Today we bought this house

[MatthewC]

...It looks like you've got some super old floors there, so , an early plea that you restore them as they are. For those kitchen tiles, I'd recommend a hard brush ( I use small steel brushes on mine to get the efflorescence off), and then a good clean, followed by 3 coats of Liberon stone floor sealer ( a linseed oil mixed with a carrier) and 3 coats of Liberon stone floor wax - it's great for quarry tiles, flagstones, pamments, and it's easy to use. I think they'll come up a treat.

I certainly do intend to keep the floor tiles if I possibly can, but a quick go at a bit of scraping yesterday has rather discouraged me. The floor has been covered by various things, and the only good tiles are near the edges where I think they were once covered by kitchen units. In one place there is newspaper with something thick and black underneath - the paper is dated 1970 and 1972! Elsewhere there is the remains of hessian backing (from lino/plastic covering) and, again, something black and nasty underneath. It is possible that under the black they might be OK... In very damp places such as near the external walls where the ground outside is/was too high, the red ones especially seem to have lost their surface which has bloomed in a big way and destroyed he surface of the tile (is that your "efflorescence"?). It seems to me that if you remove that white dust, all you have is a very rough surface. Would a steel brush really help there?

They look past it to me, but I will persevere for now - although I would not like to spend hours on it only to find that I've been wasting my time. I'm certainly open to suggestions for removal of the black stuff - what do people use for scrapers? Will a metal scraper or a Stanley knife blade damage the tile surface irreparably?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Roughed up and pitted is lovely. Faded, with the bloom of efflorescence, is lovely. The colour pattern in yours is particularly nice, much nicer than mine.

When you arrive in a house, the floors are particularly shocking, the grime of the ages hard to get used to, and when everything else is a shabby mess, there's a strong desire to renew them - but when the room's freshly decorated, the old floors just create the atmosphere of a characterful home, I think they're really important, and it doesn't matter how beautiful the new floor is it's never as interesting as an old one, even if you upgrade the materials.

I'd sooner use chemical strippers than metal scrapers - perhaps give Strippers of Sudbury a ring?

Tomorrow I'll post some pics so you can see what can be done with a floor like yours.

 

[HeatherJ]

They look past it to me, but I will persevere for now - although I would not like to spend hours on it only to find that I've been wasting my time. I'm certainly open to suggestions for removal of the black stuff - what do people use for scrapers? Will a metal scraper or a Stanley knife blade damage the tile surface irreparably?

The black adhesive didn't respond well to the chemicals available to me here in ban-all-chemicals-Toronto. I ended up with stinky slop which smeared around the floor as I tried to lift it. The solution for me was hot water - it was very scary to boil a kettle, pour the scalding water on an unprotected oak floor, cover with a thick layer of newspaper to mop up all the excess water asap, wait 15-20 mins and then scrape with a putty knife scraper thing.
Scary as it was, it worked beautifully and saved an old hall floor that everyone admires and I fall in love with all over again each morning when I come down the stairs.

-heather

 

[divebubble]

Hello Everyone,

Today we just exchanged on the beautiful Grade II old silk mill in wiltshire we have been talking about on here for the last week, we're going to take ownership on Craigs birthday (20th Dec) if all goes according to plan, Tuesday officially though. We will get pics on here asap but at the moment its getting the insurance cover sorted, any recommendations? Heard a company called Adrian Flux is good but been quoted £690, eeek!

If anyone has any tradesmen recommendations for the North Wiltshire/Bath area I would love to know about them....priority is heat though, so any good plumbers/central heating engineers free next month

Divebubble (Claire - ex social diver, hence the name) & Fish (Craig - cos he's a fish out of water with all this renovation stuff I love to do!)

 

[JoceAndChris]

Claire, how lovely for you! A silk mill! Doubtless Gareth will know it, he's our published expert on mills. I'm very excited for you both and wish you all the very best.

Little tip for your future threads - more people likely to respond if you have your very own thread, and you deserve it!

 

[JoceAndChris]

PS. The NFU have been very good for us and gave us a nice fat cheque when we were burgled this year.

 

[CatherineB]

Hi Claire and Craig
Congratulations on your purchase and on "coming out" with your real names!

No advice re insurance, but looking forward to seeing pictures of your new home, and I hope you have a wonderful first Christmas in it

 

[skier-hughes]

NFU for us as well, but I only wish we were paying as little as £690!!!
Things to bear in mind with period properties and insurance -
They cost a fortune to put right if partially destroyed so need to be insured for x2, x3 , x4 times the cost of purchase.
Get someone who knows period properties and what they are made of and how.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Claire, how lovely for you! A silk mill! Doubtless Gareth will know it, he's our published expert on mills. I'm very excited for you both and wish you all the very best.

Little tip for your future threads - more people likely to respond if you have your very own thread, and you deserve it!

Very flattering, but silk mills I don't know much about - except that there's a complete working one in Hampshire, and that Divebubble's can only be one of five possible candidates, and if it's a house not a flat, then one of only two. If it's the one I think it is, then there's little of mill interest left in it, but there's some interesting stuff on the web about its history.

 

[Penners]

Today we just exchanged on the beautiful Grade II old silk mill in wiltshire we have been talking about on here for the last week

Congratulations to you both, Claire! You must be thrilled!

The matter of insurance has been covered extensively in some older threads - have a go at searching for the word on the forum's search facility.

In general, though, it will come down to whether or not your house is sufficiently conventional to be acceptable for cover by one the online insurers - people like More Than, Norwich Union (Aviva), the AA and the like. This is likely to be your most cost-effective option, in terms of premium costs. But if your house is structurally special, listed or in any other way unique, you'll probably find that you need to go for one of the more specialist insurers. Joce has mentioned NFU, which seems to be widely used by period property owners.

As Graham said, don't skimp on your estimated rebuild cost. Period properties, and particularly listed ones, can cost a very great deal more than conventional modern properties to rebuild.

And do read the small print. The great majority of, if not all, insurers insist upon various minimum security measures, nowadays - 5-lever mortice locks, window locks and so on. Make sure you comply with these rules, or you could find yourself in difficulties if you have to make a claim after a break-in.

 

[Matt Green]

Divebubble's can only be one of five possible candidates, and if it's a house not a flat, then one of only two. If it's the one I think it is, then there's little of mill interest left in it, but there's some interesting stuff on the web about its history.

I think it's that one- it has a mansard roof. Nice looking house.

M.

 

[divebubble]

Hiya,

Yes its the one with the mansard roof! You know of it??? We've tried to find pictures and history of it on the web but have drawn a blank except for the English Heritage description and a brief note in the Councils website of it being a silk mill.....can you give me any pointers as where else I should look?

As for the tentative link to the mills history, your right there is little of that left unfortunately, its definitely more of a house with lots of period features. I can just imagine what the floor space on the middle and top floor would of looked like as open plan, no wonder the inglenook fireplace is huge compared to the room it now resides in, would of needed a lot of wood and coal to keep the mill even close to warm :-9

Thanks for the heads up on starting a new thread, its been a long week and the IT has been temperamental, so posted on this thread as a short cut!

Divebubble x

 

[middi]

Good luck to both of you proud owners.

( who said that the housing market was dead !!!!!!)

Middi

 

[Flyfisher]

Congratulation on your purchase. Exciting and, hopefully, happy times ahead!

Divebubble (Claire - ex social diver, hence the name)

Off topic I know but, as a recreational diver myself, I'm wondering what defines an 'ex' social diver? Although I haven't dived for a few years now I wouldn't describe myself as an ex-diver, just one waiting for the next opportunity (which in our case means somewhere very warm!).

Joce has mentioned NFU, which seems to be widely used by period property owners.

We're also with NFU. It's good to hear that Joce had a trouble-free claim, but that only echoes our experience when we had to claim after the diamond fell out of Mrs FF's engagement ring. Due to a mix up when we changed insurers, it turned out that we were not actually insured for jewellery even though that was clearly part of our requirements and, to their credit, NFU honoured the claim and paid out in full, much to our relief.

And do read the small print. The great majority of, if not all, insurers insist upon various minimum security measures, nowadays - 5-lever mortice locks, window locks and so on. Make sure you comply with these rules, or you could find yourself in difficulties if you have to make a claim after a break-in.

Just to clarify, that statement is quite correct in terms of 'standard conditions' but there's no need to panic if you cannot comply with all the stated requirements. However, if you don't meet them, it's vital to inform the insurance company in writing. They may adjust the premium, they may not, but at least you will be fully covered because you will have disclosed the relevant material facts (or whatever the correct term is).

I also echo the point about rebuild valuations. If this is your first period property then you may be surprised to know that, unlike most modern-ish houses, the re-build costs of a period property are quite likely to be higher than the market value. We've previously discussed how unsatisfactory it is that an amateur home owner is responsible for providing an adequate valuation to a professional insurance company (well, I've moaned about it anyway), so it's best to talk to your insurer about this point and satisfy yourself that they accept whatever valuation is agreed. If they don't, then you open yourself to the risk of being under-insured, which will definitely complicate any future claims.

 

[Penners]

Congratulation on your purchase. Exciting and, hopefully, happy times ahead!

Divebubble (Claire - ex social diver, hence the name)

Off topic I know but, as a recreational diver myself, I'm wondering what defines an 'ex' social diver? Although I haven't dived for a few years now I wouldn't describe myself as an ex-diver

Oops! I assumed that the phrase "social diver" referred to the opposite of a social climber.

 

[Flyfisher]

Ah, I see your point. Perhaps the 'oops' is mine?

We must await Divebubble's clarification. :lol:

 

[MatthewC]

I'm not sure if your house is habitable. If it's not (yet), then the NFU won't help, as I found out (see photo on first page of this thread, or see my blog at http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/). I went to the Listed Property Owners Club, who sorted me out for specified risks such as arson!

BTW, our roof is now finished and the scaffolding should come down next week. Very exciting!

Matthew

 

[divebubble]

Flyfisher,

I'm a moth balled ex diver as haven't been diving for about 3 years now and having to sell kit (have a nice Jacket and Wing for sell if you know anyones who's interested) to fund certain house projects. Last time I dived warm waters was the beautiful and amazing Red Sea, 26 degrees in the water, clear viz for about half a mile and marine life that just blew your head away! OMG mother nature is awesome!!!! I digress, apologies. Will be looking into the NFU insurance today, picking up the keys tomorrow

Divebubble

 

[Flyfisher]

I digress, apologies.

It's a bit of a tradition in these here parts.

Don't be too ready to give up diving though, I our last dives were four years ago, though in Antigua, which is nowhere near as good (for diving) as the Red Sea. Because our diving is fairly infrequent we only invested in masks, fins and dive computers and just hire everything else as necessary.

Anyway, back on topic, enjoy your move tomorrow. I hope the weather doesn't complicate things for you.

 

[Penners]

OMG mother nature is awesome!!!!

As FF says, digression is entirely forgiveable.

But I may have to refer "OMG" and "awesome" to the committee.