dinglem
Member
- Messages
- 33
- Location
- Staffordshire
Hi all,
It's been a while since I posted on this forum... and i'm still working on my farmhouse that i purchased a little over 4 years ago.
A while back we decided to attack the main lounge, which had been 'decorated' fairly terribly during the 1980's... the ceiling beams had been painted black, the walls covered in cake icing-type of plastering and the inglenook had been revised with some horrible modern and very dark brown bricks. See the following picture... pretty nasty!
The first thing we decided to do was bring in a company to strip the beams for us, which took a while but we managed to find a company claiming to be able to treat and then lightly blast them without causing any damage (not sure what medium they used). I was a little dubious but went for it anyway, and the results were magnificent! The grain showing through on the beams is beautiful - why anybody would have opted to paint them black is beyond me!
The horrid 'icing' plaster on the walls was then stripped and the entire room lime plastered.
I was dreading starting to remove the bricks on the inglenook as my hopes were that the original brickwork would still be present and undamaged behind, but i knew i'd be gutted if it wasn't, or indeed if the newer bricks were mortared to them in such a way that it was impossible to remove them without causing damage. Careful work with a drill, hammer and chisel gave good results however, and i was pleased to see original brickwork behind. We have so far removed about 2/3 of the modern bricks, and have uncovered an alcove/recess behind the modern equivalent, but much MUCH deeper (about 12inches and a lot taller) and also what i would describe as 2 columns that run up the chimney either side of where i assume the fire should go (central). These columns can be followed up the chimney and seem to be to channel smoke up and across to the centre line of the house where the chimney exit is located. What is odd is that the one on the left curves out over the fire and then back on itself, and there is a very large nail sticking out... would this perhaps be to hang something on over the fire????
There was a lot (and i mean a LOT) of soot behind the brickwork when we took it out, and as you can see the inside of the chimney is caked in the stuff. What is the best way to clean this?? Any advice would be much appreciated. The bricks and mortar are very very solid indeed - even the wonky one above the recess is totally solid... quite like it in fact!!
Not a very clear picture, but you can make out the 2 columns and the curved one on the left... these are just out of sight above the beam over the inglenook.
This is the straight column to the right of the fireplace and the curved side of the chimney breast which dominated the upstairs bedroom.
This is the curved column and the nail mentioned previously. What is this for??
It also seems a little odd that the chimney at the top splits into two, which you can just make out on the previous picture... Why would this be??
The plan is to hopefully strip the rest of the modern bricks off the front right hand face and then have a go at cleaning up the original brickwork as much as possible and see how it looks. It's a bit of a mess at the moment but hopefully there is some potential there
All we have done so far is brush-scrubbed a few of the bricks below the first recess to see how they looked (see below). Any thoughts on simple soot removal and the best way forwards??? Should i expect another recess on the right hand? Looking at the modern brickwork on the first picture there is a larger one located much lower down than the one on the left. Fingers-crossed....
Cheers,
Martin.
It's been a while since I posted on this forum... and i'm still working on my farmhouse that i purchased a little over 4 years ago.
A while back we decided to attack the main lounge, which had been 'decorated' fairly terribly during the 1980's... the ceiling beams had been painted black, the walls covered in cake icing-type of plastering and the inglenook had been revised with some horrible modern and very dark brown bricks. See the following picture... pretty nasty!
The first thing we decided to do was bring in a company to strip the beams for us, which took a while but we managed to find a company claiming to be able to treat and then lightly blast them without causing any damage (not sure what medium they used). I was a little dubious but went for it anyway, and the results were magnificent! The grain showing through on the beams is beautiful - why anybody would have opted to paint them black is beyond me!
The horrid 'icing' plaster on the walls was then stripped and the entire room lime plastered.
I was dreading starting to remove the bricks on the inglenook as my hopes were that the original brickwork would still be present and undamaged behind, but i knew i'd be gutted if it wasn't, or indeed if the newer bricks were mortared to them in such a way that it was impossible to remove them without causing damage. Careful work with a drill, hammer and chisel gave good results however, and i was pleased to see original brickwork behind. We have so far removed about 2/3 of the modern bricks, and have uncovered an alcove/recess behind the modern equivalent, but much MUCH deeper (about 12inches and a lot taller) and also what i would describe as 2 columns that run up the chimney either side of where i assume the fire should go (central). These columns can be followed up the chimney and seem to be to channel smoke up and across to the centre line of the house where the chimney exit is located. What is odd is that the one on the left curves out over the fire and then back on itself, and there is a very large nail sticking out... would this perhaps be to hang something on over the fire????
There was a lot (and i mean a LOT) of soot behind the brickwork when we took it out, and as you can see the inside of the chimney is caked in the stuff. What is the best way to clean this?? Any advice would be much appreciated. The bricks and mortar are very very solid indeed - even the wonky one above the recess is totally solid... quite like it in fact!!
Not a very clear picture, but you can make out the 2 columns and the curved one on the left... these are just out of sight above the beam over the inglenook.
This is the straight column to the right of the fireplace and the curved side of the chimney breast which dominated the upstairs bedroom.
This is the curved column and the nail mentioned previously. What is this for??
It also seems a little odd that the chimney at the top splits into two, which you can just make out on the previous picture... Why would this be??
The plan is to hopefully strip the rest of the modern bricks off the front right hand face and then have a go at cleaning up the original brickwork as much as possible and see how it looks. It's a bit of a mess at the moment but hopefully there is some potential there
All we have done so far is brush-scrubbed a few of the bricks below the first recess to see how they looked (see below). Any thoughts on simple soot removal and the best way forwards??? Should i expect another recess on the right hand? Looking at the modern brickwork on the first picture there is a larger one located much lower down than the one on the left. Fingers-crossed....
Cheers,
Martin.
