Georgian House Renovation Up North - 5 Years and Counting
Discussion
stewjohnst said:
That triangular damage you can see there is a result of this glass house that has obviously long gone (photo 1938/39 ish)
For complicated personal reasons our usual builder had to go off the job (he’s now back) but in the intervening period we had to get a stop gap builder as many things were up in the air, we ended up using my sister in laws brother as ‘He’s a builder’... more on that later.
Anyway, the door was delivered but rejected by our excellent fitters due to frame damage but two weeks later it was back on site and fitted.
We opted for something more traditional and as a Georgian house, like most in the area it would have been a six panel with Transom/fanlight above and after some reference discussions with conservation went on, we ordered and had a new black door delivered.
The door is square but the house has moved over time and we had to keep the original step so although it’s now square it looks a bit wonky but really makes the front of the house now.
Not to mention, the transom is now double glazed and the door weather tight and a lot more secure.
I’m having to get a new front step made to measure as off the shelf stone don’t do a tread depth big enough (725mm) hence the random looking breeze block step/footing at present
I missed the door update, looks very nice, very 10 Downing Street. I'd get some brick tint on the bricks surrounding it, as it stands to my pertinacity mind, it looks like the door has cold-saws For complicated personal reasons our usual builder had to go off the job (he’s now back) but in the intervening period we had to get a stop gap builder as many things were up in the air, we ended up using my sister in laws brother as ‘He’s a builder’... more on that later.
Anyway, the door was delivered but rejected by our excellent fitters due to frame damage but two weeks later it was back on site and fitted.
We opted for something more traditional and as a Georgian house, like most in the area it would have been a six panel with Transom/fanlight above and after some reference discussions with conservation went on, we ordered and had a new black door delivered.
The door is square but the house has moved over time and we had to keep the original step so although it’s now square it looks a bit wonky but really makes the front of the house now.
Not to mention, the transom is now double glazed and the door weather tight and a lot more secure.
I’m having to get a new front step made to measure as off the shelf stone don’t do a tread depth big enough (725mm) hence the random looking breeze block step/footing at present
Edited by stewjohnst on Thursday 4th July 22:42
We also decided to remove all of the turf on the top side of the lawn and extend out the border further to create more places for the other half to put plants.
It was a t
t to mow anyway up there so I wasn’t complaining and after a few tonnes more pea shingle, it looked like this.
We kept a lawned area and seeded it with some cheap ass seed from Poundland or some such, it won’t be winning the lawn thread but since it’s just somewhere for picnics and the kids to play, it doesn’t matter.
It was a t
t to mow anyway up there so I wasn’t complaining and after a few tonnes more pea shingle, it looked like this.We kept a lawned area and seeded it with some cheap ass seed from Poundland or some such, it won’t be winning the lawn thread but since it’s just somewhere for picnics and the kids to play, it doesn’t matter.
Edited by stewjohnst on Tuesday 24th December 01:44
Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:
I missed the door update, looks very nice, very 10 Downing Street. I'd get some brick tint on the bricks surrounding it, as it stands to my pertinacity mind, it looks like the door has cold-saws
We tinted some of the repairs elsewhere on the house but I’m fine leaving them like this as its part of the history. I’ve given it a few brick acids in the meantime to get the stain in down a bit but it’s never going to match 100%.
Hope you and the family are having a great Christmas. 
Cheers and Merry Christmas, etc.
So, it was time to dig the floor out and despite giving exact calculations for the depths and materials and the mortar mix, this is where I was worried.
Floor needed to be limecrete and lime slab to be breathable as it would guarantee we wouldn’t end up with moisture being forced to the walls and up there, wrecking any new plaster.
Digging out.
Black gold right under my feet!
Laying the permeable groundsheet - builder is laid down faffing with water pipe, he couldn’t get it to seal and asked me to check if I was happy...this led to an argument about who was the builder and why I should need to check it if he was happy, as if I said fine, and it was leaking it was on my head...(not literally)
Anyhoo, I suggested we read the meter, leave it for five minutes and check again...It was leaking. Things were getting strained by now so he was sent home and I dug out from both sides and fixed the pipe myself.
So, it was time to dig the floor out and despite giving exact calculations for the depths and materials and the mortar mix, this is where I was worried.
Floor needed to be limecrete and lime slab to be breathable as it would guarantee we wouldn’t end up with moisture being forced to the walls and up there, wrecking any new plaster.
Digging out.
Black gold right under my feet!
Laying the permeable groundsheet - builder is laid down faffing with water pipe, he couldn’t get it to seal and asked me to check if I was happy...this led to an argument about who was the builder and why I should need to check it if he was happy, as if I said fine, and it was leaking it was on my head...(not literally)
Anyhoo, I suggested we read the meter, leave it for five minutes and check again...It was leaking. Things were getting strained by now so he was sent home and I dug out from both sides and fixed the pipe myself.
Next day was laying the foamed glass floor which provides insulation but no capillary action to prevent moisture being pulled up from the ground, it’s not as performant as Kingspan et al but you can still get to a decent u value without digging through to Oz.
The next day was the laying of the limecrete base.
It was put down a bit wetter than ideal and although left for a week to carbonate it was going to take some time to go off...
The sparky came and put the electric UFH in and the what should have been a screed layer was put on top.
Unfortunately, events meant I was working away and the builder (who became Ex-builder for the following) made a mortar mix instead of a screed mix so we had a layer of custard on top of the UFH and slab. We’re over it now but it took around two and a half months to cure before the next stage could progress, you could squash the floor with your finger and we were stting it about whether it would even go off or we’d have to dig it all out and do it again.
Luckily, the builder had tipped 5kg of glass fibres in there as he’d copied the slab base but with fine building sand instead of coarse sand so I was praying these cracks wouldn’t turn into huge bits breaking off...They didn’t, thank god
I’m laughing now but it was a fking nightmare with two young kids, we’d moved the kitchen units to a spare downstairs room but had no running water downstairs so after a week of washing up in the bath, the wife and kids staying with family for a fortnight, we said bks to the environment and went paper plates and plastic cutlery...
The next day was the laying of the limecrete base.
It was put down a bit wetter than ideal and although left for a week to carbonate it was going to take some time to go off...
The sparky came and put the electric UFH in and the what should have been a screed layer was put on top.
Unfortunately, events meant I was working away and the builder (who became Ex-builder for the following) made a mortar mix instead of a screed mix so we had a layer of custard on top of the UFH and slab. We’re over it now but it took around two and a half months to cure before the next stage could progress, you could squash the floor with your finger and we were s
tting it about whether it would even go off or we’d have to dig it all out and do it again.Luckily, the builder had tipped 5kg of glass fibres in there as he’d copied the slab base but with fine building sand instead of coarse sand so I was praying these cracks wouldn’t turn into huge bits breaking off...They didn’t, thank god
I’m laughing now but it was a f
king nightmare with two young kids, we’d moved the kitchen units to a spare downstairs room but had no running water downstairs so after a week of washing up in the bath, the wife and kids staying with family for a fortnight, we said bks to the environment and went paper plates and plastic cutlery...Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 29th December 21:41
I’m a bit foggy on the chronology now but as there was nothing to be done with the floor for a bit, the window arch was reattempted, this time with the drawing I had last time that wasn’t used or asked for before they decided to do the arch. 
Annoyingly, although they upped the brick count to the correct number, I failed to notice they’d used the same former which had the wrong radius...
I still hadn’t noticed the error when the window arrived two days later and was fitted by two genuinely excellent fitters.
A side window was also fitted to replace the upvc one. Ignore the chalk lines, they show what we wanted but conservation refused permission to enlarge this window.
We were, however allowed to restore a stone lintel that would have been there.
I managed to find an off the shelf stone to fit, although it still ended up costing £300 because it needed two pallets and I couldn’t spare the time to pick it up from Preston.
To be fair, around this time I’d stupidly bought an ex police VR6 Sharan for £700 and it would have cost more to drive and get it in petrol
The Sharan was shagged and after three months and about 2000 miles it went to the scrap man in the sky.
Annoyingly, although they upped the brick count to the correct number, I failed to notice they’d used the same former which had the wrong radius...
I still hadn’t noticed the error when the window arrived two days later and was fitted by two genuinely excellent fitters.
A side window was also fitted to replace the upvc one. Ignore the chalk lines, they show what we wanted but conservation refused permission to enlarge this window.
We were, however allowed to restore a stone lintel that would have been there.
I managed to find an off the shelf stone to fit, although it still ended up costing £300 because it needed two pallets and I couldn’t spare the time to pick it up from Preston.
To be fair, around this time I’d stupidly bought an ex police VR6 Sharan for £700 and it would have cost more to drive and get it in petrol
The Sharan was shagged and after three months and about 2000 miles it went to the scrap man in the sky.
Getting the window in meant for the first time we could look out of the kitchen to see the garden, which was the main aim of the big window.
This highlighted what one might conceivably call an issue that had been masked by the hole being boarded over until now...can you guess what might be going on here?
Yep, not only had custard been poured on the floor, the levels were wrong so when the missus sat on a chair at what the finished floor level would be (including mortar bed and stone) all she could see at eye level were bricks.
This was the
moment.
We were at least 85mm out on the floor and it needed to go higher. This brought a whole load of headaches...
Dumping and extra 85mm of bed on the floor would render the UFH useless and it would also mean entering the via the planned doors would be like climbing up into the bath or at least require a set of steps that we didn’t want.
Of course we could just rip the whole flaming lot out and do it again and wait another two months for it to set...These were quite fraught times and on Grand Designs would probably have dramatic music and Kevin McCloud doing a whispered piece to camera about how fked we were and what a stupid time to sack the builder and would it ever get finished, etc.
As I’m not on the telly, I phoned my original builder (not the one responsible for this fine mess) from many moons ago asking for help and he came over the next evening to try and figure out a solution to get us out of the st and ideally in to the kitchen.
This highlighted what one might conceivably call an issue that had been masked by the hole being boarded over until now...can you guess what might be going on here?
Yep, not only had custard been poured on the floor, the levels were wrong so when the missus sat on a chair at what the finished floor level would be (including mortar bed and stone) all she could see at eye level were bricks.
This was the
moment.We were at least 85mm out on the floor and it needed to go higher. This brought a whole load of headaches...
Dumping and extra 85mm of bed on the floor would render the UFH useless and it would also mean entering the via the planned doors would be like climbing up into the bath or at least require a set of steps that we didn’t want.
Of course we could just rip the whole flaming lot out and do it again and wait another two months for it to set...These were quite fraught times and on Grand Designs would probably have dramatic music and Kevin McCloud doing a whispered piece to camera about how f
ked we were and what a stupid time to sack the builder and would it ever get finished, etc.As I’m not on the telly, I phoned my original builder (not the one responsible for this fine mess) from many moons ago asking for help and he came over the next evening to try and figure out a solution to get us out of the s
t and ideally in to the kitchen.Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 29th December 22:39
Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 29th December 22:40
Realise I’d kind of cliffhangered that last post...
Builder came round and after much thinking and discussion we settled on a solution, we would simply have to remove the window and move both the door and the window apertures down the wall so they were in the correct place relative to the incorrect floor level.
We had the missus sit on the chair and slouch on a chair and like a pair or weirdos measured from the floor to her eyeline and then repeated that against the wall to see how many courses it would need and settled on three courses.
The window was in tight with only 5mm clearance either side so we decided to do the doorway first as the doors were being stored at the factory due to the floor dramas so although built to size, weren’t on site.
Fixing it meant taking out the frame and building a new form so we could move it down and rebuild exactly to size, including moving down the arch over the door.
Builder came round and after much thinking and discussion we settled on a solution, we would simply have to remove the window and move both the door and the window apertures down the wall so they were in the correct place relative to the incorrect floor level.
We had the missus sit on the chair and slouch on a chair and like a pair or weirdos measured from the floor to her eyeline and then repeated that against the wall to see how many courses it would need and settled on three courses.
The window was in tight with only 5mm clearance either side so we decided to do the doorway first as the doors were being stored at the factory due to the floor dramas so although built to size, weren’t on site.
Fixing it meant taking out the frame and building a new form so we could move it down and rebuild exactly to size, including moving down the arch over the door.
Here goes,
Out and numbered up, my job was grinding the mortar off to reuse them.
New level sorted and framework ready to be hammered in.
It fits!
Job done!
My on the job training for formwork meant I was comfortable enough to do the window form myself. The builder was doing all this as a favour and doing it in the evenings and bringing his lads over after his current job so anything I could do (also in evenings after my own work) helped to move it along.
Out and numbered up, my job was grinding the mortar off to reuse them.
New level sorted and framework ready to be hammered in.
It fits!
Job done!
My on the job training for formwork meant I was comfortable enough to do the window form myself. The builder was doing all this as a favour and doing it in the evenings and bringing his lads over after his current job so anything I could do (also in evenings after my own work) helped to move it along.
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