Georgian House Renovation Up North - 5 Years and Counting
Discussion
Not only was the shower gapping due to mould, it didn't drain properly, had poor pressure and didn't get hot. It would have been more effective to hold a rat above my head until it pissed on me for a wash.
The wood ceiling and 70's panelling were also a lovely design feature that I opted to get rid of.
The reason the shower wouldn't drain became clear when I lifted the floor to check the drains, they had managed to lay the waste so level you could play snooker on it and the small amount of drop from the shower floor didn't push the water along the stupid long horizontal run fast enough to not back up.
The wood ceiling and 70's panelling were also a lovely design feature that I opted to get rid of.
The reason the shower wouldn't drain became clear when I lifted the floor to check the drains, they had managed to lay the waste so level you could play snooker on it and the small amount of drop from the shower floor didn't push the water along the stupid long horizontal run fast enough to not back up.
I love this thread already, I've always said that the most interesting books to read would be the autobiographies of the common man and little threads like this prove it. following with interest 
On the house by the way, don't take this the wrong way as it obviously had huge potential but as originally purchased, it had a certain "look" to it didn't it? It's how I imagined Fred West's house to have been done!
On the house by the way, don't take this the wrong way as it obviously had huge potential but as originally purchased, it had a certain "look" to it didn't it? It's how I imagined Fred West's house to have been done!
LaurasOtherHalf said:
On the house by the way, don't take this the wrong way as it obviously had huge potential but as originally purchased, it had a certain "look" to it didn't it? It's how I imagined Fred West's house to have been done!
Ha ha, I doubt your suspicions will alter much when I get to the bit about the door I found that was boarded up behind a wall and bricked up... stewjohnst said:
Not only was the shower gapping due to mould, it didn't drain properly, had poor pressure and didn't get hot. It would have been more effective to hold a rat above my head until it pissed on me for a wash.
This thread was already good, but the mental image this post created was comedy gold KAgantua said:
Nice one.
How extensive is the cellar? Does it go all the way under the house?
If not, have you had a look under the rooms on Ground that its not under by lifting the floorboards? you might be in for a surprise
I checked when I moved in but the cellar is only under one half of the original house, the rest of the house is just sat on earth. How extensive is the cellar? Does it go all the way under the house?
If not, have you had a look under the rooms on Ground that its not under by lifting the floorboards? you might be in for a surprise
The cellar still has the old servants tables where they'd prep food and parts of the old servant Bell call (not working).
It's crying out for an offic/conversion to wine cellar (not that I have any except the half drunk bottle of Marlborough in the fridge).
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Shall enjoy reading, I love a good house project - we have one our self at the minute (thread else where)
Does it have much in the way of garden(s)?
Have been watching your thread too and can relate to the joys of repointing chimneys, etc. Does it have much in the way of garden(s)?
The house has a good sizes garden but it's probably a little bit small for what you'd expect for the size of the house.
It's was pretty much a blank canvas apart from a beautiful old magnolia tree at the back.
Here's how it looked when I moved in.
stewjohnst said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Shall enjoy reading, I love a good house project - we have one our self at the minute (thread else where)
Does it have much in the way of garden(s)?
Have been watching your thread too and can relate to the joys of repointing chimneys, etc. Does it have much in the way of garden(s)?
The house has a good sizes garden but it's probably a little bit small for what you'd expect for the size of the house.
It's was pretty much a blank canvas apart from a beautiful old magnolia tree at the back.
Here's how it looked when I moved in.
Small world eh! Our's shall progress slightly slower than yours though, do consider, as you've had a five year head start
Mind, I hope ours shall get interesting as we approach turning it in to a three story. A job at a time it's getting better and better I'd disagree, I think that's a good sized garden for the house. We have three dogs, and one of them is a Dobe X, so garden size was always paramount looking at houses a few years ago. We'd have got excited seeing that!
Back to the bathroom.
The bathroom was in the Victoria end of the house but the low roof didn't make sense. The room next door had a 3m ceiling and the bathroom was barely over 2m.
I started stripping the tiles and noticed they were tiled up behind the ceiling so figured it was obviously false.
So I got my lump hammer and had a nosey...
They'd hidden a perfectly good high ceiling! Of course, there's no way they'd have done that to cover up any kind of botched roof repair/plant damage they'd never bothered to fix...
Doh!
The bathroom was in the Victoria end of the house but the low roof didn't make sense. The room next door had a 3m ceiling and the bathroom was barely over 2m.
I started stripping the tiles and noticed they were tiled up behind the ceiling so figured it was obviously false.
So I got my lump hammer and had a nosey...
They'd hidden a perfectly good high ceiling! Of course, there's no way they'd have done that to cover up any kind of botched roof repair/plant damage they'd never bothered to fix...
Doh!
You can see there water ingress and the purlin/beams were wet so I decided to take the ceiling down to inspect the full extent of the damage.
I'd been to toolstation far too many times that day already so devised something that probably belongs in the 'a bit Council' thread to go under my hard hat and limit the amount of dust in my hair/face.
Taking down the ceiling also revealed the lack of any loft insulation at all and as this part of the house is just a two brick thick skin with no cavity, this was added to the list of jobs.
Next job was clearing the floor and tracing all the wastes and plumbing. About the time I snapped the head off the hammer, I went and got a proper crowbar. For reasons that become clear later, I'm glad I did.
I'd been to toolstation far too many times that day already so devised something that probably belongs in the 'a bit Council' thread to go under my hard hat and limit the amount of dust in my hair/face.
Taking down the ceiling also revealed the lack of any loft insulation at all and as this part of the house is just a two brick thick skin with no cavity, this was added to the list of jobs.
Next job was clearing the floor and tracing all the wastes and plumbing. About the time I snapped the head off the hammer, I went and got a proper crowbar. For reasons that become clear later, I'm glad I did.
The floorboards were uneven in the bathroom and as I was planning on having the floor tiled, I decided to jigsaw out the lot and lay in some wbp plywood to get the floor level and avoid a step in height to the bathroom floor.
Now, I'd turned off the water but I hadn't bothered to drain the central heating as I wasn't planning on taking the old radiator off the wall yet.
We all have those moments in life where one half of your brain says something isn't right but your other half says carry on its fine. Sort of like your spidey sense tingling but you ignore it and that's what I was doing as I merrily jigsawed through the floorboards.
There's was a second where the noise of wood being cut changed to a weird clanking sound (as I cut through the still pressurised central heating pipes) before water started pissing everywhere.
s
tting my pants I grabbed the crowbar and ripped up the boards frantically trying to get at the burst pipes. Seconds later, I was sat with a thumb on each end of the cut pipe, soaked through, stinking of and tasting old 2pence pieces thinking "What the fk do I do now?" I managed to sort it by kinking one pipe right back and pointing the other at a plastic tub while I ran downstairs to open the drain cock to drop the pressure.
Heres the immediate aftermath.
Now, I'd turned off the water but I hadn't bothered to drain the central heating as I wasn't planning on taking the old radiator off the wall yet.
We all have those moments in life where one half of your brain says something isn't right but your other half says carry on its fine. Sort of like your spidey sense tingling but you ignore it and that's what I was doing as I merrily jigsawed through the floorboards.
There's was a second where the noise of wood being cut changed to a weird clanking sound (as I cut through the still pressurised central heating pipes) before water started pissing everywhere.
s
tting my pants I grabbed the crowbar and ripped up the boards frantically trying to get at the burst pipes. Seconds later, I was sat with a thumb on each end of the cut pipe, soaked through, stinking of and tasting old 2pence pieces thinking "What the fk do I do now?" I managed to sort it by kinking one pipe right back and pointing the other at a plastic tub while I ran downstairs to open the drain cock to drop the pressure. Heres the immediate aftermath.
Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 4th September 23:30
Putting the bathroom back together like, I'd battened out the exterior walls and insulated with 100mm celotex and slightly thinner in the ceiling to leave a ventilation gap for the open eaves.
The ceiling and walls were also given a moisture/vapour barrier. I have no previous skill in any of this, I actually work with computer systems in my day job and just decided to do everything myself (bar electrics and skilled labour) on the basis of what's the worst that could happen (being hosed down by your central heating, clearly).
I redid all the plumbing for bath, shower, sink and central heating and fitted the bath, shower and sink myself. The shower valve did my tits in leaking all the time until I had a eureka moment that up until now I'd been plumbing everything in 15mm and 22mm for the water and heating but a 15mm connection into an imperial fitting is going to leak.
I bought a new towel rail more in keeping with the look I wanted and installed that too. As I was redoing the heating pipes, rather than add underfloor heating pads, I just extended the radiator pipe run in a bit of a loop near to the floor so it warmed up the tiles when the heating was on.
Youll notice not I didn't bother with tile backer board but just a mix of moisture resistant plasterboard and normal board. I'm not one for spending years in a shower or bath so didn't see it as a major risk. Touch wood, five years on it is all still fine.
I went with porcelain tiles with a riven/slate effect. They're more practical than real slate for the bathroom as they don't need much care/sealing, etc to stay in good nick and are not porous at all. I wanted a look for the bathroom that wasn't particularly showy but would age well without it needing to be redecorated too quickly once finished.
The ceiling and walls were also given a moisture/vapour barrier. I have no previous skill in any of this, I actually work with computer systems in my day job and just decided to do everything myself (bar electrics and skilled labour) on the basis of what's the worst that could happen (being hosed down by your central heating, clearly).
I redid all the plumbing for bath, shower, sink and central heating and fitted the bath, shower and sink myself. The shower valve did my tits in leaking all the time until I had a eureka moment that up until now I'd been plumbing everything in 15mm and 22mm for the water and heating but a 15mm connection into an imperial fitting is going to leak.
I bought a new towel rail more in keeping with the look I wanted and installed that too. As I was redoing the heating pipes, rather than add underfloor heating pads, I just extended the radiator pipe run in a bit of a loop near to the floor so it warmed up the tiles when the heating was on.
Youll notice not I didn't bother with tile backer board but just a mix of moisture resistant plasterboard and normal board. I'm not one for spending years in a shower or bath so didn't see it as a major risk. Touch wood, five years on it is all still fine.
I went with porcelain tiles with a riven/slate effect. They're more practical than real slate for the bathroom as they don't need much care/sealing, etc to stay in good nick and are not porous at all. I wanted a look for the bathroom that wasn't particularly showy but would age well without it needing to be redecorated too quickly once finished.
I really like the look of the front of that house.
Good luck with the renovations - one thing I'd say, jobs always turn out to be much much bigger than what you think....
A tip I've been told or seen relatives make mistakes on and learned from. Get the basic fabric of the building right. For the roof Windows all cracks pointing and the guttering. Thereafter do the usual refurbs.
I'm looking forward the build
Good luck with the renovations - one thing I'd say, jobs always turn out to be much much bigger than what you think....
A tip I've been told or seen relatives make mistakes on and learned from. Get the basic fabric of the building right. For the roof Windows all cracks pointing and the guttering. Thereafter do the usual refurbs.
I'm looking forward the build
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