- Thread starter LB27
- Start date
Thanks for your advice Feltwell.
If only I could chop my other half's feet of;-)
To be honest, we really are very taken with it and have decided to get advice from a surveyor before going through with it, although we'd probably be able to manage without doing anything to it which is the really important thing. You know how it is when it's love at first sight!!
If anyone knows of any great builders in the Cheshire area that might be able to do a good job, that'd be great.
Thanks again, L
If only I could chop my other half's feet of;-)
To be honest, we really are very taken with it and have decided to get advice from a surveyor before going through with it, although we'd probably be able to manage without doing anything to it which is the really important thing. You know how it is when it's love at first sight!!
If anyone knows of any great builders in the Cheshire area that might be able to do a good job, that'd be great.
Thanks again, L
Penners
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Marm, I think you're going a bit dotty.
I lowered the ground floor level by 4 inches in the first cottage project that I carried out (about 100 years ago). I lifted the brick paviours, dug out the subsoil and then re-laid the paviours.
Just be careful that you don't dig as deep as the footings of the house, as this could start to cause instability. And avoid disturbing any soil that will remain in situ.
Remember to get LBC if the building is listed.
I lowered the ground floor level by 4 inches in the first cottage project that I carried out (about 100 years ago). I lifted the brick paviours, dug out the subsoil and then re-laid the paviours.
Just be careful that you don't dig as deep as the footings of the house, as this could start to cause instability. And avoid disturbing any soil that will remain in situ.
Remember to get LBC if the building is listed.
Schoolmarm
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This thread has broken the forum. No doubt about it. All broked.
FamilyWiggs
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Schoolmarm said:
Yep - knackered with a capital K-n.
The outage was so bad last night, I was almost forced to spend the evening talking to SWMBO instead. Am also becoming worryingly expert in SQL table error messages! 1494 is my favourite.
JoceAndChris
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I had to spend the evening cleaning! It was hell. Chris didn't get back til 1am. The forum is not allowed to break again.
The forum is not allowed to break again.Penners
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Ah yes - they don't write numbers like that any more.FamilyWiggs said:
Penners
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I'm a firm believer in trying something new, every once in a while.JoceAndChris said:
Schoolmarm
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I trawled through some other forums all night.
FamilyWiggs
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Schoolmarm said:
Really? Which ones?
My only other must read blog/site every day is www.politicalbetting.com
Penners
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It was about 30 years ago, so I can't remember how much we spent, but it wasn't much. Costs amounted to a couple of skips to take away the excavated soil, plus enough sand and lime to make a lean dry mix, upon which to re-bed the paviours.LB27 said:
Most of the cost was to my back and arms. I'm now in constant pain, of course, but I never talk about it. I just smile through my tears.
chuckey
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You don't say what form of construction your cottage has. Basically the walls are set on top of some footings(now called foundations), the weight of the walls is transferred to the footings and thence into the soil. So the big thing is that the bottom of the footings must not be disturbed, else the wall might move/fall down. A caveat is that if you dig down inside the house the pressure of the soil on the outside of the house can again cause the walls to move/.., this effect generally will not be noticed until the outside soil is , say 2' + above the inside.
The thing to do then is to do an exploratory dig against the outside of the house, adjacent to the wall under discussion, say about 12" wide and deep enough so you can see the tops of the footings (could be brick or stone) normally wider or larger then the wall. Once you have found this level, you can go just a bit deeper to half way down the top course of stones or bricks. This is so the top layer of the footings will still be sitting in the soil to stop them sliding out sideways.
Now you reached the critical depth on which you can build your new floor. I have done this using some new fangled material which gets a lot of disapproval around here, then a DPC, then 2" of foam insulation, then another layer of that modern stuff. The total flooring thickness would be about 11". Now its up to you to figure out how much additional height you could gain. In my "Dales" cottage, there was no increase in headroom, I did it to reduce the dampness and increase the insulation - I relaid the original flagstone so my "floor" thickness was actually 13".
Frank
The thing to do then is to do an exploratory dig against the outside of the house, adjacent to the wall under discussion, say about 12" wide and deep enough so you can see the tops of the footings (could be brick or stone) normally wider or larger then the wall. Once you have found this level, you can go just a bit deeper to half way down the top course of stones or bricks. This is so the top layer of the footings will still be sitting in the soil to stop them sliding out sideways.
Now you reached the critical depth on which you can build your new floor. I have done this using some new fangled material which gets a lot of disapproval around here, then a DPC, then 2" of foam insulation, then another layer of that modern stuff. The total flooring thickness would be about 11". Now its up to you to figure out how much additional height you could gain. In my "Dales" cottage, there was no increase in headroom, I did it to reduce the dampness and increase the insulation - I relaid the original flagstone so my "floor" thickness was actually 13".
Frank
Schoolmarm
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Frank, you are very polite and helpful but your advice and choice of materials is not the correct advice for old houses.
Why would we be telling people to remove it or rip it out, for you to then say put it all back?
Why would we be telling people to remove it or rip it out, for you to then say put it all back?