Renovating an old farmhouse and living on the Pennines
Discussion
v15ben said:
Really enjoying this thread so far.
You have found a fantastic location (and it is a world away from Batley!)
Thanks, yeah Batley You have found a fantastic location (and it is a world away from Batley!)
I was born in the old hospital there, had to work there for the last 15yrs or so, but never lived there, although my OH was when we met.
Because I couldn't find a unit nor space where I lived up the road I was forced to rent a unit in Batley. Along with some good people, but also the scum of the earth too.
I've still got to empty the workshop and bring it over here, I won't be sorry to leave that place (the yard, not Batley).
I have this dream of pushing a car out of the workshop here in the sun and working on it outside, tools scattered everywhere and no-one to steal them. Spray some paint or underseal on? No problem. Gritblast a chassis outside? No worries. No-one to moan, pilfer or interfere. Utter bliss.
CharlesdeGaulle said:
Oh Jesus. It's not going to be full of that northern chippiness/God's county s
te is it?
Just a bit now and again te is it? 
Well mi new Winter coyte arrived this morning courtesy of Handsome Dan:
https://handsomedans.co.uk/products/h-d-forrester-...
Haven't treated myself to one in many years so it was about time. I've also been perusing the Wellie thread on here too, not had time to visit a store to check my sizes yet though.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's like firewood and many other things, if you give it away, it'll go. If you want money or it's difficult then it'll hang around for a bit, if not forever.I actually managed to give away an old leather 3 piece suite last week as we had no room for it, I had to deliver it about 4 miles away and she gave me £20 for my trouble. It was easier than engaging with the Council and it'll get some further use which is no bad thing.
Ace-T said:
Evoluzione said:
I haven't looked at that one, but will. There are lots of resources to go to since we realised maybe 30 yrs ago that using OPC wasn't a good idea on many old walls. It's been 20yrs since the first and last time I used lime to repoint and save a house from further destruction so it's time for some re-education, this arrived this morning, £6 delivered:
I've got so much to do I want to buy a gun to put it on, the screw & hopper type, but opinion is divided on those.
£6? Just looking on Amazon and the cheapest is £110!!!!!!I've got so much to do I want to buy a gun to put it on, the screw & hopper type, but opinion is divided on those.
gareth h said:
What sort of cost was the blasting? We’re moving into this in a couple of months (all being well). And my one concern is the render / paint
If yours is render and paint then our price wouldn't be relevant as they are two different jobs. You need to have a good look at it and find out what precisely needs to be done before going much further really.
The colours on the house are mellowing beautifully as it dries in the sun and breeze, anyhow onto other things right now.
There are pros and cons to everything, here we're South facing so get the sun all day long, sadly we also have a biting midge problem.
I found various larvae in the stone sump I pictured earlier, will sort them out, but i'm struggling to find any other standing water close by. We need to do something serious about them.
It's so quiet up here which adds to the beauty, the main road runs high above us and a field away so only on the quietest of days can you vaguely hear the noisiest of motors. To be able to stop what you're doing and just listen to the sound of silence (courtesy of Simon & Garfunkel) is lovely.
Apart from the postman and our close neighbour you're lucky (or unlucky) to see more than one or a group of walkers per week in Summer. Sometimes i've been working outside and apart from the OH not seen a single soul for 7 days. I'm sure in Winter it'll be a lot longer than that.
I know a lot of people don't bother, but we always like to know and get on with our neighbours no matter where we are. I think out here it's even more important that you do as you could really need someone one day. What Winter will bring is anyone's guess, but stories are abound of being completely snowed in, 6ft high snow drifts etc.
You just have to make sure the LPG tank has plenty in, lots of firewood dried, fridge freezer well stocked, water system lagged and 4x4 at the ready (must get some of that stuff that prevents diesel from coagulating when it goes sub zero).
This is on our land, unsure what it was built for:
Possibly a shepherds hut, it's not big enough to get many animals in, the inner faces of the walls still have some render left on them so i'm guessing that points to human habitation.
Roger (whose house must be over a mile from the road!) came knocking on our door as he must have seen some changes (probably has some binoculars) to introduce himself. Like everyone else so far was very friendly and had his own little snippets of local history to throw in. He's offered to lend his services with his tractor which has a front loader whenever we need it.
I've been round and introduced myself to most of the various people dotted around, have learned a lot and they're all very welcoming.
Still a few to meet including the gamekeeper and one place which has chickens, hopefully we'll have some of those before the end of the year.
Random shot of a local res on a rainy day, there are lots of reservoirs around here as we're so high up:
The Barn.
Apparently It's the oldest building around our small area, I think it's 17th century. That truss says 'I'm very old!'
It was converted at one time to a stables:
Now we're knocking all that out to make more storage space for now. Most of the blockwork walls came apart easy enough with Percy Sledge hammer.
The upper floor was made by laying old beams on railway tracks! Sadly they cut the centre section out to get height for the horses.
However down the centre was the mother of all walls, we hit it, pushed it and pulled at it, but it just laughed at us. I'm guessing it's a matter of safety when you have a 1 ton horse which could knock the wall over onto it's mate in the next stall.
It had been built by drilling into the concrete floor and grouting re-bar in. Huge concrete blocks with two square holes in each were then slotted over the bars and bedded on each other with 3 & 1. Finally the holes with the bars poking through were filled with concrete. It was basically a solid concrete wall keyed into the concrete floor.
Me and the 'FIL' drilled/knocked a hole through it and hooked up the Viv with some high tonnage cargo straps and I drove it away slowly. It came to an abrupt halt. Did it again and it pulled the van sideways. Then it broke the strap twice, undeterred we did it a few more times, I was just using the weight of the van really, freewheeling away with a balance of gentle and forceful.
Eventually it began to move a bit and a couple more times saw it lean over at a crazy angle. We got behind it, rocked it and pushed hard until it eventually toppled with a Whumph and lay on the floor - still in one piece.
We got the electric breaker on it, but it soon got very hot and not much work was done. It was then my wine soaked memory flickered back into life. About 20yrs ago i'd bought a diesel compressor, the type Utilities gangs used to tow behind trucks to dig the road up with. It came with a road hammer and full set of tools to insert so we coupled it up and fired up the old girl. It must date back to the 80s, but still starts up and runs perfectly.
As I was about in those times I remember them so well using these things; blokes in the road, no earmuffs or gloves on, fag hanging out of mouth, compressed air coming from the exhaust rippling their trousers, noise and fumes everywhere.
Luckily those days are over for them, but sadly not here today! It was the hottest day of the year and it felt like what's left of my brains shaking loose, but it did the job with ease - it must weigh about 50kgs to start with which helps. We broke it into strips, then smaller bits by cutting through the re-bar with the Stihlsaw. I think all in all we were two days demolishing it and taking it outside. The remains will see out their days hidden in the centre of some gabion baskets, nothing gets wasted here.
Apparently It's the oldest building around our small area, I think it's 17th century. That truss says 'I'm very old!'
It was converted at one time to a stables:
Now we're knocking all that out to make more storage space for now. Most of the blockwork walls came apart easy enough with Percy Sledge hammer.
The upper floor was made by laying old beams on railway tracks! Sadly they cut the centre section out to get height for the horses.
However down the centre was the mother of all walls, we hit it, pushed it and pulled at it, but it just laughed at us. I'm guessing it's a matter of safety when you have a 1 ton horse which could knock the wall over onto it's mate in the next stall.
It had been built by drilling into the concrete floor and grouting re-bar in. Huge concrete blocks with two square holes in each were then slotted over the bars and bedded on each other with 3 & 1. Finally the holes with the bars poking through were filled with concrete. It was basically a solid concrete wall keyed into the concrete floor.
Me and the 'FIL' drilled/knocked a hole through it and hooked up the Viv with some high tonnage cargo straps and I drove it away slowly. It came to an abrupt halt. Did it again and it pulled the van sideways. Then it broke the strap twice, undeterred we did it a few more times, I was just using the weight of the van really, freewheeling away with a balance of gentle and forceful.
Eventually it began to move a bit and a couple more times saw it lean over at a crazy angle. We got behind it, rocked it and pushed hard until it eventually toppled with a Whumph and lay on the floor - still in one piece.
We got the electric breaker on it, but it soon got very hot and not much work was done. It was then my wine soaked memory flickered back into life. About 20yrs ago i'd bought a diesel compressor, the type Utilities gangs used to tow behind trucks to dig the road up with. It came with a road hammer and full set of tools to insert so we coupled it up and fired up the old girl. It must date back to the 80s, but still starts up and runs perfectly.
As I was about in those times I remember them so well using these things; blokes in the road, no earmuffs or gloves on, fag hanging out of mouth, compressed air coming from the exhaust rippling their trousers, noise and fumes everywhere.
Luckily those days are over for them, but sadly not here today! It was the hottest day of the year and it felt like what's left of my brains shaking loose, but it did the job with ease - it must weigh about 50kgs to start with which helps. We broke it into strips, then smaller bits by cutting through the re-bar with the Stihlsaw. I think all in all we were two days demolishing it and taking it outside. The remains will see out their days hidden in the centre of some gabion baskets, nothing gets wasted here.
Thanks again for the replies. Sometimes I wish PH had a 'Like' button, you do wonder if your threads are being enjoyed or not, too easy to bang on and write something which is dull. But then as a reader you can't be expected to respond to each post. This is where 'Like' comes in, just a gentle nod in the right direction.
Anyhow, hope you've had your breakfast, it's time to talk compost again:
Monday:
Tuesday:
And it's up to 64 this morning.
Meanwhile on another thread:
[quote=Dr Mike Oxgreen with his £220 bin]
It certainly won’t survive the temperature in my HotBin!
(Yes, that’s 65°C)
[/quote]
If ambient temp as a base is taken into consideration you may have a fight on your hands Mr Oxgreen
'Our investigations are ongoing' said a spokesperson. Yes and a lot to learn too.
As you've probably gathered I don't throw a lot away, 'It'll come in for something one day' is often uttered. So I pulled out a 4' piece of used copper pipe, bashed the end flat, filled it with water and pushed it into the pile. Then dropped the thermometer probe in.
It's 100% horse poo and i'm reading conflicting info on Nitrogen content of it, but have just found a more scientific test which rubbishes those claims which say it's no good and that Nitrogen is in there. Nitrogen is of course 'plant food'.
It's taken about a month to build up 1m cubed of the stuff, now it's full I'll start another next to it.
So two points of enquiry - one is making decent compost, the other is heating something worthwhile, like the greenhouse, or maybe something else, but not really the house.
I haven't gone into too much depth on compost here for fear of being on my own, but feel free to push the conversation if it interests, as I said, there is a lot to learn yet.
Anyhow, hope you've had your breakfast, it's time to talk compost again:
Monday:
Tuesday:
And it's up to 64 this morning.
Meanwhile on another thread:
[quote=Dr Mike Oxgreen with his £220 bin]
It certainly won’t survive the temperature in my HotBin!
(Yes, that’s 65°C)
[/quote]
If ambient temp as a base is taken into consideration you may have a fight on your hands Mr Oxgreen
'Our investigations are ongoing' said a spokesperson. Yes and a lot to learn too.
As you've probably gathered I don't throw a lot away, 'It'll come in for something one day' is often uttered. So I pulled out a 4' piece of used copper pipe, bashed the end flat, filled it with water and pushed it into the pile. Then dropped the thermometer probe in.
It's 100% horse poo and i'm reading conflicting info on Nitrogen content of it, but have just found a more scientific test which rubbishes those claims which say it's no good and that Nitrogen is in there. Nitrogen is of course 'plant food'.
It's taken about a month to build up 1m cubed of the stuff, now it's full I'll start another next to it.
So two points of enquiry - one is making decent compost, the other is heating something worthwhile, like the greenhouse, or maybe something else, but not really the house.
I haven't gone into too much depth on compost here for fear of being on my own, but feel free to push the conversation if it interests, as I said, there is a lot to learn yet.
Evanivitch said:
Evoluzione said:
So two points of enquiry - one is making decent compost, the other is heating something worthwhile, like the greenhouse, or maybe something else, but not really the house.
I haven't gone into too much depth on compost here for fear of being on my own, but feel free to push the conversation if it interests, as I said, there is a lot to learn yet.
You'll get decent compost, quite quickly if you keep the temperature and moisture balance quite nicely.I haven't gone into too much depth on compost here for fear of being on my own, but feel free to push the conversation if it interests, as I said, there is a lot to learn yet.
In terms of making good use of the heat, I don't think you'll get much from it. Once you start removing heat you start to slow the reaction down, so you're more likely to stall the reaction before you get any real warmth.
That said, having a good size container of it in the greenhouse might keep the frost away...
This article suggests adding Nitrogen is needed: https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2012/09/28/horse-manur...
But it talks about 2 things in that respect; getting the pile going and the end result.
This more scientific PDF however goes further. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/411/2014/12/Pa...
It backs up what the first article says about being careful about mixing wood derived bedding in and shows tests done with and without.
I agree that removing too much heat is something to be careful about and I have already made note of that. Especially as we need the most heat at the coldest time of the year...
Aerating is also something to be considered. there are talks and pics of people shoving a drilled soil pipe in the bottom to get air in, but i'm unsure of its effectiveness. Also it's admitting cold air in. This this where rotating composters come in, but their effectiveness is highly questionable.
There is no way I can turn all of this thing over to mix it so i'm not going to get a complete thorough compost as we have a hot core and cold outer.
I do have some sheets of 100mm Kingspan which I could line the next heap with, this would increase thermal efficiency, but could reduce the heaps ability to breathe (if it needs it).
Two of the downsides of using horses are:
1. It contains 'live' grass seeds.
2. It doesn't contain urine like bird poo does thus has less nitrogen.
Using it to heat a greenhouse:
Putting the heap inside would create a gaseous risk!
Yes you can indeed heat buildings with compost, just if or how i'm going to do it remains to be seen and experimented with.
At 1.5hrs this is a long and laborious listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvMi6hgfcnw&ab...
But gives us two important names, one is the speaker and author of his own book Gaelan Brown (am just about to order it) and the other is one of the pioneers of the technique, a Frenchman called Jean Pain. Those two names then open up a whole new avenue of more professional things to explore, there are already many amateur ones to view on YT.
CAPP0 said:
Evoluzione said:
Well mi new Winter coyte arrived this morning courtesy of Handsome Dan:
https://handsomedans.co.uk/products/h-d-forrester-...
Ah, you get the same Facebook ads fed to you as I do!https://handsomedans.co.uk/products/h-d-forrester-...
Won't be long until I need it at this rate, had to laugh at the advice tag on how to wash and dry it etc, it was completely in Chinese
Ace-T said:
Evoluzione said:
Ace-T said:
Evoluzione said:
I haven't looked at that one, but will. There are lots of resources to go to since we realised maybe 30 yrs ago that using OPC wasn't a good idea on many old walls. It's been 20yrs since the first and last time I used lime to repoint and save a house from further destruction so it's time for some re-education, this arrived this morning, £6 delivered:
I've got so much to do I want to buy a gun to put it on, the screw & hopper type, but opinion is divided on those.
£6? Just looking on Amazon and the cheapest is £110!!!!!!I've got so much to do I want to buy a gun to put it on, the screw & hopper type, but opinion is divided on those.
https://www.blackdogpress.co.uk/product/lime-in-bu...
popeyewhite said:
Evoluzione said:
..sadly we also have a biting midge problem.
I found various larvae in the stone sump I pictured earlier, will sort them out, but i'm struggling to find any other standing water close by. We need to do something serious about them.
You don't need standing water for midges. Damp conditions, long grass, heather etc suits them fine. Great thread. I'm on the edge of the High Peak (Cheshire), and have often thought about moving in-country a bit. Sadly work and keeping tabs on an elderly parent prevents this at the moment.I found various larvae in the stone sump I pictured earlier, will sort them out, but i'm struggling to find any other standing water close by. We need to do something serious about them.
We've just had the aging fil & mil out here. I get on with him ok even though he is a real life Bob Fleming, she just winds me up though. One week doses are enough, after that it's a relief to get back to normal. Apart from the old cat it's pure solitude today, it's heaven.
popeyewhite said:
Evoluzione said:
This is the problem isn't it, so much duff information out there. The internet states they only come out early morning and the evening, that's rubbish too.
It is. I stopped for lunch on the moor by the packhorse bridge in The Goyt Valley about this time last year, realised I was being attacked and later counted over 150 bites on my legs. Didn't even see them til later. Long trousers and sleeves the only defence IMO.Avon's 'Skin so soft' and 'Odomos' have been recommended, but haven't got any yet.
popeyewhite said:
Yeah I think a net is the only way to be sure. No one will see you anyway!
Well yeah, true. I might as well put a pair of tights over me head then.As a tightwad Yorkshireman who wears expensive (£70 you know) work kegs i'm always annoyed when they get torn prematurely or rip at the seams, I fold them up and store them. 'They'll come in useful one day'. So now they do, it's no problem to walk around in them here
I've worked through the last few weeks, weekends, Bank holiday and all with no rest. It's no bad thing at all, but today the 'inlaws' (i'm not married) have gone and she's gone on a team meeting. First time she's seen her work colleagues since Feb '20.
So time to relax and write, purely for the cathartic enjoyment of it.
Outside the barn looks like this:
As you can see some not very sympathetic window openings there. After the weedkiller had done its job on the thistles and nettles o/h got stuck in on the weekends to do some landscape gardening. I suggested it might look a bit crap just sloping down so she built up some terraces with some spare stone we have. The soil was very stony so she riddled it, now the local cat craps in it hence the wire netting, they (the cats) cover a surprising amount of ground at night.
Some Spring bulbs will go in and she's researching what hardy annuals will survive here. It's hardly a priority, but when you've been sat behind a desk all week it's good to get away and immerse yourself in something completely different. It's the only bit of garden we have at the moment, the pavings in front of the house will eventually make way for garden, but no point in doing that when the house needs so much doing to it, it'll only get in the way and messed up in the process.
It's a shame I didn't do any research before buying 3 'Special offer' lavenders when I was at B&Q.
I proudly planted them on the banking only to be told it's French lavender, therefore will be dead by Spring unless we bring it in. Oops, British Lavender next time.
A barn owl roosts in the barn now and again, I think (like a lot of other wildlife) it got used to there being no-one here for 6 months and decided to move closer to the house. We've startled each other twice now, the first time the light was just dim in there so it made it's way out easy enough after scaring me. The second time i'd fitted some new lighting which confused it when it went on and lit the whole place up. I think they have relatively poor sight during the day and it couldn't find the daylight lit exit very well.
It circled round and around the barn whilst I ducked. Such a beautiful creature, it found it's way out eventually. I've seen a couple out on the moors too at dusk too, maybe in the future I should create an owl box in the back of the opening in the wall, it could then roost in there and we could maybe view it too.
New lighting you say? Oh aye, the lighting, I did quite well there. As the process of buying the place dragged on a modern lighting stockist closed their UK depot and the whole lot of stock came up at an auction local to where I worked. I know nowt about the subject, but there was so much stuff it was likely everyone would get their share and a bargain to boot.
Apparently these things are worth £87 ea + VAT to the trade and I got 8 for £113 all in. I would have bought more, but as I really didn't know exactly what I was buying into I figured it was enough. They were for the future workshop, but are in the barn for now. They do kick out some light, but the downside is they make a noise, I think they are fan cooled which is a shame.
I had to smile when I looked at the barn one dark night when the new lights were on, there were so many holes with light shining through it looked like the stars were out
Etonitazene chic said:
hidetheelephants said:
Pissing on compost heaps is supposed to be a thing. A bit like a dog marking its territory.
Surely horse manure contains the urine as well, unless the horses are toilet trained? I designed a biomass boiler for an equestrian centre to burn the dried bedding and manure years ago, and had a load of hassle finding a biomass boiler that would be covered by the warranty when burning manure due to the urine content.As said above if you mix the bedding with the poo then you'll get it, but if they use sawdust and shavings for bedding you don't really want that in your compost. Straw is ok though.
Somehow where I get this stuff from they know this, they know what people/gardeners want (pure muck, bagged) so it gets taken away regularly, win-win.
NorthDave said:
For the midges:-
I'm sure I've read that midges don't travel far so a technique is to use a cardboard box sprayed with carpet adhesive. You place a torch in the box at night and they all flock to the light and get stuck. You can wipe them out in your area.
Not sure how much truth there is to it though!!
Well it's cheap and easily made. The problem is every other insect will stick to it too, so we'll wipe out moths at night and butterflies during the day.I'm sure I've read that midges don't travel far so a technique is to use a cardboard box sprayed with carpet adhesive. You place a torch in the box at night and they all flock to the light and get stuck. You can wipe them out in your area.
Not sure how much truth there is to it though!!
Apparently they are attracted to carbon dioxide, so that maybe that's the key element.
In other news the temp of the heap is dropping a few degrees, I wonder if it peaked at 65.
Evanivitch said:
I stick old carpet over my compost heap which is in a builders bulk bag.
Even a tarp would keep the temperature in a bit. Beware it becoming a home for others...
It has a horse blanket over it. Mk2 will be lined and capped with some 100mm Kingspan and a length of aerating tube in the bottom.Even a tarp would keep the temperature in a bit. Beware it becoming a home for others...
LooneyTunes said:
Interesting thread!
For constant rapid composting, 3 bins gives even more flexibility. Just finishing off a fairly large setup that will hopefully convert pretty much all of our horse and garden waste into compost. Wood is best chipped down before going on, and it’s Important not to forget the worms (so don’t start completely from fresh with each new batch).
OP, out of interest, are you doing anything to improve thermal performance? Undertaking a similar project very soon and given I need to redo the walls and electrics am considering the merits of internal insulation.
You can't have worms in hot composting. Well, not until it's finished that bit then no doubt they'll work their way in.For constant rapid composting, 3 bins gives even more flexibility. Just finishing off a fairly large setup that will hopefully convert pretty much all of our horse and garden waste into compost. Wood is best chipped down before going on, and it’s Important not to forget the worms (so don’t start completely from fresh with each new batch).
OP, out of interest, are you doing anything to improve thermal performance? Undertaking a similar project very soon and given I need to redo the walls and electrics am considering the merits of internal insulation.
I wooden be putting wood in there, read back for why not.
Insulation will be addressed eventually, but not just yet and I haven't given it much thought. I have to stop the damp from coming in, fix the roofs and dry the building out first before tackling the interior, that on it's own will take well over a year.
Magooagain said:
Evoluzione said:
You can't have worms in hot composting. Well, not until it's finished that bit then no doubt they'll work their way in.
I wooden be putting wood in there, read back for why not.
Insulation will be addressed eventually, but not just yet and I haven't given it much thought. I have to stop the damp from coming in, fix the roofs and dry the building out first before tackling the interior, that on it's own will take well over a year.
What's on the internal side of the external stone walls?I wooden be putting wood in there, read back for why not.
Insulation will be addressed eventually, but not just yet and I haven't given it much thought. I have to stop the damp from coming in, fix the roofs and dry the building out first before tackling the interior, that on it's own will take well over a year.
You may get wicking from render and plaster etc,even if it's lime work.
If the internal walls are exposed stone then all should be well if lime pointed.
It seems to be good to have just stone that gets heated in winter and stores heat or some kind of stud work like metal rails etc set off from the stone walls leaving an empty cavity,stud work insulated and across the studs before boarding etc.Vented top and bottom with no materials touching the stone.
I suppose it depends on what amount of space you can afford to lose.
I haven't shown the interior yet as it's a bit embarrassing and this is all you're going to get for now! When I tackle it i'll post up some 'before, during and now' pics and talk about it some more. Magooagain makes some valid points about damp internal walls etc.
The ground floor is actually reasonably well laid out. The front extension contains a small bathroom and porch which goes into a sizeable kitchen with central island. To the rear is staircase and the utility (in another extension).
Double doors take you through to the dining room which shares a stove with the living room which is on yet another extension.
There you go Escort3500, this is what I have to look at on an evening in the lounge:
That bloody awful strap pointing! Ffs if you ever have a building repointed steer clear of this horrible stuff if you can.
I think that at one time in history (after OPC was invented) builders had to find something to do so they invented this to get work. There is just no need for it, it looks horrible on any wall and applied to many older walls it actually damages them.
Also in the pic you can see the floorboards have lifted, it's the same behind me too and other areas of the house, but less severe. It's because the house was left empty and unheated over Winter and Spring whilst leaking. The flooring got cold and damp, swelled and had no-where to go horizontally so it went vertically instead. It's shattered the kitchen tiles where they meet on the threshold. Even the solid oak kitchen cupboard doors have visibly swollen, many not shutting properly they are now so big.
Water has dripped down the chimney and into the cheap Chinese double sided wood burner. It wasn't great before, but totally ruined now, I can't even get the doors open on one side and the other had to be levered open. I think he's been burning something in there which he shouldn't, I remember seeing some empty bags of some kind of solid fuel and it wasn't coal. There is a burned out solid mass in the bottom and the glass is cracked, no signs of any firewood outside the house. It'll go on FB marketplace, i'll remove it after I've swept the chimney from above downwards. I think/hope my mum still has a set of chimney sweeping brushes my dad had stored in the shed.
We've brought my Stovax over, it's single sided, but will do for now.
The reason i'm not putting a new stove in is because we may have one with a back boiler in which heats radiators too, well that and there is no point in putting anything decent in here just yet.
I've always found investigating old buildings quite interesting, much like car engines. Why did they do that? Why did it fail? Then go on to do it better.
Shot of our lovely dining room/living room door along with some more of that amazing pointing:
Which surprisingly gives us a fair bit to talk about.
The first point; why is there a door there anyhow?! There's a bloody great hole straight through the wall next to it with a stove in it and the house also has central heating. The answer to that is just tradition and lack of thought.
You may notice it's about 6 - 7" smaller in height than it used to be when it was made. Why would someone make a door hole that was so small when they didn't have to? It's normal to have to cut an inch from a door for the flooring because some joiners don't think ahead, but not that much. If you look closely you'll see it steps up.
I think the answer will be that the floor levels are now a lot higher than they were, mainly in the original house. At a guess i'd say there is a damp solid floor under there with polythene over it, battens and one or two layers of floor board over the top.
One day we'll find out for sure.
The ground floor is actually reasonably well laid out. The front extension contains a small bathroom and porch which goes into a sizeable kitchen with central island. To the rear is staircase and the utility (in another extension).
Double doors take you through to the dining room which shares a stove with the living room which is on yet another extension.
There you go Escort3500, this is what I have to look at on an evening in the lounge:
That bloody awful strap pointing! Ffs if you ever have a building repointed steer clear of this horrible stuff if you can.
I think that at one time in history (after OPC was invented) builders had to find something to do so they invented this to get work. There is just no need for it, it looks horrible on any wall and applied to many older walls it actually damages them.
Also in the pic you can see the floorboards have lifted, it's the same behind me too and other areas of the house, but less severe. It's because the house was left empty and unheated over Winter and Spring whilst leaking. The flooring got cold and damp, swelled and had no-where to go horizontally so it went vertically instead. It's shattered the kitchen tiles where they meet on the threshold. Even the solid oak kitchen cupboard doors have visibly swollen, many not shutting properly they are now so big.
Water has dripped down the chimney and into the cheap Chinese double sided wood burner. It wasn't great before, but totally ruined now, I can't even get the doors open on one side and the other had to be levered open. I think he's been burning something in there which he shouldn't, I remember seeing some empty bags of some kind of solid fuel and it wasn't coal. There is a burned out solid mass in the bottom and the glass is cracked, no signs of any firewood outside the house. It'll go on FB marketplace, i'll remove it after I've swept the chimney from above downwards. I think/hope my mum still has a set of chimney sweeping brushes my dad had stored in the shed.
We've brought my Stovax over, it's single sided, but will do for now.
The reason i'm not putting a new stove in is because we may have one with a back boiler in which heats radiators too, well that and there is no point in putting anything decent in here just yet.
I've always found investigating old buildings quite interesting, much like car engines. Why did they do that? Why did it fail? Then go on to do it better.
Shot of our lovely dining room/living room door along with some more of that amazing pointing:
Which surprisingly gives us a fair bit to talk about.
The first point; why is there a door there anyhow?! There's a bloody great hole straight through the wall next to it with a stove in it and the house also has central heating. The answer to that is just tradition and lack of thought.
You may notice it's about 6 - 7" smaller in height than it used to be when it was made. Why would someone make a door hole that was so small when they didn't have to? It's normal to have to cut an inch from a door for the flooring because some joiners don't think ahead, but not that much. If you look closely you'll see it steps up.
I think the answer will be that the floor levels are now a lot higher than they were, mainly in the original house. At a guess i'd say there is a damp solid floor under there with polythene over it, battens and one or two layers of floor board over the top.
One day we'll find out for sure.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff