new? Currently mine looks exactly like the first pictures of it, complete with layers of old paint and stair rod holes.

No the whole thing is new - we fell through the old one. I may be wrong - but I dont think the one we took out was original either. Underneath it looked like it had been cobbled together/shored up with old offcuts of rough sawn pine. It was clad in fibreboard to make a cupboard under the stairs.

I think the staircase had probably been replaced/rebuilt when the stud wall for the second bedroom was put in (that was fibreboard too). Both the stud wall and staircase looked like they had been made from similar wood.

 

[moony8]

Sorry - double post!

 

[moony8]

It was more of a renovation than a restoration

Ssssssss (that's a sharp intake of breath). Are you in the habit of sticking your head into lions' mouths?

Well it is the truth. We decided to try and do some restoration after we found out what we were dealing with. We had intended to go in and plasterboard throughout. The property itself changed our minds - but we didnt have the time, funds or expertise to try and do a total restoration on this property - if it was even possible.

The property had been patched and bandaged with inappropriate materials for years (and had suffered severely for it). We repaired it and used some traditional building materials on it where possible - but to be honest, aside from what was left of the timber structure and the badly damaged lime plaster - there was very little in this property that was original. This may give you an idea as to the state that the property was in before we took it on:

* It had a brand new new roof and chimney stack
* The kitchen was consisted of two faily modern freestanding chipboard units one with an aluminuim sink and drainer. We found the original cermaic basin sink buried in the garden.
* The Inglenook fireplace had been filled in with rubble and cement and clad in a tiled concrete surround.
* The rear wall had been infilled with brick and breezeblock
* It had a ground floor extension built in the 70's from breezeblock
* All of the original lime render on the front of the property had been replaced with cement render and pebbledash.
* All of the original lime render on the rear of the property had been replaced with smooth cement render
* The interior walls in the kitchen were plasterboarded and tiled
* The interior wall running up the stairs was fibreboard.
* The ground floor had been laid with concrete over the top of the original quarry tile.
* The exterior floor levels had been raised so that they breached whatever DPC the property had.
* The property had really dodgy surface mounted electrics.
* Many of the floor/ceiling joists (especially those meeting the rear wall) were rotten back and suspended in thin air - owing to the fact that the junction between the flat roof of the extension and rear wall had leaked.
* It had modern interior and exterior doors (with the possible exception of the master bedrom).
* All of the windows in the property had been replaced at some stage - with the possible exception of the second bedroom - but this was very badly rotten.
* The lime plaster on the interior walls was very damp and had blown in a lot of places. The previous owners had wallpapered with blown vinyl and emulsioned over the top - stopping the plaster from breathing.
* Any damage to the lime plaster had been repaired using cement render (there was lots of this).

 

[CHRIS]

I remember that show! I loved the big stack of plastic tubs of lime plaster outside - I felt for you as I had just had to hump loads of these around my house at the same time.

I looked at the abuse you got on some of the chat rooms - very nasty and well done for sticking up for your self. You done what you could at the time and with hindsight people always do it difffrent so what the heck.

With unlimited budgets we could all make super eco-green-traditional-repaired houses but as a younger house buyer in this country I can also only afford so much - especially in the south east!

 

[Nemesis]

Well - the stripping back - I don't know how much could have been saved, but I think as Matt will tell you chemical injection and fungicide may well have been a waste of dosh!

 

[moony8]

I remember that show! I loved the big stack of plastic tubs of lime plaster outside - I felt for you as I had just had to hump loads of these around my house at the same time.

I looked at the abuse you got on some of the chat rooms - very nasty and well done for sticking up for your self. You done what you could at the time and with hindsight people always do it difffrent so what the heck.

With unlimited budgets we could all make super eco-green-traditional-repaired houses but as a younger house buyer in this country I can also only afford so much - especially in the south east!

Yeh - that was hard work - we had to get the dropped at the pub across the road and then lug them round the back - I think we had about 120 tubs in total.

We didnt have a mixer either - so I had to knock each tub back up by hand :shock:

It was worth it in the end though - the material is lovely to work with and gave a fantastic finish.

Well - the stripping back - I don't know how much could have been saved, but I think as Matt will tell you chemical injection and fungicide may well have been a waste of dosh!

Oh well - we had to take the advice of people who are supposed to know what they are talking about - its a good job it didnt cost a lot. The fumigation was also for woodworm - so hopefully some good will have come out of it.


edit:

The other thing we had to contend with - which influenced many of our descisions was building regs. Because the property wasnt listed - everything that we did had to conform to current building regs. A prime example of this is the ceiling joists. Some of them were so badly rotten that they had to be replaced. But modern timbers that conform to current regs are a completely different size and shape to the timbers that were present. We ended up having to take them all out in order to get the floor level correct. I guess we could have left the old ones in - strapped to the new ones - but what was the point. We instead used the good ones as replacement timbers in the walls.

 

[NT]

It does sound like you could have used a bit more advice before doing the work.

NT