Wonky old Georgian townhouse
Discussion
Lovely looking place, that will no doubt throw up a fair few surprises but will be stunning in the end.
We've a grade B listed Georgian place and I've spent the last 7 years slowly removing 100's of years worth of paint off everything.
You start to get all the definition back, everything looked like it had melted. Doors wouldn't shut because hinges were so clogged with paint.
We tried dipping a door as an experiment, which I will never do again. Even after leaving bare for months before painting again it expanded/shrank a massive amount and all the gaps opened up so needs a fair bit of repair now.
The other doors I mechanically removed the paint with a heat gun (outside due to lead paint been present). 3 days a door, 15 doors, you get the idea.....
Removed a carrier bag of paint off every single one of them. But they still look as good as the day I painted them 4 years on. For hinges, I dropped them in a tub of Klingstrip and removed after a few days. They came up as good as new.
We've a grade B listed Georgian place and I've spent the last 7 years slowly removing 100's of years worth of paint off everything.
You start to get all the definition back, everything looked like it had melted. Doors wouldn't shut because hinges were so clogged with paint.
We tried dipping a door as an experiment, which I will never do again. Even after leaving bare for months before painting again it expanded/shrank a massive amount and all the gaps opened up so needs a fair bit of repair now.
The other doors I mechanically removed the paint with a heat gun (outside due to lead paint been present). 3 days a door, 15 doors, you get the idea.....
Removed a carrier bag of paint off every single one of them. But they still look as good as the day I painted them 4 years on. For hinges, I dropped them in a tub of Klingstrip and removed after a few days. They came up as good as new.
We have the same problem. Some of the woodwork is fine, the previous owner mainly managed not to do much decorating. But some skirtings and the like have lost a lot of feature and would benefit from paint removal.
Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
dhutch said:
We have the same problem. Some of the woodwork is fine, the previous owner mainly managed not to do much decorating. But some skirtings and the like have lost a lot of feature and would benefit from paint removal.
Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
Intuitively I'd have thought skirting was one thing that could be removed and dipped - no glue to destroy. Shutters etc, I am assuming will need paint stripper / heat gun / scraper.Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
I'm not the OP, but interested in the replies. The issue with removing skirtings in the amount of work and damage to the building. Obviously it's possible, but a 9" tall secured firmly with to timber set into the wall it's no mean feat. In the largest room the skirting is made of two parts, a top moulded section and a lower plain section, again all well fixed! Not like removing a door or shutter.
dhutch said:
I'm not the OP, but interested in the replies. The issue with removing skirtings in the amount of work and damage to the building. Obviously it's possible, but a 9" tall secured firmly with to timber set into the wall it's no mean feat. In the largest room the skirting is made of two parts, a top moulded section and a lower plain section, again all well fixed! Not like removing a door or shutter.
You don't want to try and remove them. I replaced all my skirting and the mess it made of the walls was only okay because I went for fitting higher skirting which covered the damage.I'd go for a product called Klingstrip, costs £10 for 2.5L. It's a poultice so it draws the paint off the wood. You apply a ½" thick layer, then cover with plastic to prevent it drying out. Then give it a few days and it should remove 95% of the paint. The cleaning off is quite messy!
Once you have stripped them, you need to apply a neutraliser to the wood and you good to paint again.
It's the safest way if there is lead paint on there.
HTH
Ace-T said:
seiben said:
Ace-T said:
Bookmarked. That place looks fantastic and looks like an epic job. Makes our CardboardBarrett-to-Edwardian-doer-upper look easy-peasy 
Thanks. I've spotted your thread actually - looks really good and I can certainly see us taking some inspiration from it 
The best bit of advice we were given on ours was to live in it for a while first. Obviously there are certain things that you do immediately to make sure the house is safe but, decor wise, we found that revealing the fireplaces or removing items that draw your eye too much helps you see the house's 'bones' better. One of ours was rip the random strips of wallpaper the previous owner stuck all over the hall as a 'designery' feature
There are a few of us on PH who use and contribute to an interior design site forum called https://www.houzz.co.uk/. The folks on there have been really helpful to us and there are tons of photos and ideas from which to gain inspiration.
seiben said:
The living room is in pretty good nick overall, and is a lovely big, light room. It'll be staying as is for the short-medium term. The family room will become a library (that's where the lovely tiled fireplace is). If you're thinking it's a bit of a walk from the kitchen to the rest of the house, you'd be right. We've come from a much smaller 3-bed - it's taking a bit of getting used to the fact that we can't hear each other around the house as much as we used to.
I know what you mean about the kitchen! We even considered walkie-talkies 
Your red fireplace looks lovely and with those tiles I think it is a definite late Victorian/Edwardian addition. The colour is very similar to the tiled fireplace in our front room, I will post a pic if you want? Also, if you won't be using the chimney yet I recommend these guys product for stopping drafts. https://www.chimneysheep.co.uk/ Our study's ambient temperature went up about 5 degrees when I stuck one of those up the chimney!
Another good source of useful info is the Haynes Manual series. We have the Victorian/Edwardian one and there is this one which covers all sorts https://www.amazon.co.uk/Period-Property-Manual-Ne... At the very least they are a really interesting read
I am also weirdly pleased there is someone else considering creating a library in their house, I thought we were the only strange people to want that.
Looking forward to reading more about your progress.I think I'm halfway through our restoration and extend project.
We're not listed but live in a conservation area and most people assume we are listed....I'm keeping quiet though. Ours has been a full money pit, plus cause I don't like nice things, we've built an extension too. Essentially it was a house and coach house and we've built a link building to join up the two buildings.
The living with it, is definitely a good idea, plus finding really good tradesmen is the main thing. Think I'm on my third plumber now.
Anyway, good luck with yours, I'll keep an interested eye of developments.
I get the impression you feel the same way about your windows as I do about the miles of orange pine skirting we have : hehe:
I do have complete window envy as ours are hideous plastic and those are beautiful. Are you stripping and cleaning or having to do Yankee Workshop style repairs too?
I do have complete window envy as ours are hideous plastic and those are beautiful.
Are you stripping and cleaning or having to do Yankee Workshop style repairs too?We're choosing our battles really - the windows are being refurbed by a sash window repair company, and we're following him around with paint brushes getting the casements and frames painted up before they go back in. There's some lovely crinkly glass in there, makes it easy to see where the odd pane has been replaced in the past!
They're all being stripped, repaired (as necessary - some are worse than others), re-balanced, draft-proofed (ha!) etc. Watching them all come to bits is fascinating - the chap doing the work is a real craftsman, and he's being very polite about my extremely amateur painting
They're all being stripped, repaired (as necessary - some are worse than others), re-balanced, draft-proofed (ha!) etc. Watching them all come to bits is fascinating - the chap doing the work is a real craftsman, and he's being very polite about my extremely amateur painting
dhutch said:
We have the same problem. Some of the woodwork is fine, the previous owner mainly managed not to do much decorating. But some skirtings and the like have lost a lot of feature and would benefit from paint removal.
Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
I stripped the skirting (and the 2ft think door frames) in my victoriana flat with a heat gun. Or the top scroll half at least, and painted the bottom satin. It took a while, but looked really good in the end. Currently I think mainly the plan is to lightly rub down and move on as all options seem to have flaws. Heat gun outside isn't a bad call for anything removable, but I'm unsure of the risks of heatgun stripping skirting for instance.
Daniel
We’ve had a couple of weeks off work while the windows are being seen to, and progress has been decent enough I reckon it’s time for an update! Between us we’ve spent 3-4 hours a day painting windows (me on the casements, the gf on the frames and sills) which has given us a decent amount of time to set to on other stuff. Most of this has been various forms of demolition, so if you’re hoping for a beautifully stylish finish you’re going to have a bit of a wait
Short- to medium-term priority is to get what will be our bedroom and dressing room prepped and ready for decoration. Both rooms had a complete covering in minging wallpaper and a GIANT built-in wardrobe apiece, so clearing this out has been slow progress. Thank god for tip trailer permits!
The bedroom (with the giant bay window) looked like this:
2019-07-01_04-54-04 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-06-11_04-28-22 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
And is now stripped, after several days looking like this:
2019-07-01_04-32-28 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
And the dressing room….
2019-07-01_04-33-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-34-11 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Check out that wallpaper
My brother bought me a crow-bar as a moving in gift. It’s come in pretty useful, as has the trusty old trailer
2019-07-01_04-39-03 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Pretty high up on the ‘making the space useable’ list was getting rid of the shonky old garage. The doors and windows were all rotten, and it was artfully placed in what should have been a decent driveway in such a way that you could _just_ get a car down the side, and only get one car in the garage. Hardly ideal. It also had a lovely asbestos roof, so we were only too happy to let someone else deal with that! The asbestos was removed and the rest flat packed and taken away in pretty good order.
2019-07-01_04-34-22 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-34-51 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-35-03 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
This left us a much more useful space, and a much less useful hole in the fence through which many ogglers would stand and stare into the garden! So the trailer was deployed, and a merry afternoon with my dad and brother resulted in this:
2019-07-01_04-35-31 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-35-54 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-38-09 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Yes, I know it’s a pretty crap fence, but it only needs to last a year or so until we get a proper garage built. It’ll do for now!
All the while the sash window chap has been working his way around the house. I’ve loads of pictures of various gaping holes in the house so I won’t bore you with all of them, but I found the massive staircase window particularly fascinating. Check out the size of those sash weights!
2019-07-01_04-36-21 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-36-30 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-38-55 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
This is a pretty standard scene in the rest of the house...
2019-07-01_04-32-42 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Here’s one of the finished windows on the ground floor (minus the sill, which needs a coat of black still). I’m no painter and decorator, but I’m pretty chuffed with how these have turned out.
2019-07-01_04-40-09 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
We’ve currently done the ground and second floor windows, with the first floor happening next week. So far I’ve painted around 94 panes pf glass. On both sides.
Quick progress here – you can see the middle floor windows look in a right state compared to the finished above and below!
2019-07-01_04-41-12 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
In much less exciting news, we’ve completely stripped the utterly disgusting wallpaper, curtain and carpet tiled floor from the downstairs loo as it was simply unbearable before. Again, this is a quick win and not a long-term finish, but we can at least use it without needing breathing apparatus
2019-07-01_04-35-12 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-38-40 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-38-47 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
The garden has had a bit of attention, too – three overgrown firs have been removed (the one below had completely grown across the path to the workshop) and my dear old mum spent a weekend weeding some of the flower beds to tidy it all up a bit. The veg patch/bed down next to the driveway is crawling with bindweed, so we’re going to have to be a bit more drastic here, but it’s nice to have some of it looking presentable. It’s an absolutely delightful place to be of a summer’s evening – so quiet you’d never know the town centre is just round the corner!
2019-07-01_04-31-54 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-07-01_04-32-03 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Here’s a view from the roof down to the (then) garage at the back. You can see our garden cuts across the back of the neighbours’ garden which is what gives us such fantastic space. I need to wander down and get some more pics, which I’ll save for a later post!
2019-07-01_05-19-37 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Short- to medium-term priority is to get what will be our bedroom and dressing room prepped and ready for decoration. Both rooms had a complete covering in minging wallpaper and a GIANT built-in wardrobe apiece, so clearing this out has been slow progress. Thank god for tip trailer permits!
The bedroom (with the giant bay window) looked like this:
2019-07-01_04-54-04 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-06-11_04-28-22 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrAnd is now stripped, after several days looking like this:
2019-07-01_04-32-28 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrAnd the dressing room….
2019-07-01_04-33-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-34-11 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrCheck out that wallpaper
My brother bought me a crow-bar as a moving in gift. It’s come in pretty useful, as has the trusty old trailer
2019-07-01_04-39-03 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrPretty high up on the ‘making the space useable’ list was getting rid of the shonky old garage. The doors and windows were all rotten, and it was artfully placed in what should have been a decent driveway in such a way that you could _just_ get a car down the side, and only get one car in the garage. Hardly ideal. It also had a lovely asbestos roof, so we were only too happy to let someone else deal with that! The asbestos was removed and the rest flat packed and taken away in pretty good order.
2019-07-01_04-34-22 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-34-51 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-35-03 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThis left us a much more useful space, and a much less useful hole in the fence through which many ogglers would stand and stare into the garden! So the trailer was deployed, and a merry afternoon with my dad and brother resulted in this:
2019-07-01_04-35-31 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-35-54 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-38-09 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrYes, I know it’s a pretty crap fence, but it only needs to last a year or so until we get a proper garage built. It’ll do for now!
All the while the sash window chap has been working his way around the house. I’ve loads of pictures of various gaping holes in the house so I won’t bore you with all of them, but I found the massive staircase window particularly fascinating. Check out the size of those sash weights!
2019-07-01_04-36-21 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-36-30 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-38-55 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThis is a pretty standard scene in the rest of the house...
2019-07-01_04-32-42 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrHere’s one of the finished windows on the ground floor (minus the sill, which needs a coat of black still). I’m no painter and decorator, but I’m pretty chuffed with how these have turned out.
2019-07-01_04-40-09 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrWe’ve currently done the ground and second floor windows, with the first floor happening next week. So far I’ve painted around 94 panes pf glass. On both sides.
Quick progress here – you can see the middle floor windows look in a right state compared to the finished above and below!
2019-07-01_04-41-12 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrIn much less exciting news, we’ve completely stripped the utterly disgusting wallpaper, curtain and carpet tiled floor from the downstairs loo as it was simply unbearable before. Again, this is a quick win and not a long-term finish, but we can at least use it without needing breathing apparatus
2019-07-01_04-35-12 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-38-40 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-38-47 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThe garden has had a bit of attention, too – three overgrown firs have been removed (the one below had completely grown across the path to the workshop) and my dear old mum spent a weekend weeding some of the flower beds to tidy it all up a bit. The veg patch/bed down next to the driveway is crawling with bindweed, so we’re going to have to be a bit more drastic here, but it’s nice to have some of it looking presentable. It’s an absolutely delightful place to be of a summer’s evening – so quiet you’d never know the town centre is just round the corner!
2019-07-01_04-31-54 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-07-01_04-32-03 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrHere’s a view from the roof down to the (then) garage at the back. You can see our garden cuts across the back of the neighbours’ garden which is what gives us such fantastic space. I need to wander down and get some more pics, which I’ll save for a later post!
2019-07-01_05-19-37 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrEdited by seiben on Monday 1st July 17:42
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