I'm buying a Grade 2 listed do-er up-er!
Discussion
Nice
might be worth contacting http://www.sbpt.info/ for resources etc
One of their officers used to live in your house
might be worth contacting http://www.sbpt.info/ for resources etc
One of their officers used to live in your house
What a lovely looking house. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun and satisfaction in "doing it up" and sound like you are prepared mentally for the inevitable stresses and extras that crop up for anything like this.
Like the fire places - a lovely focus point to any room.
The garden looks great and ready if you have green fingers for a cottage garden look with flowers - Hope you can update and post pics when you start with the work be interesting to follow as others have mentioned.
Like the fire places - a lovely focus point to any room.
The garden looks great and ready if you have green fingers for a cottage garden look with flowers - Hope you can update and post pics when you start with the work be interesting to follow as others have mentioned.
You will find it easy to spend 80k on the property. Be prepared to replaster every room as your rewire and new heating will damage parts of the room and you then end up decorating every room. Planning permission is required for real changes though if you want to repair or swap for identical product you should push on and do it. I suggested doing external wood repairs and was told to carry on as long as it was 'in keeping'. If you buy one of these places now you are unlikely to start bodging.
stunning looking property -hope you'll be very happy there. Wife and I have lived in a Grade 11 listed Georgian property for the past 15 years and we absolutely love it -something calm and relaxing that you just cant put a finger on and is missing in so many modern houses. However, a random few tips:
1) any job you think will take a weekend will take at least a month. It usually goes like this:"lets decorate the bedroom". so you start by lifting the old bedroom carpet and spot the woodworm infested floorboards that have turned to dust in the corner. Lift the boards to replace the worst bits and discover the live electric cables that have been gnawed by mice....So that's two weekends gone to sort that before you even start on the decorating. You then start to peel off the old wallpaper and half the plaster comes away with it and you discover that the wall behind is damp. And so it goes on...
2)make friends with the local council Conservation Team. Tread carefully at first though -one or two can be anally retentive t
ts with no sense of reality and want every minor job treated like it was a major renovation to a major Grade 1 listed palace. However, aside from the odd idiot, the vast majority of Conservation Officers really know their stuff and will be flattered if you ask their advice and therefor more amenable to what you want to do. The current team at my local council are excellent.
3)never, never, never use modern cement.Stick with proper Lime mortar/lime putty with zero portland type cement content. Too many builders who you'd expect to know what they're doing think lime mortar is just normal 'muck' with a slightly higher lime content. No it isnt!
4)nothing will be straight/level etc. I found the best way to align things is to draw one horizontal line with a spirit level. Then draw a second horizontal line purely by eye lining it up with whatever else is already there. Now split the difference and you get something that is sensibly level but doesn't look too horrendously out of place with everything else.
5) Whenever you do a job keep an eye out for any little hints of the previous generation of owners and the repairs/jobs they've done -it can be fascinating!Above all, take your time, relax and enjoy it -its your piece of history.
1) any job you think will take a weekend will take at least a month. It usually goes like this:"lets decorate the bedroom". so you start by lifting the old bedroom carpet and spot the woodworm infested floorboards that have turned to dust in the corner. Lift the boards to replace the worst bits and discover the live electric cables that have been gnawed by mice....So that's two weekends gone to sort that before you even start on the decorating. You then start to peel off the old wallpaper and half the plaster comes away with it and you discover that the wall behind is damp. And so it goes on...
2)make friends with the local council Conservation Team. Tread carefully at first though -one or two can be anally retentive t
ts with no sense of reality and want every minor job treated like it was a major renovation to a major Grade 1 listed palace. However, aside from the odd idiot, the vast majority of Conservation Officers really know their stuff and will be flattered if you ask their advice and therefor more amenable to what you want to do. The current team at my local council are excellent.3)never, never, never use modern cement.Stick with proper Lime mortar/lime putty with zero portland type cement content. Too many builders who you'd expect to know what they're doing think lime mortar is just normal 'muck' with a slightly higher lime content. No it isnt!
4)nothing will be straight/level etc. I found the best way to align things is to draw one horizontal line with a spirit level. Then draw a second horizontal line purely by eye lining it up with whatever else is already there. Now split the difference and you get something that is sensibly level but doesn't look too horrendously out of place with everything else.
5) Whenever you do a job keep an eye out for any little hints of the previous generation of owners and the repairs/jobs they've done -it can be fascinating!Above all, take your time, relax and enjoy it -its your piece of history.
I think I'm going to enjoy this! We're currently in an early-Victorian Grade 2 listed building so I can sympathise with much of what has been said.
Heat retention will be one of your biggest battles long-term. Some suggest going for secondary glazing but in my eyes it's the worst possible thing you can do to those lovely sash windows. I'd recommend getting an efficient modern boiler fitted, but keep those lovely old radiators - with a decent amount of heat in them they're absolutely mega
I refurbished a couple of ours with some industrial gunmetal grey spraypaint and they look pretty cool as well. You'll need a couple of mates to move them
Make sure you go for heavy lined curtains - we have 6-foot single glazed sash windows - and maybe see if you can get a woodburner or two fitted (depending on the aesthetics of the current fireplaces of course). Don't forget doorways, the chances are none of the external doors will fit very well.
A combination of the above has turned our originally freezing house into a comfortable, warm home without a UPVC window in sight
Heat retention will be one of your biggest battles long-term. Some suggest going for secondary glazing but in my eyes it's the worst possible thing you can do to those lovely sash windows. I'd recommend getting an efficient modern boiler fitted, but keep those lovely old radiators - with a decent amount of heat in them they're absolutely mega
I refurbished a couple of ours with some industrial gunmetal grey spraypaint and they look pretty cool as well. You'll need a couple of mates to move them
Make sure you go for heavy lined curtains - we have 6-foot single glazed sash windows - and maybe see if you can get a woodburner or two fitted (depending on the aesthetics of the current fireplaces of course). Don't forget doorways, the chances are none of the external doors will fit very well.
A combination of the above has turned our originally freezing house into a comfortable, warm home without a UPVC window in sight
Rangeroverover said:
Good Luck, I bought this 3-4 years ago, thus far I'm about £140k into the refurb..........almost there. Even though I deal with property for a living, the difference when I saw the house without the vendors lovely furniture not in place was extraordinary......Good luck
what happened to the picture?
Thanks all for the wishes of good luck and / or you're nuts comments, all welcome and appreciated!
I'll answer some posts directly, but thought I'd do an update to keep the interest up. We're hoping to exchange next week and complete on the 10th, so all getting closer. We visited yesterday and agreed a price for some of the furniture (including the fantastic mirror).
I've got some additional photos PH, just to give an idea of some of the issues!
Lean on one of the four chimneys!
Not in bad condition, but will have to be rebuilt nonetheless.
Lean on the garden wall.
General upkeep outside
Interesting electrics, possibly installed by Fred Flintstone.
The ridge on the floor (you certainly couldn't play marbles on the 1st floor landing) and general carpentry to make the doors fit..... its not too bad for 200+ years old though.
I'll answer some posts directly, but thought I'd do an update to keep the interest up. We're hoping to exchange next week and complete on the 10th, so all getting closer. We visited yesterday and agreed a price for some of the furniture (including the fantastic mirror).
I've got some additional photos PH, just to give an idea of some of the issues!
Lean on one of the four chimneys!
Not in bad condition, but will have to be rebuilt nonetheless.
Lean on the garden wall.
General upkeep outside
Interesting electrics, possibly installed by Fred Flintstone.
The ridge on the floor (you certainly couldn't play marbles on the 1st floor landing) and general carpentry to make the doors fit..... its not too bad for 200+ years old though.
BenWRXSEi said:
I think I'm going to enjoy this! We're currently in an early-Victorian Grade 2 listed building so I can sympathise with much of what has been said.
Heat retention will be one of your biggest battles long-term. Some suggest going for secondary glazing but in my eyes it's the worst possible thing you can do to those lovely sash windows. I'd recommend getting an efficient modern boiler fitted, but keep those lovely old radiators - with a decent amount of heat in them they're absolutely mega
I refurbished a couple of ours with some industrial gunmetal grey spraypaint and they look pretty cool as well. You'll need a couple of mates to move them
Make sure you go for heavy lined curtains - we have 6-foot single glazed sash windows - and maybe see if you can get a woodburner or two fitted (depending on the aesthetics of the current fireplaces of course). Don't forget doorways, the chances are none of the external doors will fit very well.
A combination of the above has turned our originally freezing house into a comfortable, warm home without a UPVC window in sight
We've had a solid wall Victorian villa before, and had the joys of playing "how many jumpers can I fit on". We've found that the very heavy curtain and internal thermal wall lining to be the most effective, and like you say, new and efficient boiler. Heat retention will be one of your biggest battles long-term. Some suggest going for secondary glazing but in my eyes it's the worst possible thing you can do to those lovely sash windows. I'd recommend getting an efficient modern boiler fitted, but keep those lovely old radiators - with a decent amount of heat in them they're absolutely mega
I refurbished a couple of ours with some industrial gunmetal grey spraypaint and they look pretty cool as well. You'll need a couple of mates to move them
Make sure you go for heavy lined curtains - we have 6-foot single glazed sash windows - and maybe see if you can get a woodburner or two fitted (depending on the aesthetics of the current fireplaces of course). Don't forget doorways, the chances are none of the external doors will fit very well.
A combination of the above has turned our originally freezing house into a comfortable, warm home without a UPVC window in sight
Radiators, there is only a single one upstairs, on the landing, so we're going to have to install some new ones whatever happens. I quite like the look of these, depending on the decor we do in the rooms.
http://www.diy.com/departments/kudox-tova-mirror-v...
dmsims said:
Nice
might be worth contacting http://www.sbpt.info/ for resources etc
One of their officers used to live in your house
Good link - thanks.might be worth contacting http://www.sbpt.info/ for resources etc
One of their officers used to live in your house
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