Hi everybody. First of all I'd like to say how completely fascinating and useful this site is. I've been an unregistered but fairly obsessive reader of the Forum for about six months, as well as diverting to read the websites of the regulars, and the other recommended websites, and I've learnt a great deal to add to the knowledge I already had, e.g. I've long been convinced that damp-proof courses etc, in old buildings were a waste of money, and I've been theoretically in favour of lime mortar, but only to the extent of doing a bit of patching in the home-mixed stuff (a la Biff) plus (shame!) a bit of guaging with cement - but not enough to argue convincingly with our local builders. I'm now a radicalized total convert! The forum has also potentially saved us many hundred pounds which we might have spent in getting some complete replacement double-glazed timber sash windows. I now realise the whole subject is far more complex, repair will be preferable, and this may well be the subject of a future post.
Our house is not listed, nor is it in a conservation area, but I am nevertheless keen to do things in symathetic PP style - the house is basically 18th century (bits could be earlier), but with a lot of Victorian and later additions and adaptations/repairs, thick rubble limestone walls, quarry tiles, plus a lot of later stuff, including some plastic windows (at the back) for which we are resposible (shame, and embarrassment)
Our property is half of what was originally quite a large house, rather badly divided into two in 1950, we have lived here for 20 years, and have gradually done things as time and funds have permitted.
First question/comment to the Forum. I'm restoring a bedroom, the nicest and most unaltered one, and have completely removed the old lath/plaster ceiling - which in my defence was very decayed, because of a leaking roof some years ago, the laths were very thin, flimsy sawn softwood ones, in places much too close together giving virtually no key, and the nails were rusted. However, perhaps I should have saved at least some of it.
The builder, who (before I was so completely converted) made good quite a big patch of one wall with cement & modern plaster, obviously wanted to put up plasterboard. So did my wife originally, but she has also now seen the light and I am going to re-do it with lath and lime, at least I will nail up the laths and then find a plasterer competent to do the lime-work.
Here comes the question at last - the websites recommend riven lath as being stronger, and oak is promoted as probably better than chestnut (more expensive anyway) and certainly better than softwood. BUT, what looks like a cheap material by the metre becomes hideously expensive once you work out how much is required. So I'm now almost regretting breaking up for firewood quite so much of the thin old laths.
Should I go for riven in spite of the cost, is the cheapo sawn softwood quite adequate, or would say sawn oak be a better compromise?
And a final question - how on earth do some of the most frequent contributers here find time to earn a living? (only joking)
Philip
Our house is not listed, nor is it in a conservation area, but I am nevertheless keen to do things in symathetic PP style - the house is basically 18th century (bits could be earlier), but with a lot of Victorian and later additions and adaptations/repairs, thick rubble limestone walls, quarry tiles, plus a lot of later stuff, including some plastic windows (at the back) for which we are resposible (shame, and embarrassment)
Our property is half of what was originally quite a large house, rather badly divided into two in 1950, we have lived here for 20 years, and have gradually done things as time and funds have permitted.First question/comment to the Forum. I'm restoring a bedroom, the nicest and most unaltered one, and have completely removed the old lath/plaster ceiling - which in my defence was very decayed, because of a leaking roof some years ago, the laths were very thin, flimsy sawn softwood ones, in places much too close together giving virtually no key, and the nails were rusted. However, perhaps I should have saved at least some of it.
The builder, who (before I was so completely converted) made good quite a big patch of one wall with cement & modern plaster, obviously wanted to put up plasterboard. So did my wife originally, but she has also now seen the light and I am going to re-do it with lath and lime, at least I will nail up the laths and then find a plasterer competent to do the lime-work.
Here comes the question at last - the websites recommend riven lath as being stronger, and oak is promoted as probably better than chestnut (more expensive anyway) and certainly better than softwood. BUT, what looks like a cheap material by the metre becomes hideously expensive once you work out how much is required. So I'm now almost regretting breaking up for firewood quite so much of the thin old laths.
Should I go for riven in spite of the cost, is the cheapo sawn softwood quite adequate, or would say sawn oak be a better compromise?
And a final question - how on earth do some of the most frequent contributers here find time to earn a living? (only joking)
Philip