Renovation of Cumbrian cottage circa 1750

[pineapple]

Hi all - just an intro
About to start renovating a 1700s cottage near Kirkby Stephen Cumbria (pics to follow). Jobs will include replacing the horrible 1960s kitchen, new sash windows, excavating the area being the ugly multifuel stove and fitting a new stove or open fire plus liner. removing woodchip, substantial replastering. Main issue is the damp on the bedroom gable end.
The property has been a family holiday cottage for the last 25 years so has been largely unoccupied. I suspect damp got in through some defective external rendering (now supposedly repaired) and a chimney with no cowl. Worst case scenario is that the rendering is part of the problem and will have to come off. First job is to look at any easily fixable causes, remove any damp wallcovering/plaster then see if it begins to dry out - especially once the place is occupied (yes I'll be 'camping' on a building site). In the meantime will be resisting suggestions so far - tanking, DPC, chemical injection etc.
Looking for lime specialists in the area.
More once I've had the builders round....

 

[pineapple]

This little cupboard is set in the wall of the cottage. A builder told me there had been one similar in a listed property he was working on but plain - without the carving. Just wondered if these are a common feature and if anyone knows if the design has any significance.

 

[Flyfisher]

First job is to look at any easily fixable causes, remove any damp wallcovering/plaster then see if it begins to dry out - especially once the place is occupied (yes I'll be 'camping' on a building site).

If the building has been largely unoccupied for the past 25 years then I'd assume it has been mostly unheated and unventilated as well and the simple act of you moving in and living there full-time will likely mean a big change in the 'micro-climate' of the building. It will take a while for the building to adjust to these new conditions so I'd resist making major changes immediately. With summertime now upon us, the simple act of opening up the house and letting fresh air waft through it will likely do wonders for any residual damp problems. That's not to say there are no structural issues as well, but it sounds like you're already on top of things like open chimneys, leaking rainwater goods etc.

 

[pineapple]

Thank you
It's nice to know I'm on the right track I'm gradually moving in and ventilating the place and now that I've had the chimney swept and draft checked will overnight tonight and light the stove for a bit of heat - though have been warned about too much too soon. Carbon monoxide detectors at the ready! Meanwhile taking off and removing any damp paper.
A complete stranger in the village (friend of the couple next door) has offered me free use of the static caravan on her smallholding if I want to escape the building work when it starts. How good is that!

 

[Keith Bowman]

This little cupboard is set in the wall of the cottage. A builder told me there had been one similar in a listed property he was working on but plain - without the carving. Just wondered if these are a common feature and if anyone knows if the design has any significance.

I presume you have looked around Townend near Troutbeck? Not sure if there is anything similar but plenty of carving to study.

 

[Penners]

I wholeheartedly agree with FF on the matter of damp. Let the property enjoy the warm summer air before you make any dramatic decisions about damp problems.

The cupboard door is charming. I could believe that the carving design and the butterfly hinges are Arts & Crafts, but its condition suggests earlier - unless it's just been badly treated.

 

[mims&pip]

We had a very similar looking tiny cupboard door in our last-but-one house (a non-listed Tudor in East Anglia that was completely dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt elsewhere), but on closer inspection our *carving* was actually applied gesso-type plaster that had been painted to simulate timber :roll: This fitted in with the other Arts & Crafts style additions made by the master builder that carried out the work in 1938.....

A later owner had incorporated it as a serving hatch to the kitchen.....shudder :shock:

Good luck with the renovations btw - we've done a few pretty major projects and have lived on site each time. It's a learning curve - especially with small kids involved and when you're doing a vast amount yourselves - but extremely rewarding, nonetheless

Mims x

 

[Gareth Hughes]

it looks rather like this...
http://www.periodoakantiques.co.uk/...salt-spice-cupboard-circa-1670-5-stockno-928/
whose eye-watering price I hope will not tempt removal of yours...
http://www.lapada.org/antiques/d/a-...elsh-oak-salt-spice-cupboard-circa-1670/82576

 

[pineapple]

it looks rather like this...
http://www.periodoakantiques.co.uk/...salt-spice-cupboard-circa-1670-5-stockno-928/
whose eye-watering price I hope will not tempt removal of yours...
http://www.lapada.org/antiques/d/a-...elsh-oak-salt-spice-cupboard-circa-1670/82576

Wow
Well the builder did say, re the other house, that the one thing planners were insistent on was that he didn't touch that cupboard!

 

[pineapple]

Good luck with the renovations btw - we've done a few pretty major projects and have lived on site each time. It's a learning curve - especially with small kids involved and when you're doing a vast amount yourselves - but extremely rewarding, nonetheless

Mims x

I've just had a night there (on a blow up divan which deflated) . Me and the dog were in 'the good room'. However the carpet looks like it could take off all by itself and my clothes and bedding now seem to have a 'taint'. Got some freecyclers coming to take all the carpet from everywhere. Might leave the carpet in the kitchen though (yes the kitchen is fitted with a 60s swirly green carpet :roll: ) to protect, during renovation, the lovely flags which we found under the carpet.

 

[mims&pip]

Lucky you with the flags, pineapple We've not had much joy on that front - last house had nasty glued-down Lino where you'd have expected to find flagstones (quite grand Georgian thatched vilłage house) and our current house (a much more recent 1850s build with Arts & Crafts extension) had a very promising carpeted hall, which on lifting revealed only a bare concrete floor

Mims x

 

[pineapple]

Just had the awful carpet taken up and collected by some lovely freecyclers from Alston.. Apparently they built their own straw bale house and do training on all things eco. They are sending me details of lime plasterers in case the stuff on the outside of the house needs to come off. Sounds like a funded heritage type organisation consequently with very reasonable prices. The good news is both the kitchen and lounge turn out to have wonderful flags dry as a bone and in remarkable condition. Next door neighbour was in drooling over them having failed to find any in his property. Oh and the cupboard in the wall I posted about earlier is definitely a spice cupboard. Popular in Lake District cottages for keeping salt and spices - near the fire to keep dry.
Everyone is telling me to replace the little old sash windows with UPVC. Ditto the rickety old door. Don't want to go there but wood costs twice as much. Depends how the budget runs/runs out.

 

[Zebra]

This all sounds very promising pineapple, regarding the flagstones and your new contacts.
Please don't do anything hasty about the windows though! Have you any pictures of the place which we could see?

 

[livias]

Looks like ou have found out about your cupboard but for future reference, the fount of knowledge on this sort of thing is

Period House Fixtures and Fittings by Linda Hall which has more than three pages of pictures and detailed text devoted to spice cupboards

 

[pineapple]

The cottage has a front cobbled courtyard and side garden.

 

[johnobirches]

Hi Pineapple,

I recommend you call Tim Wells at Eden Lime Mortar http://www.eden-lime-mortar.co.uk/

He's a great guy and a mine of information. He's based at great Musgrave just outside Kirkby Stephen and couldn't be more familiar with local buildings, history and sympathetic tradesmen. I have /am using his lime products and advice on our cottage and we are very pleased with the results.

Good luck with the work.

Regards
John

 

[Penners]

What a beautiful little cottage. Thank goodness you're not going to fit plastic windows - that would be an act of vandalism!

 

[pineapple]

Hi Pineapple,

I recommend you call Tim Wells at Eden Lime Mortar http://www.eden-lime-mortar.co.uk/

He's a great guy and a mine of information. He's based at great Musgrave just outside Kirkby Stephen and couldn't be more familiar with local buildings, history and sympathetic tradesmen. I have /am using his lime products and advice on our cottage and we are very pleased with the results.

Good luck with the work.

Regards
John

Just seen this - thanks to a certain telephone company stuffing up my home move and leaving me without a connection. I've continued this with another thread specifically about plastering and pointing. Will definitely contact this guy. - seeing as I seem to have acquired a 'lyme phobic' builder :roll:

 

[pineapple]

Hi Pineapple,

I recommend you call Tim Wells at Eden Lime Mortar http://www.eden-lime-mortar.co.uk/

He's a great guy and a mine of information. He's based at great Musgrave just outside Kirkby Stephen and couldn't be more familiar with local buildings, history and sympathetic tradesmen. I have /am using his lime products and advice on our cottage and we are very pleased with the results.

Good luck with the work.

Regards
John

Oops double post. I keep getting thrown off this site due to an SSL issue and didn't know if the other one had gone through. Anyhow Great Musgrave not far from me!