Detached Victorian renovation, London.

[p1stonhead]

Harry Flashman said:

Builders ran the floor sander over the edge of the original Victorian hearth and wrecked some of those irreplaceable tiles! God DAMN it!

No idea how to fix this...

Should be able to polish that right out by someone with the right skills.

[Bonefish Blues]

Take them up and swap them with the ones at the back?

[Harry Flashman]

Bonefish - excellent idea.

In terms of them being covered in plaster, that was done by the previous owners' plasterers (or even before). I want to get that plaster off them and restore them. Our lot have run the sander over the corner of the hearth!

[Harry Flashman]

Mr Roper said:

This.

It's decades of a coal bucket scraping.

Floors are pretty battered too, as is the exposed chimney breat. I think you chaps are right - live with them for a bit, they may look just fine.

I'm certainly not having ago at the builders - they have been brilliant so far, and accidents happen. I just asked them to protect the rest of the tiles whilst sanding. I'm just venting on here, really.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 27th October 12:01

[Herbs]

I think they will come up lovely once the rest of the plaster has been removed.

[Harry Flashman]

More issues. All three oak worktops have bowed. One was attached to fitted kitchen units, and it has pulled them apart, damaging them. Currently trying to work out a (fast) solution with the supplier...

[EJH]

Harry Flashman said:

More issues. All three oak worktops have bowed. One was attached to fitted kitchen units, and it has pulled them apart, damaging them. Currently trying to work out a (fast) solution with the supplier...

Do you know why they have bowed or is it merely, "one of those things?"

I know this and other matters are a frustration but you're still making epic progress!

[Harry Flashman]

They have bowed and warped really badly. We had a couple of similar issues with the kitchen doors, which are being replaced. It looks like they had a batch of duff oak.

Looks like cabs not actually damaged - lifted off the floors though it had warped that much (we only noticed today when we pulled off the tarp the island had been under for a few weeks). So hopefully just replacing the wood is fine. No more oak from this place. Zebrano.

[anonymous-user]

Harry Flashman said:

They have bowed and warped really badly. We had a couple of similar issues with the kitchen doors, which are being replaced. It looks like they had a batch of duff oak.

Looks like cabs not actually damaged - lifted off the floors though it had warped that much (we only noticed today when we pulled off the tarp the island had been under for a few weeks). So hopefully just replacing the wood is fine. No more oak from this place. Zebrano.

Is it because it wasn't left to get to the correct level of moisture?

[dmsims]

Being under a tarp would have put moisture back into the wood

[Harry Flashman]

dmsims said:

Being under a tarp would have put moisture back into the wood

When I say tarp, I mean cotton dust sheet. Not an actual tarpaulin.

Also, I have just fitted wood worktops in another house, and have previously installed them in my flat. I know how to treat them and install them! These are defective. All three went, not just the one covered up.

[paulwirral]

Harry Flashman said:

Thanks Paul - will to tomorrow. I am thinking some sort of paint or dye and then a gloss lacquer. Won't be perfect, but will help.

A bit of a leap of faith , get some black stove - logburner polish and try it on the damaged tiles . I've used it in France and it worked on a stained slate hearth . If it works get the guy to stick the sander over the rest of them and treat the same way ?

[dimots]

Harry Flashman said:

They have bowed and warped really badly. We had a couple of similar issues with the kitchen doors, which are being replaced. It looks like they had a batch of duff oak.

Looks like cabs not actually damaged - lifted off the floors though it had warped that much (we only noticed today when we pulled off the tarp the island had been under for a few weeks). So hopefully just replacing the wood is fine. No more oak from this place. Zebrano.

Our oak kitchen doors just did the same...and they were bonded to birch ply to stop that happening. Wondering if we have oak from the same place. Remedied by bonding in steel strips anyway and all good now.

[Harry Flashman]

Also need to deal with a basement that is regularly flooding to a couple of inches, nothing to do with rain. Separate thread being posted to ask for advice...

[minivanman]

Family member had similar issues with an oak worktop - he had 3, and one of them bowed. All treated the same - normalised, oiled etc. Just one of those things you get with natural products. Although I do have a feeling that with the popularity of oak at the moment there's some fairly substandard stuff floating about!

[Harry Flashman]

Time for some more pics - took quite a few this morning!

Lift shaft bathroom taking a bit more shape.

View in from master bedroom

DSC_1079 by baconrashers, on Flickr


View from bath end. You can see where the big light box will go over those internal windows.

DSC_1080 by baconrashers, on Flickr

Shelves above the bath

DSC_1081 by baconrashers, on Flickr

[Harry Flashman]

Garden study. We left the old external wall unclad inside the room, and they are cleaning the brickwork. Will lend the room some architectural interest. One day all the external brickwork will be restored this way: it has decades or more of grime on it at the moment.

DSC_1119 by baconrashers, on Flickr

DSC_1120 by baconrashers, on Flickr

[Harry Flashman]

Weird electrical stuff all over the outside of the house, including some old school switched sockets. The bottom pic is of an aluminium fitting that unscrews to reveal a single 3-pin socket, switched by the switch above. No idea what the first pic is of.

DSC_1126 by baconrashers, on Flickr

DSC_1125 by baconrashers, on Flickr

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 28th October 15:23

[Harry Flashman]

Back garden, cleared of many of the brambles, but with a huge pile of compost to get rid of.

view from house:
DSC_1102 by baconrashers, on Flickr


Side return with space for a couple of cars if parked nose to tail The fence divides the space in half). Car port and motorbike store will go here.

DSC_1121 by baconrashers, on Flickr


The other side return - will be a log store where all those roof tiles currently are

DSC_1116 by baconrashers, on Flickr


View of house from bottom of the back garden. You can see the lovely oak tree (bottom branches to come off to open things up) and the big (4m) holly bush.

DSC_1105 by baconrashers, on Flickr

Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 28th October 13:24

[Harry Flashman]

Sash window casements out and being re-glazed with toughened double glazed units. The windows will be painted black, externally, instead of white. They were in great condition already with refurbished pulleys etc - and the original glass was so heavy that we don't have to change the weights. Result!

DSC_1094 by baconrashers, on Flickr

DSC_1093 by baconrashers, on Flickr