The Warm Dry Home - New Peter Ward book

[RBailey]

Hi All,

Just sharing here, Peter Ward co-author of the Haynes Period Property manual (and slayer of damp wallies / PCA's number one enemy) has a new book out.

Book: The Warm Dry Home – Heritage House Shop

I know Peter can be Marmite (love or hate him) but IMHO he really knows and understands moisture in old buildings.

(Malcolm, feel free to delete this post if its not allowed / breaks advertising etc..)

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[malcolm]

Peter Ward is brilliant. I love watching his surveys on You Tube where he knocks big chunks of unsuitable materials from ancient timber frames and scrapes the soaking rotten bits of wood out. I always wonder if that's what the owners expected to happen during a survey. Agree about the damp proof industry whose expensive fixes will at best hide the problem, will invariably make it worse in the long term and be expensive to put right.

Warm does go with dry. Wet things conduct heat better than dry things and most old houses seem to have been cement rendered or pointed and masonry paint painted and will have wet walls. It made a big difference to my room temperatures when I removed that stuff.

The book is going to be well worth a read for anyone new to old houses. It's not going to be tick box religious old house stuff. He always tries to pass on an understanding about how things work (which will lead to lime mortar and breathable paints anyway but you'll understand why).

 

[Feltwell]

I met him once, a good few years back now, he came out to do a quote here for all the brickwork issues I had. A man of strong opinions, but I do think he knows his stuff - however after making positive noises he left and after that I got nothing, radio silence, no quote.

I do wish Trades would just say when they don't want a job!

However - it wouldn't put me off getting the book.

 

[steveb]

Good heads up. Purchased

 

[Lacan07]

Hi All,

Just sharing here, Peter Ward co-author of the Haynes Period Property manual (and slayer of damp wallies / PCA's number one enemy) has a new book out.

Book: The Warm Dry Home – Heritage House Shop

I know Peter can be Marmite (love or hate him) but IMHO he really knows and understands moisture in old buildings.

(Malcolm, feel free to delete this post if its not allowed / breaks advertising etc..)

Cheers,
Richard B.

I purchased the Haynes book immediately after buying my house, being 100% naive I had no idea what I had let myself in for. It completely changed my outlook. I do think it's important to get a level head about certain topics though, all projects are a compromise.

 

[TudorCottage]

I found his YouTube videos after we’d had offer accepted on our 500 year old timber framed cottage

Put the fear of good in me. Although most surveyors I’ve dealt with when buying old or newer houses have always been from ‘the glass half empty’ camp, I think it goes with the job.

I found his oakum videos really useful and I’ve sealed most of my wooden window frames as a result and I’m sure the book will find its way into my Christmas stocking.

I convince myself every day that this cottage has stood here for 500 years, what could possibly go wrong during my short tenure. I find it helps me sleep at night

 

[Cubist]

I found his YouTube videos after we’d had offer accepted on our 500 year old timber framed cottage

Put the fear of good in me. Although most surveyors I’ve dealt with when buying old or newer houses have always been from ‘the glass half empty’ camp, I think it goes with the job.

I found his oakum videos really useful and I’ve sealed most of my wooden window frames as a result and I’m sure the book will find its way into my Christmas stocking.

I convince myself every day that this cottage has stood here for 500 years, what could possibly go wrong during my short tenure. I find it helps me sleep at night

The maxim "Hope for the best but plan for the worst" is the only sensible course but the first part of that advice is typically ignored by professional experts providing an estimate.

 

[a twig]

I noted that @Matt Green wasn't overly thrilled by this announcement, would be interested to hear why? Not got any skin in this, just genuinely interested.