Looking after an old house

[Playsatan]

We just moved into a new (old) house this week. Not old as some I'm sure but as our last house was brand new it feels pretty old to me.

Anyway, given my lack of experience with older properties I need some advice on how to best look after it.

So lets start with something easy - painting. The house has original cornicing and previous residents have treated it to some colour.....





not really my thing. So what sort of white paint should I be using to freshen them up? Most have sharp details but some have been dulled down by too many layers of emulsion, are there better alternatives?

I'm sure there will be many more questions to follow but all responses are appreciated.

[randlemarcus]

As thin as possible, given you are looking after the house for the next owners

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-...

[Simpo Two]

Intrigued by the curved bit.

Something that quality might warrant gold leaf!

[hidetheelephants]

The patience of Job is required to do it with a brush; gold leaf application may result in compromised sanity. My parents did theirs with a spraygun. If 200 years of paint is obscuring the detail you could use poultice stripper to shift it, but that's mind-numbingly slow too.

[Simpo Two]

Just shows that you can't (shouldn't) work on a classic quality house with 2011 DIY B&Q stuff

[Playsatan]

hidetheelephants said:

If 200 years of paint is obscuring the detail you could use poultice stripper to shift it, but that's mind-numbingly slow too.

Some are still sharp, some less so.

Hall -



Bedroom -



Excuse the pictures. Just took them and the flash on my phone isn't man enough given the distance they are away.

My aim is to do a quality job without breaking my back or my will to live and preserving the detail.

Gold leaf might be desirable for some but I'm a man of simple tastes. The previous occupant would have lapped it up however going by some of the decor (see bedroom wallpaper).

[Ilikebeaver]

loving the detail in the cornicing.
Things like these must be kept and preserved as well as possible.

I have no idea how though - maybe get the proffesionals in with something as detailed as that?

[Simpo Two]

Crikey, he's got the set there - egg and dart, acanthus leaf and the other one in the middle...



Possibly the man who specified this originally was the Victorian King of Bling? But you can't change it now.

[Playsatan]

Simpo Two said:

Crikey, he's got the set there - egg and dart, acanthus leaf and the other one in the middle...



Possibly the man who specified this originally was the Victorian King of Bling? But you can't change it now.

Not sure what any of those things are, probably just as well I'm asking for advice at this stage.

Would you say these are typical of a house from circa 1880?

[davepoth]

Is it quite a big house from the period (i.e. a substantial semi at least?) then it probably is all original. Big into that sort of stuff, the Victorians.

[Simpo Two]

Playsatan said:

Not sure what any of those things are, probably just as well I'm asking for advice at this stage.

Well it's a bit like mixing Doric, Ionic and Corinthian all in one temple. Simply not done!

Playsatan said:

Would you say these are typical of a house from circa 1880?

I'm not qualified to nail it down precisely but the fact it has several themes all together makes me think it is later than earlier. Complexity increases until it all goes bang and you emerge in the 1900s plain again.

[hidetheelephants]

A couple of pics of the cornicing at the olds gaff. Note the bellcranks in the first pic left over from the serf-summoning bell system!

[davepoth]

Simpo Two said:

Well it's a bit like mixing Doric, Ionic and Corinthian all in one temple. Simply not done!

Probably best not to look at this especially closely then.

[TooLateForAName]

I'd pop along to the periodproperty.co.uk forum

[onedsla]

I ran this by the Mrs has an MSc and 12+ years experience heritage conservation. It's obviously difficult to tell from the pictures alone, but her first impressions looking at photos alone were:
i) Style is late 18th / early 19th century. She thought the ceiling and cornicing were likely to have been put in separately.
ii) Judging from the crispness of the plasterwork, it wouldn't surprise her if it was more recent.

She asked to see a shot of the room(s) to get an idea of context. Also an exterior shot of the building would help date it.

[Nuisance_Value]

Simpo Two said:

Crikey, he's got the set there - egg and dart, acanthus leaf and the other one in the middle...

Dentil

[Cogcog]

Playsatan said:

We just moved into a new (old) house this week. Not old as some I'm sure but as our last house was brand new it feels pretty old to me.

Anyway, given my lack of experience with older properties I need some advice on how to best look after it.

So lets start with something easy - painting. The house has original cornicing and previous residents have treated it to some colour.....





not really my thing. So what sort of white paint should I be using to freshen them up? Most have sharp details but some have been dulled down by too many layers of emulsion, are there better alternatives?

I'm sure there will be many more questions to follow but all responses are appreciated.

I would love a ceiling like that! Enjoy and take care.

[Playsatan]

Thanks for the comments.

I've always wanted a house like this and still can't believe I've managed it. Paying the mortgage and heating bills will feel a lot more real I'm sure.

The house has been well looked after it's just needing a freshen up and some decor changes to bring it closer to our tastes.

onedsla said:

I ran this by the Mrs ....... her first impressions looking at photos alone were:
i) Style is late 18th / early 19th century.

Paperwork would tend to agree. Believe 1880 but not confirmed.

onedsla said:

Judging from the crispness of the plasterwork, it wouldn't surprise her if it was more recent.

Quite possibly.

onedsla said:

She asked to see a shot of the room(s) to get an idea of context. Also an exterior shot of the building would help date it.

Too dark to take any decent pictures just now but here's how it looked on the schedule.



I'll take some interior picture tomorrow but must warn we're still at the boxes/decorating stage.

[hidetheelephants]

Playsatan said:

Thanks for the comments.

I've always wanted a house like this and still can't believe I've managed it. Paying the mortgage and heating bills will feel a lot more real I'm sure.

Bwahahahahaha! Prepare for having your pants whipped down and receiving a brutal unlubricated violation(especially if we get another freezer winter like the last 2!), at least if you like it 25 degrees C centrally heated like a modern house. Buy jumpers/thermal undies, develop a taste for chainsaws and chopping wood with manly axes, it's cheaper than buying coal. Victorian houses are built like wind tunnels, and if you attempt to block up all the holes and add lots of insulation they go mouldy inside; improvements can be made but it will always be expensive to heat.

Playsatan said:

Paperwork would tend to agree. Believe 1880 but not confirmed.

1880 is quite plausible; my fairly uneducated eye says between 1850-1890.

[russ_a]

Very nice,

PS we have Egg and Dart in a 1930's place, which we think was installed in the 1980's