Project Old(ish) House Begins! Also some advice please!
Discussion
Hi All,
We finally managed to move into our house after a prolonged move/conveyancing experience!
Now the work can begin!
We knew it was going to be quite something of a project, but perhaps not quite as much as we are now finding!
But we'll get there and do things over time, so it's not an issue!
(although might have to get creative with finances along the way! And a LOT of DIY rather than contractors!)
House is an 1840's (ish) semi detatched, solid brick construction.
We started on the bedroom last week and discovered the external end walls had been battened & boarded at some point, this was hidden behind a rather large built in pine wardrobe/storage.
I ripped out the storage/wardrobe
and began to remove the boarding to discover this...!
There goes the plaster!
It is literally either falling off in chunks or crumbling off with the merest dirty look of disgust
Not quite such a simple job as we'd hoped then!
Whats peoples thoughts on removing all the old plaster, re-batten, dot & dabbing some thermal Kingpsan or Celotex on there then boarding & skimming? Room is quite large so can lose a bit of space on that end wall easily
Or should I be looking at getting a lime plasterer in and re-plastering?
I'm worried a bit about breathability with boarding over it, has anyone done something similar?
It looks like the wall possibly had a leak from the chimney flashing at some point, but it feels dry now and the flashing on the chimney is pretty good (obviously been replaced at some point)
Oh the joys of an old house!
Oh and some utter clusterf**k decided this was a good idea in the loft.....
Thats Spray Foam insulation between the rafters.
Yes we did get a survey, yes it did point it out, yes we were stupid and bought it anyway...
I've decided to forget about that for now and deal with it later...!
Too many other things to sort out first!
We finally managed to move into our house after a prolonged move/conveyancing experience!
Now the work can begin!
We knew it was going to be quite something of a project, but perhaps not quite as much as we are now finding!
But we'll get there and do things over time, so it's not an issue!
(although might have to get creative with finances along the way! And a LOT of DIY rather than contractors!)
House is an 1840's (ish) semi detatched, solid brick construction.
We started on the bedroom last week and discovered the external end walls had been battened & boarded at some point, this was hidden behind a rather large built in pine wardrobe/storage.
I ripped out the storage/wardrobe
and began to remove the boarding to discover this...!
There goes the plaster!
It is literally either falling off in chunks or crumbling off with the merest dirty look of disgust
Not quite such a simple job as we'd hoped then!
Whats peoples thoughts on removing all the old plaster, re-batten, dot & dabbing some thermal Kingpsan or Celotex on there then boarding & skimming? Room is quite large so can lose a bit of space on that end wall easily
Or should I be looking at getting a lime plasterer in and re-plastering?
I'm worried a bit about breathability with boarding over it, has anyone done something similar?
It looks like the wall possibly had a leak from the chimney flashing at some point, but it feels dry now and the flashing on the chimney is pretty good (obviously been replaced at some point)
Oh the joys of an old house!
Oh and some utter clusterf**k decided this was a good idea in the loft.....
Thats Spray Foam insulation between the rafters.
Yes we did get a survey, yes it did point it out, yes we were stupid and bought it anyway...
I've decided to forget about that for now and deal with it later...!
Too many other things to sort out first!
We've moved on from the main bedroom (with the crumbly plaster) for now until we decide what to do
Next room for a "quick fix" (like the bedroom was supposed to be) is the second reception room downstairs
Now lovingly know as the Parlour (pronounced paaaarrrlllooooooooour)
Started out like this:
Mmnnn more pine....
Then out comes the white paint!
Cover up the slightly yellowed/nicotined stained ceiling (luckily not too bad in here)
And straight onto the walls
Cover that horrible brickwork around the fire in white paint too...
This is 2 coats in:
Seemed an easy option for now, the 80's brickwork will be ripped out eventually and the chimney opened back up with a wood burner installed
Colour going onto the chimney breast to give it a bit more character and not so sterile white!
This was taken about 30 seconds after the first coat, so should darken the blue down a bit to something like this:
Couple more coats then can put some furniture back in, build up some book cases in the recesses by the chimney to hide the painted pine boarding.
Oh did I mention there is only old 1980's storage heaters in the house? Yeh no central heating apart from those....!
Wondering what we saw in the place! I think we might need some sort of mental assessment....
Next room for a "quick fix" (like the bedroom was supposed to be) is the second reception room downstairs
Now lovingly know as the Parlour (pronounced paaaarrrlllooooooooour)
Started out like this:
Mmnnn more pine....
Then out comes the white paint!
Cover up the slightly yellowed/nicotined stained ceiling (luckily not too bad in here)
And straight onto the walls
Cover that horrible brickwork around the fire in white paint too...
This is 2 coats in:
Seemed an easy option for now, the 80's brickwork will be ripped out eventually and the chimney opened back up with a wood burner installed
Colour going onto the chimney breast to give it a bit more character and not so sterile white!
This was taken about 30 seconds after the first coat, so should darken the blue down a bit to something like this:
Couple more coats then can put some furniture back in, build up some book cases in the recesses by the chimney to hide the painted pine boarding.
Oh did I mention there is only old 1980's storage heaters in the house? Yeh no central heating apart from those....!
Wondering what we saw in the place! I think we might need some sort of mental assessment....
Joey Deacon said:
I assume that is a boarded up chimney? Have you poked around with a damp meter? As this is an old house this maybe something that you don't want to do...........
Yes boarded over chimneyNo havent poked with damp meter
The surveyor went round with a "Protimeter electronic moister meter" (sounds fancy!) and took readings.
Report read:
"We are of the opinion that the remedial damp proofing works
(It's had chemical damproofing done at some point)
have been reasonably effective and although, some isolated and slightly
above normal readings were recorded these were not causing any
deterioration to decorations or breakdown of plasterwork. Although,
we cannot rule out any recurrence of dampness within the property
we regard this as being unlikely and are of the view that dampness
has been reduced to an acceptable level"
Obviously the bit I revealed was boarded so no readings would have been taken from there...
The plan in that room is to open out the fireplace again, mainly for decoration (It's unlikely it'll be used for fires again) and allow the chimney to breathe as it should.
Drawweight said:
How’s the wiring?
Does it need a rewire which would be better done before minor works of any kind?
Touch wood, so far everything I've seen has been reasonably OKDoes it need a rewire which would be better done before minor works of any kind?
The consumer unit is old(ish), not as old as in our 1970's semi we were in before though
Also the previous owner had PV solar panels installed and a smart meter so a fair bit of re-wiring was done for all that.
Sockets in odd places though, so will need re-think in some rooms.
Re the external wall and battening - definitely lime plaster needed IMO. This is coming from someone who's looked at damp basement kitchen walls for ages and tried everything else. The satisfaction of having it done properly and then being able to paint (with clay paint) and know the plaster's not going to be falling off in handfuls is huge. Lime plaster leaves a nice finish, is easy to paint and you'll keep the space that would have been taken up with battens and boards.
Haddock82 said:
Joey Deacon said:
I assume that is a boarded up chimney? Have you poked around with a damp meter? As this is an old house this maybe something that you don't want to do...........
Yes boarded over chimneyNo havent poked with damp meter
The surveyor went round with a "Protimeter electronic moister meter" (sounds fancy!) and took readings.
Report read:
"We are of the opinion that the remedial damp proofing works
(It's had chemical damproofing done at some point)
have been reasonably effective and although, some isolated and slightly
above normal readings were recorded these were not causing any
deterioration to decorations or breakdown of plasterwork. Although,
we cannot rule out any recurrence of dampness within the property
we regard this as being unlikely and are of the view that dampness
has been reduced to an acceptable level"
Obviously the bit I revealed was boarded so no readings would have been taken from there...
The plan in that room is to open out the fireplace again, mainly for decoration (It's unlikely it'll be used for fires again) and allow the chimney to breathe as it should.
As you say, all of that was covered up by woodwork so would have been impossible to take proper readings. As there looks to be no ventilation grill in front of the chimney breast I suspect that is not helping matters.
I would go and get a cheap damp meter (Lidl were doing them for £10 recently) and have a poke around. As someone who owns a Vctorian house, you may not like what you find.......
Haddock82 said:
Oh did I mention there is only old 1980's storage heaters in the house? Yeh no central heating apart from those....!
Wondering what we saw in the place! I think we might need some sort of mental assessment....
I assume you don't have mains gas? I had those storage heaters in my first ever house. After a first winter of zero heat and a massive electricity bill they were all removed and gas central heating fitted. Wondering what we saw in the place! I think we might need some sort of mental assessment....
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 12th May 17:52
Bluesgirl said:
Re the external wall and battening - definitely lime plaster needed IMO. This is coming from someone who's looked at damp basement kitchen walls for ages and tried everything else. The satisfaction of having it done properly and then being able to paint (with clay paint) and know the plaster's not going to be falling off in handfuls is huge. Lime plaster leaves a nice finish, is easy to paint and you'll keep the space that would have been taken up with battens and boards.
I’m going to contradict this and say insulated board over battens - but only upstairs. We’ve done it over solid stone walls and the difference in temperature is night and day. It’s a properly warm room now that hold heats well and, given the drafts coming out of the plug socket cutouts before I sealed them, there’s plenty of airflow behind. That being said, you want a consistent finish and feel throughout the house. So if you’ve got lovely lime plastered walls everywhere else it’s going to look a bit odd having perfectly flat and smooth gypsum plastered walls in one room.
Don’t be put off by modern materials; suitably chosen they’re often a better option than the traditional method.
Re: Storage heaters - there is no mains gas in the village. There are only about 50 houses here in total so unlikely to get it anytime soon.
If it were available it'd already be being installed!
Going to have to look at either air source heat pump or oil central heating.
As for plastering... Will get someone round to have a look and recommend I think then go from there. Lots of people have said to do lime plaster and lots of people said just batten and insulate...
If it were available it'd already be being installed!
Going to have to look at either air source heat pump or oil central heating.
As for plastering... Will get someone round to have a look and recommend I think then go from there. Lots of people have said to do lime plaster and lots of people said just batten and insulate...
This room was always going to be a "quick" fix.
Slap some paint on, whack up some bookshelves (next job on the list!)
But I think it's turning out quite nice!
Cut some boarding today to cover the rancid brown tiles in the alcoves and painted it all.
Sofa is in and fake fire in place for now.
It'll all get redone at some point when we get the fireplace opened out and wood burner installed.
Slap some paint on, whack up some bookshelves (next job on the list!)
But I think it's turning out quite nice!
Cut some boarding today to cover the rancid brown tiles in the alcoves and painted it all.
Sofa is in and fake fire in place for now.
It'll all get redone at some point when we get the fireplace opened out and wood burner installed.
Does your gable end suffer from the prevailing weather?
It looks to me like the panelling is there because the wall reaches saturation point when there is prolonged rainfall. This could be due to poor pointing or an intrinsic characteristic of the house.
As with most problems with old houses, be as sure of the cause as possible before looking for solutions.
It looks to me like the panelling is there because the wall reaches saturation point when there is prolonged rainfall. This could be due to poor pointing or an intrinsic characteristic of the house.
As with most problems with old houses, be as sure of the cause as possible before looking for solutions.
Overdue thread update!
I finally managed to get around to getting myself and SDS drill and started to attack the plaster in the main bedroom
To be fair for most of it I didn't even need the drill as it was just falling away
From this:
To this:
The Brickwork on the outer wall with the chimney is pretty good, perhaps a previous failure of flashing caused the degradation of the plaster?
Anyway annoyingly the fireplace is bricked up good and solid
We were going to re-open it in this room, but I'm leaving it alone for now, we can always go back to it in the years to come. Mrs. H doesn't like that it is off centre though, so it'll likely end up being left bricked up. I'll probably break out a brick though for some air flow.
Mrs. Haddock even managed to get all the woodchip wallpaper off the ceiling!
(Yes the plug socket is on sideways... Long story)
Unfortunately we now move on to yet more problems...
The brickwork below the window is not great, probably from all the years of previous window changes etc and bodged back up a bit:
But!....
Yet more issues found on the opposite wall
Worrying issues, have kept me up at night...
None of this was found on the "Full Structural" survey we had done,
Even if we went back to them they'd just say they couldn't see it as it was covered with plaster and wallpaper....
Luckily one of the neighbours is a structural engineer and has a lot of experience with old buildings
So he is going to come tround next week and have a look.
I'm fearing the worst and more unexpected costs...
On the plus side the bathroom is done!
I finally managed to get around to getting myself and SDS drill and started to attack the plaster in the main bedroom
To be fair for most of it I didn't even need the drill as it was just falling away
From this:
To this:
The Brickwork on the outer wall with the chimney is pretty good, perhaps a previous failure of flashing caused the degradation of the plaster?
Anyway annoyingly the fireplace is bricked up good and solid
We were going to re-open it in this room, but I'm leaving it alone for now, we can always go back to it in the years to come. Mrs. H doesn't like that it is off centre though, so it'll likely end up being left bricked up. I'll probably break out a brick though for some air flow.
Mrs. Haddock even managed to get all the woodchip wallpaper off the ceiling!
(Yes the plug socket is on sideways... Long story)
Unfortunately we now move on to yet more problems...
The brickwork below the window is not great, probably from all the years of previous window changes etc and bodged back up a bit:
But!....
Yet more issues found on the opposite wall
Worrying issues, have kept me up at night...
None of this was found on the "Full Structural" survey we had done,
Even if we went back to them they'd just say they couldn't see it as it was covered with plaster and wallpaper....
Luckily one of the neighbours is a structural engineer and has a lot of experience with old buildings
So he is going to come tround next week and have a look.
I'm fearing the worst and more unexpected costs...
On the plus side the bathroom is done!
Edited by Haddock82 on Thursday 2nd September 16:45
Edited by Haddock82 on Thursday 2nd September 16:46
SpanishTony said:
I'd not worry too much, if that's all it's moved in 170 years should be ok for a bit longer. Assumption: that those cracks haven't appeared in the last six months (which would have been seen in the plaster above it.)
Thanks Spanish, a bit of re-assurance is always welcome!After the initial freak out on Monday when I uncovered it I have calmed down!
This part was covered in render! Someone had obviously previously tried to deal with it, albeit badly!
There was no old plaster like the rest of the room over this part, just thick grey render (about 2" in places) and then skimmed over. It came off easily in large chunks.
So it's obviously been like that for at least 30-40 years as the previous owners did very little re-decoration/renovation works.
They were quite old so I have no animosity to them as they likely didn't know either!
Also our direct neighbour gave us some insight, that the owner before the people we bought from was a builder and shall we say of dubious quality work... Oh joy, I'm sure to find more things soon!
Holy smokes!
1 year on update!!
So we left off with the nasty bedroom!
The "crack" was looked at by our structural engineer friend, who deemed it old movement and not to worry too much about it
We had it stitched with Helifix bars
That room still looks pretty much the same apart from the crack stitch
Our next job was to tackle the kitchen!
With the cost of materials at the moment, we decided to do this one ourselves
Going from this:
Lots of smashing, dismantling and general DIY ensued!
Don't know the relevance of this and neighbours didn't know either!:
Almost finished now, some snagging to sort and tidying here & there
Also not sure about the flooring.... It was a bit of a left field choice and will probably get changed again
It's just stick down vinyl floor planks
1 year on update!!
So we left off with the nasty bedroom!
The "crack" was looked at by our structural engineer friend, who deemed it old movement and not to worry too much about it
We had it stitched with Helifix bars
That room still looks pretty much the same apart from the crack stitch
Our next job was to tackle the kitchen!
With the cost of materials at the moment, we decided to do this one ourselves
Going from this:
Lots of smashing, dismantling and general DIY ensued!
Don't know the relevance of this and neighbours didn't know either!:
Almost finished now, some snagging to sort and tidying here & there
Also not sure about the flooring.... It was a bit of a left field choice and will probably get changed again
It's just stick down vinyl floor planks
After the kitchen was pretty much done (About 95%!)
We finally got the roofing contractors round to start!
After months of waiting for them to fit us in to their busy schedule they have started the long job of
Removing the old crappy conrete roof tiles
Smashing out the nasty, nasty spray foam insulation (Seriously, don't ever do this to your roof!)
Replacing any damage beams/rafters etc
Re-Tiling in Slate
I'd say they are 85% done, the dormer at the back of the house has been a bit of a bugger to sort apparently, but it's getting there!
Scaffolding going up!
It's difficult to get any pics of the progress as you can't really see much with the scaffolding up and the general positioning of the house on the road
But there are new slates up there now!
We finally got the roofing contractors round to start!
After months of waiting for them to fit us in to their busy schedule they have started the long job of
Removing the old crappy conrete roof tiles
Smashing out the nasty, nasty spray foam insulation (Seriously, don't ever do this to your roof!)
Replacing any damage beams/rafters etc
Re-Tiling in Slate
I'd say they are 85% done, the dormer at the back of the house has been a bit of a bugger to sort apparently, but it's getting there!
Scaffolding going up!
It's difficult to get any pics of the progress as you can't really see much with the scaffolding up and the general positioning of the house on the road
But there are new slates up there now!
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