Georgian House Renovation Up North - 5 Years and Counting
Discussion
There was plenty more scrap to come out of the house before I'd done - but yes, that Lead weight a fair whack and got me a good few quid back.
Continuing the chiselling off along the outside wall, I exposed a beam that ran the full length of the room so decided to keep that as a feature.
I tried getting the dust out with this crappy little fan heater/cooler I had lying around but it was useless.
There aren't photos so you can call custard if you like but I actually resorted to going and getting the leaf blower from the garage, taping up the door and then just chasing the dust and blasting all the s
t out of the window for half an hour. I heartily recommend it - great fun 
I managed to placate the wife by pointing out that when I'd taken the ceiling down, it was actually gypsum plaster and not lime which meant I could technically do it again in gypsum as it became a like for like activity which is permitted under listed building without any need for consent. Weirdly though - they'd used the gypsum plaster back over lath which didn't make any sense as the mechanics of gypsum bonding versus lime and hair hooking through lath to hold on is totally different.
I couldn't actually get the old water tank down as I didn't fancy sawing through timbers - It's still up there, maybe some day I'll do something and make a feature of it somehow...
Back to the plastering - It was in theory easy to just board and skim the ceiling, however - There was the small matter of pulling out out all the nails from the beams first so the board would be flat. I cannot explain how perfectly at the wrong height the beams were to have to do this. I could reach them fomr the floor but after ten minutes my neck was killing me, so it became an incredibly dusty session of Zumba hopping up and down off platform to do them all as you couldn't reach that many from the platform before having to move again...
It took about 2 days and all the nails were out and Steve the plasterer could get the room boarded and skimmed. The fireplace is patched because I'd told him to leave the fireplace as I'd got one from ebay I was going to fit - My fault that I didn't tell him it was a small bedroom one so he had to thin it down afterwards with two inserts. He hated it as he's a perfectionist but you can't tell now they're painted up.
Continuing the chiselling off along the outside wall, I exposed a beam that ran the full length of the room so decided to keep that as a feature.
I tried getting the dust out with this crappy little fan heater/cooler I had lying around but it was useless.
There aren't photos so you can call custard if you like but I actually resorted to going and getting the leaf blower from the garage, taping up the door and then just chasing the dust and blasting all the s
t out of the window for half an hour. I heartily recommend it - great fun I managed to placate the wife by pointing out that when I'd taken the ceiling down, it was actually gypsum plaster and not lime which meant I could technically do it again in gypsum as it became a like for like activity which is permitted under listed building without any need for consent. Weirdly though - they'd used the gypsum plaster back over lath which didn't make any sense as the mechanics of gypsum bonding versus lime and hair hooking through lath to hold on is totally different.
I couldn't actually get the old water tank down as I didn't fancy sawing through timbers - It's still up there, maybe some day I'll do something and make a feature of it somehow...
Back to the plastering - It was in theory easy to just board and skim the ceiling, however - There was the small matter of pulling out out all the nails from the beams first so the board would be flat. I cannot explain how perfectly at the wrong height the beams were to have to do this. I could reach them fomr the floor but after ten minutes my neck was killing me, so it became an incredibly dusty session of Zumba hopping up and down off platform to do them all as you couldn't reach that many from the platform before having to move again...
It took about 2 days and all the nails were out and Steve the plasterer could get the room boarded and skimmed. The fireplace is patched because I'd told him to leave the fireplace as I'd got one from ebay I was going to fit - My fault that I didn't tell him it was a small bedroom one so he had to thin it down afterwards with two inserts. He hated it as he's a perfectionist but you can't tell now they're painted up.
Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 23 September 23:52
With boarding out the walls, it meant the new wall sat proud of the beam that ran the length of the original, so the plasterer used a mix of plaster of Paris to blend a smooth curve into the beam.
Not sure it shows on the photo too clearly but it is really quality work and makes it look like its always been that way.
To make the most of the beams, it was Tung Oil time again.
It left a tiger stripe effect where the lath had been nailed to the beam - another stupid thing they'd done - as there's no way for the plaster to push behind the lath when it's nailed flush into a beam?
With he plaster skim finished - we went to get the massive tub of watered down emulsion to bed the plaster in.
There are certain jobs I like doing - plumbing is fun (apart form the initial seconds of stting yourself in case of a leak whenever you put the supply back on), destruction is fun, building stuff with wood and timbers is fun.
Trying to work out how to get six spotlights in a room perfectly aligned when you have two beams blocking the way, no square walls and a ceiling you've freshly plastered and painted isn't. the last point is totally self inflicted because I was in denial about doing the spots and I knew I should have done the lights first but was kind of pretending the problem would go away.
Up they go...
I did end up getting them level by measuring around in the roof space and taking measures from the beams, etc and then poking through the centre before coming out ofthe loft and drilling from the bottom and up.
Always good to have assistance on hand
I needn't have worried because although they're bang on level (somehow), the beams mean you only see two at once anyway so even if I was a kack-handed buffoon - I'd have got away with it anyway.
Not sure it shows on the photo too clearly but it is really quality work and makes it look like its always been that way.
To make the most of the beams, it was Tung Oil time again.
It left a tiger stripe effect where the lath had been nailed to the beam - another stupid thing they'd done - as there's no way for the plaster to push behind the lath when it's nailed flush into a beam?
With he plaster skim finished - we went to get the massive tub of watered down emulsion to bed the plaster in.
There are certain jobs I like doing - plumbing is fun (apart form the initial seconds of s
tting yourself in case of a leak whenever you put the supply back on), destruction is fun, building stuff with wood and timbers is fun.Trying to work out how to get six spotlights in a room perfectly aligned when you have two beams blocking the way, no square walls and a ceiling you've freshly plastered and painted isn't. the last point is totally self inflicted because I was in denial about doing the spots and I knew I should have done the lights first but was kind of pretending the problem would go away.
Up they go...
I did end up getting them level by measuring around in the roof space and taking measures from the beams, etc and then poking through the centre before coming out ofthe loft and drilling from the bottom and up.
Always good to have assistance on hand
I needn't have worried because although they're bang on level (somehow), the beams mean you only see two at once anyway so even if I was a kack-handed buffoon - I'd have got away with it anyway.
Some Gump said:
I have no idea if it's my iPad or the op being tired, but I do love playing the "try to match the words with the pictures from yesterday's post" game.
Still loving your work, mr Boggs. Would love to have exposed beams in here
Guessing its just you - looks fine on my own pc and on my works laptop? Still loving your work, mr Boggs. Would love to have exposed beams in here
stewjohnst said:
I asked him to recover as many bricks intact as possible because they have the initials HBW pressed in them as they were made in the brickworks of the colliery owner (Henry Briggs Works). He was a good hundred years ahead of Saddam getting his name on the bricks he put into his palaces.
You can tell they're colliery bricks as they're almost impossible to drill into without an SDS.
Interesting report of the 1912 AGM of Henry Briggs, Son & Co here - including discussions around minimum wage!You can tell they're colliery bricks as they're almost impossible to drill into without an SDS.
Beetnik said:
Interesting report of the 1912 AGM of Henry Briggs, Son & Co here - including discussions around minimum wage!
I did a lot of digging and have a lot of old newspaper prints from around the time in the toilet to keep people occupied whilst the toilet is too.The stories about the mines are interesting but it's the other stories that are more amusing...
A doctor on drinking!
Based on the what was there before you thread, the answer as far as the maps go back is, well...the house!
Our house is at the far end of the picture, all of these buildings were demolished when the colliery closed at the end of the 60's and only our house was left standing as the pit manager was living there at the time.
It's why the right hand side of the house is rendered - it's no doubt covering some horrific scarring from the demolition of the abutted terraces.
Our house is at the far end of the picture, all of these buildings were demolished when the colliery closed at the end of the 60's and only our house was left standing as the pit manager was living there at the time.
It's why the right hand side of the house is rendered - it's no doubt covering some horrific scarring from the demolition of the abutted terraces.
stewjohnst said:
Based on the what was there before you thread, the answer as far as the maps go back is, well...the house!
Our house is at the far end of the picture, all of these buildings were demolished when the colliery closed at the end of the 60's and only our house was left standing as the pit manager was living there at the time.
It's why the right hand side of the house is rendered - it's no doubt covering some horrific scarring from the demolition of the abutted terraces.
Can I ask how you managed to find these historical photos? Sarah (my one, not yours!) is doing a lot of searching on the history of our (mining) village and house, and has asked me to ask Our house is at the far end of the picture, all of these buildings were demolished when the colliery closed at the end of the 60's and only our house was left standing as the pit manager was living there at the time.
It's why the right hand side of the house is rendered - it's no doubt covering some horrific scarring from the demolition of the abutted terraces.
Some Gump said:
I have no idea if it's my iPad or the op being tired, but I do love playing the "try to match the words with the pictures from yesterday's post" game.
Still loving your work, mr Boggs. Would love to have exposed beams in here
I think it's an iPad thing, as the pictures and text are all mixed up for me too...there will be words about a roof and I'm looking at pics of a toilet!Still loving your work, mr Boggs. Would love to have exposed beams in here
Anyway, great project and updates....we bought a Georgian house last year and are in the process of 'renovating'. It was for sale for 4 years so on the surface looks ok but really isn't. Lots of lime plaster hiding artex for us too and lime plaster to put on.
We had a sort of similar issue to you in our downstairs toilet and I can post a picture if you like, of how we've solved it?
stewjohnst said:
There was plenty more scrap to come out of the house before I'd done - but yes, that Lead weight a fair whack and got me a good few quid back.
Continuing the chiselling off along the outside wall, I exposed a beam that ran the full length of the room so decided to keep that as a feature.
I tried getting the dust out with this crappy little fan heater/cooler I had lying around but it was useless.
There aren't photos so you can call custard if you like but I actually resorted to going and getting the leaf blower from the garage, taping up the door and then just chasing the dust and blasting all the st out of the window for half an hour. I heartily recommend it - great fun
I managed to placate the wife by pointing out that when I'd taken the ceiling down, it was actually gypsum plaster and not lime which meant I could technically do it again in gypsum as it became a like for like activity which is permitted under listed building without any need for consent. Weirdly though - they'd used the gypsum plaster back over lath which didn't make any sense as the mechanics of gypsum bonding versus lime and hair hooking through lath to hold on is totally different.
I couldn't actually get the old water tank down as I didn't fancy sawing through timbers - It's still up there, maybe some day I'll do something and make a feature of it somehow...
Back to the plastering - It was in theory easy to just board and skim the ceiling, however - There was the small matter of pulling out out all the nails from the beams first so the board would be flat. I cannot explain how perfectly at the wrong height the beams were to have to do this. I could reach them fomr the floor but after ten minutes my neck was killing me, so it became an incredibly dusty session of Zumba hopping up and down off platform to do them all as you couldn't reach that many from the platform before having to move again...
It took about 2 days and all the nails were out and Steve the plasterer could get the room boarded and skimmed. The fireplace is patched because I'd told him to leave the fireplace as I'd got one from ebay I was going to fit - My fault that I didn't tell him it was a small bedroom one so he had to thin it down afterwards with two inserts. He hated it as he's a perfectionist but you can't tell now they're painted up.
Continuing the chiselling off along the outside wall, I exposed a beam that ran the full length of the room so decided to keep that as a feature.
I tried getting the dust out with this crappy little fan heater/cooler I had lying around but it was useless.
There aren't photos so you can call custard if you like but I actually resorted to going and getting the leaf blower from the garage, taping up the door and then just chasing the dust and blasting all the s
t out of the window for half an hour. I heartily recommend it - great fun I managed to placate the wife by pointing out that when I'd taken the ceiling down, it was actually gypsum plaster and not lime which meant I could technically do it again in gypsum as it became a like for like activity which is permitted under listed building without any need for consent. Weirdly though - they'd used the gypsum plaster back over lath which didn't make any sense as the mechanics of gypsum bonding versus lime and hair hooking through lath to hold on is totally different.
I couldn't actually get the old water tank down as I didn't fancy sawing through timbers - It's still up there, maybe some day I'll do something and make a feature of it somehow...
Back to the plastering - It was in theory easy to just board and skim the ceiling, however - There was the small matter of pulling out out all the nails from the beams first so the board would be flat. I cannot explain how perfectly at the wrong height the beams were to have to do this. I could reach them fomr the floor but after ten minutes my neck was killing me, so it became an incredibly dusty session of Zumba hopping up and down off platform to do them all as you couldn't reach that many from the platform before having to move again...
It took about 2 days and all the nails were out and Steve the plasterer could get the room boarded and skimmed. The fireplace is patched because I'd told him to leave the fireplace as I'd got one from ebay I was going to fit - My fault that I didn't tell him it was a small bedroom one so he had to thin it down afterwards with two inserts. He hated it as he's a perfectionist but you can't tell now they're painted up.
Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 23 September 23:52
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/wqwgpRjI.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/L56hoQuD" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/L56hoQuD.jpg)
wish I had thought of the leaf blower option, these two images are the after when pulling down a lath ceiling in a georgian house.
What really gets me is the lack of consistency with conservation officers; as an example: Exeter Castle: Grade II* listed we could use plasterboard, MDF really whatever we wanted. In Dorset refurbing a grade II house of no architectural importance they insisted on lime plaster, even in a bathroom that I explained was going to be completely tiled over. Now in Mid Devon conservation officer is sensible, accepts that I am not a vandal and allows plasterboard and mdf skirting, although it is three piece and looks right as it goes high on the wall
Real life has been getting in the way (baby number 2 crying as I type this 
so a few updates.
Back to finishing the green room.
I was after a small fireplace and managed to find one just round the corner from me via eBay. It had been sat in a shed for years and was very rusty but a bit of wire brush action and a couple of rattle cans of primer and matt black and it was good to go on the wall.
I've realised I don't actually have any finished photos of the 'green room' as the latest I have are these before the carpet went in but it's still a decent before/after comparison.
The wardrobes were charity shop finds that the other half painted and gilded up while I was doing other demolition work.
I can't 'after' photos now as it is in the process of becoming a child's bedroom..
so a few updates.Back to finishing the green room.
I was after a small fireplace and managed to find one just round the corner from me via eBay. It had been sat in a shed for years and was very rusty but a bit of wire brush action and a couple of rattle cans of primer and matt black and it was good to go on the wall.
I've realised I don't actually have any finished photos of the 'green room' as the latest I have are these before the carpet went in but it's still a decent before/after comparison.
The wardrobes were charity shop finds that the other half painted and gilded up while I was doing other demolition work.
I can't 'after' photos now as it is in the process of becoming a child's bedroom..
We'd decided to get married a while back and couldn't decide on a venue so stupidly opted for a marquee in the back garden.
Whilst this made perfect sense as the house is how we met, etc. It did mean we had a date to hit with the renovations.
It also meant we had to switch our attention to the gardens so they looked good for the wedding... Job creation when we already had enough to do but there you go.
The front was a bit neglected to start with, overgrown ivy, out of control plants, wonky trees, etc.
The barley twist edging was already there, just needed tidying and weeding to get a nice line.
You can also see the chimney has been capped and vented (one flue still working) to stopped water ingress too.
You can also see the yellow hose that pumps the cellar out to the drain and the nose of the Ford Galaxy that I bought for 600 because I was fed up of paying for skips.
Whilst this made perfect sense as the house is how we met, etc. It did mean we had a date to hit with the renovations.
It also meant we had to switch our attention to the gardens so they looked good for the wedding... Job creation when we already had enough to do but there you go.
The front was a bit neglected to start with, overgrown ivy, out of control plants, wonky trees, etc.
The barley twist edging was already there, just needed tidying and weeding to get a nice line.
You can also see the chimney has been capped and vented (one flue still working) to stopped water ingress too.
You can also see the yellow hose that pumps the cellar out to the drain and the nose of the Ford Galaxy that I bought for 600 because I was fed up of paying for skips.
Du1point8 said:
Did they remove the RHS chimney recently? Whats the story as to it being missing as to the picture?
I don't know, my hunch would be it toppled when the rest of the houses came down, the breast is still in the house, just the top stack is awol and it's been sealed up in the loft. Such a pain trying to find history about these things.
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Can I ask how you managed to find these historical photos? Sarah (my one, not yours!) is doing a lot of searching on the history of our (mining) village and house, and has asked me to ask
A lot of digging around. Have a look at dmm.org.uk as a start, look for old maps of your area on old-maps.co.uk and see if there's anything major nearby.
I also then did some digging on the electoral roll and old census papers (you might need a trial to ancestry.com, findmypast or similar to get to these - but don't forget to cancel before they charge you @30 days) to find who had lived here and then searched their names in the British newspaper archive (another membership/trial jobbie) around the same dstes/times to try and find anything.
The local library is quite good too and we're fortune in Yorkshire to have the West Yorkshire Archive Service that put a lot on the National Archives and local library websites. You my have a similar body near you.
And of course, I also did place name + Google
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