Our house

[Jill]

Hi. Its a couple of years since I posted on here so i just thought i'd pop along again and update you briefly on what has been happening. In March 2005 we bought the cottage next door to ours with the intention of knocking them back into one property. After a couple of years of doing bits and pieces ourselves, generating ideas of what we wanted to do and having plans drawn up, plus saving up lots of money we were lucky enough to get an excellent builder back in March to help us make our dreams a reality. Life has been pretty hectic since then, still alot more to do. The property dates back to at least 1735 and has gone through a lot of changes in its time, some of the changes were not beneficial to the property and at times you could say it has been ruined, anyhow we are trying to put some character back and make it structurally sound so that hopefully it will last a couple more hundred years. I have taken lots of photos on a daily basis, here is just one that i took when we first bought it back in 2005 which some of you may remember - hope it works, if it is successful i'll post some more.

 

[Jill]

Afraid i'm not having too much success uploading more pics, they are too large to add as attachments like above and i can't get the hang of how to post using photobucket

 

[DaveBrigg]

Try right-clicking the photo file name, and selecting 'open with' and then choose 'paint'.
when it is open in 'paint' select 'image' from the top, then stretch/skew. If you stretch it by 20 or 30% and save it under a different jpg name it should fit. The picture quality will not be as good, but it should be ok for the forum. Unless you are not using Windows, in which case forget this message.

 

[Jill]

Here goes again. The house on the right was what my partner bought and renovated in 1983, the building control at the time wouldn't let him replace the victorian sash windows nor the clay pantiles so the work that we have been doing has been very much to match that. The lower roof on the left was leaking badly, when work started back in March it became apparent that the wood in the roof was just not strong enough to support the structure, nearly everything that had been done was so bad we have gutted that half ( we did know this before we started)

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I hate to say this, but the section on the right does not have Victorian sash windows in any way, shape or form. It has awful early 1980s casements, the lower of which is a pseudo-Dickensian shop (bow) window. There are two blocked openings (presumably a door and a first floor window, both of the right - vertical - proportions for c1735) in the middle behind the plastic drainpipe, which suggests that the right hand half has had its roof raised at some point, disguising a symmetrical elevation.

I do hope this is a satirical thread...

 

[Schoolmarm]

Me too. No on second thoughts.....................

 

[Schoolmarm]

When Paul did the renovation on the first side in 1984 he wanted to keep sash windows but wasn't allowed, hence the georgian style. These weren't the roof tiles he wanted either.

:|


Ok now I am confused.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

When Paul did the renovation on the first side in 1984 he wanted to keep sash windows but wasn't allowed, hence the georgian style. These weren't the roof tiles he wanted either.

:|


Ok now I am confused.

Me too (not least because Jill's post about 1984 isn't showing up for me). But the roof tiles are the least worst part of it.

 

[Schoolmarm]

No I dug that post up from ages ago.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

No I dug that post up from ages ago.

Ah. However, there are no circumstances (in 1984 probably more so than 2009) in which retaining sash windows would not have been allowed.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Aha.

 

[Penners]

Thank goodness for Gareth 'Tell It Like It Is' Hughes. I've been trying to persuade myself to post diplomatically to this thread, rather than just saying "Ye Gods!" to the top picture and "Eh?" to the lower one.

I do hope it is a spoof. :?

 

[Jill]

Well how should i respond, yes the windows are disgusting, but as I said originally the house has had alot of work done to it in its life that hasn't always been beneficial. I don't know whether i dare post a photo of what it looks like now, or show you pictures of rotten beams, 6 inches of concrete on top of lath ceilings, cement on stone walls - all of which have been removed in order to bring some life and character back into a building which had nothing worth saving except the external walls. Anyhow heres a beam and the concrete to show you how some people treat old properties - this was not done by us by the way.

 

[Jon Maine]

I hate to say this, but the section on the right does not have Victorian sash windows in any way, shape or form. It has awful early 1980s casements, the lower of which is a pseudo-Dickensian shop (bow) window. There are two blocked openings (presumably a door and a first floor window, both of the right - vertical - proportions for c1735) in the middle behind the plastic drainpipe, which suggests that the right hand half has had its roof raised at some point, disguising a symmetrical elevation.

I do hope this is a satirical thread...

I am not sure but is the post saying the clay pans and Victorian ( or Georgian ) sashes are missing because they were not allowed to be replaced after being absent already ?

It would look better with them, even without the correct proportions.

 

[Ian Bond]

Hi Jill

I must say that the way I read your post it seemed that for some reason you'd been prevented from reinstating the sash windows, rather than being responsible for removing the originals.

As someone struggling to put right the terrible damage done to my house by previous owners, I know where you are coming from. Most internal features of my house had either been stripped out or badly damaged - and don't even start me on the roof!

It would have been interesting /encouraging to see the improvements that you've managed to make, in spite of some of the more unfortunate alterations.

I daren't post wider angle shots of my house - it's in a terrace and my neighbours have made some seriously bad "improvements" - I can just imagine the response they'd get here!!!! :mrgreen:

 

[Jill]

Hi Ian

Yes you are correct, my partner was prevented from putting sashes back in, even though they were there at the time when he started working on the house. Same with the roof tiles which were originally clay. I'll post some more pictures for you to hopefully be encouraged by and for everyone else to rip apart. Comments i've had from complete strangers more than make up for any negative comments I may receive from here.
Before

Work in progress


and the windows aren't plastic either.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Whatever I have to say will probably only upset you. So for once, I'm not going to say any more.

 

[Schoolmarm]

 

[Schoolmarm]

Well how should i respond, yes the windows are disgusting, but as I said originally the house has had alot of work done to it in its life that hasn't always been beneficial. I don't know whether i dare post a photo of what it looks like now, or show you pictures of rotten beams, 6 inches of concrete on top of lath ceilings, cement on stone walls - all of which have been removed in order to bring some life and character back into a building which had nothing worth saving except the external walls. Anyhow heres a beam and the concrete to show you how some people treat old properties - this was not done by us by the way.
View attachment 1

Was it concrete on top of the lath ceiling or a lime ash floor?

Hope you lovingly restored that beam.

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes you are correct, my partner was prevented from putting sashes back in, even though they were there at the time when he started working on the house.

How was he 'prevented' from putting sashes back in if they were already there? I can understand that a replacement window may have needed to comply with latest regulations but I'm not sure that prevents sashes being used. Even so, it may have been possible to 'repair' the original sashes, even if such a repair involved the replacement of a lot of the original wood - and such 'repairs' might not have necessitated the involvement of any body that might 'prevent' such things. I realise that it's all too late now, but it would be interesting to know what actually happened. And also why the original roof tiles could not be retained.

Given that the original windows have been lost, I think the windows in your second photo above look much better than the white ones. I'm not sure I'd have gone to the time and trouble of changing the roof line though.