Renovating an old farmhouse and living on the Pennines
Discussion
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin 
The first bit is a brief preface, sorry if it's slightly dull, but it sets the scene and explains a few things which you may wonder about later.
I started off my career in the late 80s as an apprentice trained joiner. Over the many years I did just about every job within that which was related to wood (it has a lot of subsections) and a few others too. I ran my own small business doing it and other associated building jobs, but became a bit disenchanted with the whole thing. I was fed up with working away, but the money was good and the jobs often interesting. On the flipside working locally wasn't stretching my talents either. When the big recession hit the work dried up so I packed up and followed my other passion - cars, in particular engine building. I designed and made specialised parts, or had them made by people with better machinery than I and built many a good high performance engine, all of which which regularly got sent around the World.
This means I've amassed a large amount of practical knowledge.
And tools.
Oh and loads of left over materials. I don't throw much away, 'it'll come in useful for something' gets uttered a little too often perhaps, but it'll get used now!
Where I lived on the outskirts of Leeds and Bradford was a decent enough village, but it had become nothing but a huge housing estate over the years. There was no industry anymore, no units to rent for a workshop and my house was now overlooked by a housing estate. Pubs and shops closed, even the greenbelt was being built on. I needed to get away from that. I needed somewhere peaceful where I could do what I liked, when I liked. My OH would be happy with more house space and some garden. I sold off my assets, she pays the mortgage.
In Spring 2020 I found this place nestled in the Pennines, the problem was it was just as the Covid 19 outbreak had started to get into its stride and we were in lockdown. I was still driving to work and really couldn't see any issues at all with me driving to the farmhouse and having a look from the road at it and the general area so off I went.
As I neared where it was I pulled over and surveyed the scenery. It was a beautiful warm sunny Spring day, I almost shed a tear it was so fantastic, looking across the wild moors and reservoirs, the occasional bird call here and there.
I then realised I couldn't look at the place without being intrusive as it was down a small dead end track.
I drove down to the gate, parked up outside, walked across and knocked on the door, the owner opened it and I explained myself whilst keeping a safe (Covid 19 rule) distance. He welcomed me and we sat outside (at distance!) and discussed the place. Driving away I knew we had to have it, it ticked so many boxes for us!
Then began 14 months of pain trying to buy it.
It has 17 acres and is classed as a smallholding, we had problems getting finance even though we were borrowing just a fraction of what was needed. I won't bore you with all that (I already did that in the 'Anyone moving now? thread!), but we were let down badly by an incompetent mortgage broker and two banks. If you find yourself in this rare situation let me know and i'll explain more. We were led right up to the point of doing it then dropped like a stone twice, it was a very stressful time.
We could not plan anything. Hospital ops, annual leave, closing down the business, doing jobs for customers. Everything was in limbo for a over a year whilst we got dicked around by professionals who should have known better.
In the end we ended up with a specialist mortgage advisor and a very small bank called 'Vernons' They're the people you need for this kind of job. I also sold my road car to help and now just use a van. I realised an MX5 wasn't going to get used for a while and the prices were so buoyant I got what I paid for it 3yrs ago.
As you'll see the views are quite pleasant:
Weird panoramic:
Next we'll talk about the house
The first bit is a brief preface, sorry if it's slightly dull, but it sets the scene and explains a few things which you may wonder about later.
I started off my career in the late 80s as an apprentice trained joiner. Over the many years I did just about every job within that which was related to wood (it has a lot of subsections) and a few others too. I ran my own small business doing it and other associated building jobs, but became a bit disenchanted with the whole thing. I was fed up with working away, but the money was good and the jobs often interesting. On the flipside working locally wasn't stretching my talents either. When the big recession hit the work dried up so I packed up and followed my other passion - cars, in particular engine building. I designed and made specialised parts, or had them made by people with better machinery than I and built many a good high performance engine, all of which which regularly got sent around the World.
This means I've amassed a large amount of practical knowledge.
And tools.
Oh and loads of left over materials. I don't throw much away, 'it'll come in useful for something' gets uttered a little too often perhaps, but it'll get used now!
Where I lived on the outskirts of Leeds and Bradford was a decent enough village, but it had become nothing but a huge housing estate over the years. There was no industry anymore, no units to rent for a workshop and my house was now overlooked by a housing estate. Pubs and shops closed, even the greenbelt was being built on. I needed to get away from that. I needed somewhere peaceful where I could do what I liked, when I liked. My OH would be happy with more house space and some garden. I sold off my assets, she pays the mortgage.
In Spring 2020 I found this place nestled in the Pennines, the problem was it was just as the Covid 19 outbreak had started to get into its stride and we were in lockdown. I was still driving to work and really couldn't see any issues at all with me driving to the farmhouse and having a look from the road at it and the general area so off I went.
As I neared where it was I pulled over and surveyed the scenery. It was a beautiful warm sunny Spring day, I almost shed a tear it was so fantastic, looking across the wild moors and reservoirs, the occasional bird call here and there.
I then realised I couldn't look at the place without being intrusive as it was down a small dead end track.
I drove down to the gate, parked up outside, walked across and knocked on the door, the owner opened it and I explained myself whilst keeping a safe (Covid 19 rule) distance. He welcomed me and we sat outside (at distance!) and discussed the place. Driving away I knew we had to have it, it ticked so many boxes for us!
Then began 14 months of pain trying to buy it.
It has 17 acres and is classed as a smallholding, we had problems getting finance even though we were borrowing just a fraction of what was needed. I won't bore you with all that (I already did that in the 'Anyone moving now? thread!), but we were let down badly by an incompetent mortgage broker and two banks. If you find yourself in this rare situation let me know and i'll explain more. We were led right up to the point of doing it then dropped like a stone twice, it was a very stressful time.
We could not plan anything. Hospital ops, annual leave, closing down the business, doing jobs for customers. Everything was in limbo for a over a year whilst we got dicked around by professionals who should have known better.
In the end we ended up with a specialist mortgage advisor and a very small bank called 'Vernons' They're the people you need for this kind of job. I also sold my road car to help and now just use a van. I realised an MX5 wasn't going to get used for a while and the prices were so buoyant I got what I paid for it 3yrs ago.
As you'll see the views are quite pleasant:
Weird panoramic:
Next we'll talk about the house
Edited by Evoluzione on Friday 26th November 08:58
This is taken from the very steep hill above us (which we own):
The house was very damp inside and had been for many years.
The walls are 50cms (half a metre) thick and solid, no cavity, rubble filled. It remains cool inside on hot days, even cooler on cold days!
Over the years previous owners had unsuccessfully battled with the damp issue. First the walls had been pointed in the wrong kind of pointing (cement and not lime) which had created the problem. What happens is the rain gets soaked up by the stone and makes it's way down, but is then trapped in by the cement pointing. It can't get out so sits in the wall and works it's way through into the house instead. To try and correct that someone then painted the whole house in a paste of cement and water, maybe some paint thrown in with it for good measure. This is known as 'Cement wash' and forms a hard brittle coating all over the house walls. I'm thinking that failed too, so then someone had painted over the top of that as well with masonry paint.
Several times
Oh I forgot to say the last owner had been trying to sell it for about 5yrs because his wife had left him, why she ever got with him in the first place I don't know as he was a total nobhead. Maybe he came into money and she spent it on horses.
3 colours, 3 materials:
The paint came loose and water ran behind it getting trapped against the wall, still coming inside the house..... Yes it was an utter mess and there was only one way to do it properly; strip the whole lot off and start again. The easiest, cheapest way is by blasting it with compressed air and a particular type of abrasive. I found a local blasting company and got a quote. You need some good gear to get cement wash off, it's rock hard and bonded on well to the millstone grit walls. Very high pressure and a specific grit were needed (not sand).
They quoted and I accepted. Then they didn't answer the phone or any texts for weeks apart from once when they said vaguely they were coming.
Then didn't turn up for weeks. I was getting fed up with living in a damp atmosphere, the OH had developed a hacking cough. Cat was ok
I started to look at different companies and methods, one suggested was the TORC method which uses special equipment that mixes blasting media with water and fires it on.
Another company wanted more than twice as much to blast it
Then at 8pm the first guys rang me and said they would be there in the morning. Typical bloody building trade.
In their defence it's a 3 man team, the old guy, his young son and another guy. What had happened was the owner had gone into hospital for a major op leaving the 18yr old to run the business. He was struggling so I didn't give them a hard time, i'll pass on some words of wisdom on how to run a business (communication) as we get on well and I'll tip them when they're done as they're proper grafters and it's a tough job.
Lots of blasting pics:
Just starting on the lower right here:
It grows:
|https://thumbsnap.com/WaKeufoN[/url]
And grows some more:
[url]
The noise is intense, you need earplugs/muffs anywhere near outside and the media bounces off all over the place. Anywhere near and it'll sting, up to 10 - 15 metres away and it'll just get in your hair. It's a hard job, but rewarding. These guys earn their money.
Their ladders wouldn't reach to the top of the chimbly, luckily my triples did
The mess it makes is beyond belief, blasting media everywhere outside, dust everywhere inside.
But hey, look at the results, it's like getting Timeteam in! They make a huge mess of the place, but uncover lots of history.
For some reason we have two electric supplies, one dead (top one) and one live (btm right):
No idea why the upper one has never been removed, must ask the supplier why and get it cut off.
If you look carefully you'll see where the rear extension was single story at one time (note the roofline halfway down) but was extended upwards later.
Here you can see a definite change in stone below the kitchen window:
The reason is the window cill has been raised so they could get the kitchen sink and unit in behind there.
Some of the reason for the immediate change in colour is the water content of the stone. The grey dust sticks to the damp stone, it doesn't stick to the dry stone. The other is the type of stone, it isn't Millstone grit, but however on washing it off:
It looks ok.
The blasting carried on until Friday eve. I have no idea how they could leave a patch like that, but they did! Nevermind, back to finish off next week. They get a board held against the window and the more experienced chap blasts the paint off. You hit a window with this and it's buggered, end of story.
Some more pics of the process, It's so good to see decades of this s
t and misunderstanding wiped clean off:
Just the start of the remedial work, next we have to hack off the pointing and re-do it with lime.
I've just washed that down with the hose and had a bit of a peck at the pointing in one area to the left of the window hence the different colours here and there.
More hacking off will be done over Autumn/Winter so the building can further be able to breathe again, come Spring we'll start re-pointing.
The reason for this is lime pointing is faddy & fussy which is what lead to it's downfall and being overtaken by OP cement in the building trade.
I wouldn't risk going into Winter up here with freshly done lime, it takes ages to dry and if it freezes whilst wet it'll be ruined. The walls are soaking wet even now because they've been wrapped in cement and paint for so long and will take a while to dry out.
The problem was when ordinary Portland cement came out it was used on these old walls which ruined them as they weren't designed for it.
Old walls were built with lime and should have been repaired with it too, modern walls are ok with OP, not old ones. It's lead to a lot of damage to old buildings and walls since its introduction as no-one under stood it.
Thankyou for your comments, I will address some of them later
The house was very damp inside and had been for many years.
The walls are 50cms (half a metre) thick and solid, no cavity, rubble filled. It remains cool inside on hot days, even cooler on cold days!
Over the years previous owners had unsuccessfully battled with the damp issue. First the walls had been pointed in the wrong kind of pointing (cement and not lime) which had created the problem. What happens is the rain gets soaked up by the stone and makes it's way down, but is then trapped in by the cement pointing. It can't get out so sits in the wall and works it's way through into the house instead. To try and correct that someone then painted the whole house in a paste of cement and water, maybe some paint thrown in with it for good measure. This is known as 'Cement wash' and forms a hard brittle coating all over the house walls. I'm thinking that failed too, so then someone had painted over the top of that as well with masonry paint.
Several times
Oh I forgot to say the last owner had been trying to sell it for about 5yrs because his wife had left him, why she ever got with him in the first place I don't know as he was a total nobhead. Maybe he came into money and she spent it on horses.
3 colours, 3 materials:
The paint came loose and water ran behind it getting trapped against the wall, still coming inside the house..... Yes it was an utter mess and there was only one way to do it properly; strip the whole lot off and start again. The easiest, cheapest way is by blasting it with compressed air and a particular type of abrasive. I found a local blasting company and got a quote. You need some good gear to get cement wash off, it's rock hard and bonded on well to the millstone grit walls. Very high pressure and a specific grit were needed (not sand).
They quoted and I accepted. Then they didn't answer the phone or any texts for weeks apart from once when they said vaguely they were coming.
Then didn't turn up for weeks. I was getting fed up with living in a damp atmosphere, the OH had developed a hacking cough. Cat was ok
I started to look at different companies and methods, one suggested was the TORC method which uses special equipment that mixes blasting media with water and fires it on.
Another company wanted more than twice as much to blast it
Then at 8pm the first guys rang me and said they would be there in the morning. Typical bloody building trade.
In their defence it's a 3 man team, the old guy, his young son and another guy. What had happened was the owner had gone into hospital for a major op leaving the 18yr old to run the business. He was struggling so I didn't give them a hard time, i'll pass on some words of wisdom on how to run a business (communication) as we get on well and I'll tip them when they're done as they're proper grafters and it's a tough job.
Lots of blasting pics:
Just starting on the lower right here:
It grows:
|https://thumbsnap.com/WaKeufoN[/url]And grows some more:
[url]The noise is intense, you need earplugs/muffs anywhere near outside and the media bounces off all over the place. Anywhere near and it'll sting, up to 10 - 15 metres away and it'll just get in your hair. It's a hard job, but rewarding. These guys earn their money.
Their ladders wouldn't reach to the top of the chimbly, luckily my triples did
The mess it makes is beyond belief, blasting media everywhere outside, dust everywhere inside.
But hey, look at the results, it's like getting Timeteam in! They make a huge mess of the place, but uncover lots of history.
For some reason we have two electric supplies, one dead (top one) and one live (btm right):
No idea why the upper one has never been removed, must ask the supplier why and get it cut off.
If you look carefully you'll see where the rear extension was single story at one time (note the roofline halfway down) but was extended upwards later.
Here you can see a definite change in stone below the kitchen window:
The reason is the window cill has been raised so they could get the kitchen sink and unit in behind there.
Some of the reason for the immediate change in colour is the water content of the stone. The grey dust sticks to the damp stone, it doesn't stick to the dry stone. The other is the type of stone, it isn't Millstone grit, but however on washing it off:
It looks ok.
The blasting carried on until Friday eve. I have no idea how they could leave a patch like that, but they did! Nevermind, back to finish off next week. They get a board held against the window and the more experienced chap blasts the paint off. You hit a window with this and it's buggered, end of story.
Some more pics of the process, It's so good to see decades of this s
t and misunderstanding wiped clean off:Just the start of the remedial work, next we have to hack off the pointing and re-do it with lime.
I've just washed that down with the hose and had a bit of a peck at the pointing in one area to the left of the window hence the different colours here and there.
More hacking off will be done over Autumn/Winter so the building can further be able to breathe again, come Spring we'll start re-pointing.
The reason for this is lime pointing is faddy & fussy which is what lead to it's downfall and being overtaken by OP cement in the building trade.
I wouldn't risk going into Winter up here with freshly done lime, it takes ages to dry and if it freezes whilst wet it'll be ruined. The walls are soaking wet even now because they've been wrapped in cement and paint for so long and will take a while to dry out.
The problem was when ordinary Portland cement came out it was used on these old walls which ruined them as they weren't designed for it.
Old walls were built with lime and should have been repaired with it too, modern walls are ok with OP, not old ones. It's lead to a lot of damage to old buildings and walls since its introduction as no-one under stood it.
Thankyou for your comments, I will address some of them later
Edited by Evoluzione on Sunday 22 August 04:21
Thanks again for your replies.
Despite being quite high up you can't see the sea from the Pennines
Inabox, I will PM you, it would be great to chat some more.
I do still have some cars and they will be coming across, i've measured the double garage and should get three in if I can shove one sideways and maybe climb out the boot. Then other stuff will go in front of them. Right now it's just a case of getting everything across and storing it then starting the work on the house and creating more space.
The cars maybe needed to create more funds as we go on so I need to look after them.
The land is rented off to a sheep farmer, they use some of their subsidy to fund it and look after it. They are slowly working to reduce the moorland reeds and repair* the walls when they fail. They put a selective weedkiller on the reeds, then run the topper over them (farming word for lawnmower
) when they've died to make it more useful.
I'm aware of being sensitive to the environment and wasn't entirely sure about changing the land. However there is plenty of this type already surrounding us and actually we are in fact restoring it back to what it once was. Many years ago it was farming grassland, but like everything else here it's not been looked after and has become over run.
These guys need somewhere to live too:
We'll talk about water later too as it's a surprisingly big subject here, but the fields were drained by 'soughs'. These were drainage ditches formed by two stone slabs pointing up, one on top capping them off and one as a base. They are somewhat self cleaning because when it get serious rain through it it cleans the base out of soil, silt etc.
Not only have they suffered from lack of maintenance, but also collapsed from the use of heavy farm equipment running over the top of them.
It'll be a long time before i'm involved in draining the land again, but do plan on doing it one day. I'm also going to plant some trees, maybe this Winter as it's the best time to plant them.
Sadly I won't be around to enjoy the splendour of a mature tree, but future owners will. It's about making a difference and leaving my mark - in a good way.
From the beer and view thread:
Eventually the house will be worth a lot more than what we paid for it, it'll then pay for us in an old peoples home or mental hospital
Despite being quite high up you can't see the sea from the Pennines
Inabox, I will PM you, it would be great to chat some more.
I do still have some cars and they will be coming across, i've measured the double garage and should get three in if I can shove one sideways and maybe climb out the boot. Then other stuff will go in front of them. Right now it's just a case of getting everything across and storing it then starting the work on the house and creating more space.
The cars maybe needed to create more funds as we go on so I need to look after them.
The land is rented off to a sheep farmer, they use some of their subsidy to fund it and look after it. They are slowly working to reduce the moorland reeds and repair* the walls when they fail. They put a selective weedkiller on the reeds, then run the topper over them (farming word for lawnmower
) when they've died to make it more useful.I'm aware of being sensitive to the environment and wasn't entirely sure about changing the land. However there is plenty of this type already surrounding us and actually we are in fact restoring it back to what it once was. Many years ago it was farming grassland, but like everything else here it's not been looked after and has become over run.
These guys need somewhere to live too:
- Sadly 'repair' means putting posts up over a fallen drystone wall and stringing wire mesh across. Hopefully one day i'll get into drystone walling and do it properly, there is plenty to go at.
We'll talk about water later too as it's a surprisingly big subject here, but the fields were drained by 'soughs'. These were drainage ditches formed by two stone slabs pointing up, one on top capping them off and one as a base. They are somewhat self cleaning because when it get serious rain through it it cleans the base out of soil, silt etc.
Not only have they suffered from lack of maintenance, but also collapsed from the use of heavy farm equipment running over the top of them.
It'll be a long time before i'm involved in draining the land again, but do plan on doing it one day. I'm also going to plant some trees, maybe this Winter as it's the best time to plant them.
Sadly I won't be around to enjoy the splendour of a mature tree, but future owners will. It's about making a difference and leaving my mark - in a good way.
From the beer and view thread:
Eventually the house will be worth a lot more than what we paid for it, it'll then pay for us in an old peoples home or mental hospital
Edited by Evoluzione on Wednesday 20th October 20:45
silentbrown said:
Looks amazing! What altitude are you at there?
You'd be surprised how quickly trees and scrub can grow/recolonize once the woolly maggots are kept away. Even 6 years can make a huge difference.
https://twitter.com/Chad_C_Mulligan/status/1310495...
We're halfway down a hill at about 330m, but can see a big hill in the distance which is over 550 though.You'd be surprised how quickly trees and scrub can grow/recolonize once the woolly maggots are kept away. Even 6 years can make a huge difference.
https://twitter.com/Chad_C_Mulligan/status/1310495...
Looking across the valley to the other side last week the tops were just about lost in low cloud:
skeeterm5 said:
The walls look amazing after the blasting. What did you do with the mess that is made?
They clear up the bulk of it and take it away. I have however asked them if I could keep a lot of it and of course they thought that was great! I have my own blasting equipment so it'll come in useful another day.That said I think we'll be finding bits of it everywhere for a long time to come.
Evanivitch said:
Evoluzione said:
We'll talk about water later too as it's a surprisingly big subject here, but the fields were drained by 'sophs'. These were drainage ditches formed by two stone slabs pointing up and one on top capping them off. Not only have they suffered from lack of maintenance, but also collapsed from the use of heavy farm equipment running over the top of them.
It'll be a long time before i'm involved in draining the land again, but do plan on doing it one day. I'm also going to plant some trees, maybe this Winter as it's the best time to plant them.
Sadly I won't be around to enjoy the splendour of a mature tree, but future owners will. It's about making a difference and leaving my mark - in a good way.
By blocking the drainage and not planting trees, you'd quite possibly be restoring an old peat bog, which is a huge carbon sink. It might be worth getting some ground cores taken to confirm, because it wouldn't be immediately obvious from the surface if the land is artificially drained.It'll be a long time before i'm involved in draining the land again, but do plan on doing it one day. I'm also going to plant some trees, maybe this Winter as it's the best time to plant them.
Sadly I won't be around to enjoy the splendour of a mature tree, but future owners will. It's about making a difference and leaving my mark - in a good way.
There's a few pest bog restoration projects nationally that have identified that restoring the peat bog is more beneficial than planting trees.
Water.
Or rather, water management, a surprisingly big topic here.
Until recent years the supply to the house used to come from the black tanks up there on the hill right in the centre:
We have some written notes from one of the previous owners, it advises to leave the taps running when it drops way below zero to stop them from freezing solid.
It's a real shonky set up! Two pieces of rusty iron balanced precariously on some loosely badly stacked stone. The rear steel has collapsed in the centre so now makes a V shape. I have no idea why they didn't cut a solid 'shelf' out of the hillside and just sit them there.
Water trickles or spews (dependent on recent rainfall) from an unmarked (on a map) spring in the side of the hill, all someone has done is put some household downpipe up to it and held it with baling twine. The filter is a tea strainer pushed into the pipe.
It had dropped away and the tanks were dry, I cut a section of the pipe off and tucked it under the trickle, the tanks are now full. For now it just feeds a single hosepipe in the yard which is useful. The containers are settling tanks, much of the sediment falls out of suspension and sits on the bottom. The local water company test it for nasties for free.
In the future I will set it up properly with pipes, drains, sediment sieve/separator etc and have 3 x 1000 ltr IBC tanks up there. You'll see them in some of the pics as I picked them up recently for £15 ea. I'll cut them into the hillside and camouflage them, not only to hide them from view, but also to stop algae from forming and keep them from the sun. I've noticed some or all IBCs are not UV resistant, they get brittle and crack like eggs.
The idea is they will supply water to the workshop, yard and garden. I'm pondering over making or getting a ram pump (look it up, they're very interesting) to get the water higher up the bank to gain more 'head' of pressure for free, but we'll see.
The water supply to the house is now from a borehole in the garage, here I need your advice. It has no filter and the water has a lot of iron in it, you can taste it and it stains everything brown. I'm now living with a ginner
At the moment we've just sent off a sample for analysis, but we're looking at a £1k+ bill to put a filter in and it'll need annual maintenance. Any experiences or advice on that are welcome.
Or rather, water management, a surprisingly big topic here.
Until recent years the supply to the house used to come from the black tanks up there on the hill right in the centre:
We have some written notes from one of the previous owners, it advises to leave the taps running when it drops way below zero to stop them from freezing solid.
It's a real shonky set up! Two pieces of rusty iron balanced precariously on some loosely badly stacked stone. The rear steel has collapsed in the centre so now makes a V shape. I have no idea why they didn't cut a solid 'shelf' out of the hillside and just sit them there.
Water trickles or spews (dependent on recent rainfall) from an unmarked (on a map) spring in the side of the hill, all someone has done is put some household downpipe up to it and held it with baling twine. The filter is a tea strainer pushed into the pipe.
It had dropped away and the tanks were dry, I cut a section of the pipe off and tucked it under the trickle, the tanks are now full. For now it just feeds a single hosepipe in the yard which is useful. The containers are settling tanks, much of the sediment falls out of suspension and sits on the bottom. The local water company test it for nasties for free.
In the future I will set it up properly with pipes, drains, sediment sieve/separator etc and have 3 x 1000 ltr IBC tanks up there. You'll see them in some of the pics as I picked them up recently for £15 ea. I'll cut them into the hillside and camouflage them, not only to hide them from view, but also to stop algae from forming and keep them from the sun. I've noticed some or all IBCs are not UV resistant, they get brittle and crack like eggs.
The idea is they will supply water to the workshop, yard and garden. I'm pondering over making or getting a ram pump (look it up, they're very interesting) to get the water higher up the bank to gain more 'head' of pressure for free, but we'll see.
The water supply to the house is now from a borehole in the garage, here I need your advice. It has no filter and the water has a lot of iron in it, you can taste it and it stains everything brown. I'm now living with a ginner
At the moment we've just sent off a sample for analysis, but we're looking at a £1k+ bill to put a filter in and it'll need annual maintenance. Any experiences or advice on that are welcome.
The Mad Monk said:
I am probably writing twaddle, but-
I should be very careful with the drinking water supply. e.g. Lack of iodine in the water can cause serious medical problems (google Derbyshire neck). Will the local water company do some tests for you?
I wish you well (pun). It sounds a very interesting project.
Apparently it's called Goiter. "Iodine deficiency is the main cause of goiters. Iodine is essential to helping your thyroid produce thyroid hormones. When you don't have enough iodine, the thyroid works extra hard to make thyroid hormone, causing the gland to grow larger." Which shows as swelling around the neck.I should be very careful with the drinking water supply. e.g. Lack of iodine in the water can cause serious medical problems (google Derbyshire neck). Will the local water company do some tests for you?
I wish you well (pun). It sounds a very interesting project.
Something worth looking into for sure, at the moment we're using one of those filter jugs to do it manually, but of course it won't add anything in. The water has gone for one test, we'll get the local authority one done too, it doesn't look like it's been done for a few years.
Like most things round here
megaphone said:
That steep slope could have a thread all of its own there is so much to talk about.It has indeed slipped just there. The previous owner decided to borrow a digger and dig the base away to use it to fill some kind of pond in the paddock. After he'd done and went in for his dinner there was a great WWUUUUMMPPHH as the hill slid down. It's going to get Gabion baskets there as i've got loads of rubble and stone here to fill them. Stone for the seen faces, rubble for the cores and hidden rear.
Behind the garage and all the way up to the house is a retaining wall which is holding it back there. Behind the house still needs work though, some of it is actually resting against the extended part of it, also contributing to the damp too no doubt.
Evanivitch said:
Evoluzione said:
I don't know much about it, but whatever happens I'm not digging it up so everything should be ok right?
If it dries out then it will degrade and release CO2 into the atmosphere. Drying out can be caused by drainage or planting trees.When I say trees I don't mean a forest, someone has already started one on the other side of the stream to us. There will just be a few dotted around. Green credentials aside they are also to break up and soften the scenery and improve it aesthetically.
MagicHat said:
We had similar issues when buying our house, it was fed by a well and failed initial water tests for Iron & manganese. We now have a sediment filter, UV lamp and an iron particle filter (luckily the seller had to put all this in place before house purchase went through but costs sound similar to you). The UV lamp should be changed every 12/18 months, sediment filters are dependent on how clean your water is, we clean ours out every couple months.
Our iron filter is self cleaning with a large salt/brine bucket as part of the setup which flushes the filter once a week. Maintenance for that is to keep the salt topped up. I think eventually you have to change out the filter mixture after so many years. Our water is tested once a year by council and been spot on since everything installed.
That's useful to know, thankyou. Our iron filter is self cleaning with a large salt/brine bucket as part of the setup which flushes the filter once a week. Maintenance for that is to keep the salt topped up. I think eventually you have to change out the filter mixture after so many years. Our water is tested once a year by council and been spot on since everything installed.
We'll run it by some different companies and see what they come up with. There are a few reasonably local as this kind of supply is obviously popular in these areas.
Now CV restrictions are over the exhibitions are back on, we plan on going to one or two home building & renovation types next year. Just need to find out which ones are most suitable for us. It appears that under the same title one goes to different parts of the country, but at every venue it differs in size (I think). The London one is perhaps the biggest, but would prefer to go to the NEC as it's much easier for us.
skeeterm5 said:
Evoluzione said:
They clear up the bulk of it and take it away. I have however asked them if I could keep a lot of it and of course they thought that was great! I have my own blasting equipment so it'll come in useful another day.
That said I think we'll be finding bits of it everywhere for a long time to come.
Thanks That said I think we'll be finding bits of it everywhere for a long time to come.
We are in the throes of completing on a Scottish smallholding and the house is old stone and partially painted so seeing what you have done is a great thought for us.
Know it will rip into anything near it so remove stuff you don't want damaging, gutter, downpipes, cables, plants etc.
Block up all drains.
Park your cars well away, they won't get directly damaged, just covered in stray grit and dust otherwise.
Remove any assorted brackets and fittings from the wall - no good removing them afterwards and finding a white spot underneath.
Warn your neighbours if you have any close ones.
Accept it's going to look like a warzone and you'll end up doing a lot of cleaning up.
Other more modern specialised methods do exist though and they are tidier and less aggressive. There is DOFF and TORC and others.
Some of the areas here are just painted render, it hasn't bonded well so i'll do them with the power washer and an aggressive blaster nozzle.
I've collected a few restoration techniques and places to go to find more knowledge, if you need any help let me know.
Edited by Evoluzione on Tuesday 24th August 09:27
3 days of ear splitting noise, dust and 2 tons of grit were done and the house was looking almost as good as new, as it was 120yrs ago - before people started meddling with it.
So it's cost thousands to mess it up and more thousands to take it all off and start again. Funny old world isn't it.
I was going to say it was 1/2 an inch smaller now, but due to it spreading a bit over the years it isn't.
I washed it down with the hosepipe to get the worst off and it's still a bit damp in the pic. Prior to me giving it a shower it was really damp and cold, even under the late August sun, so much moisture locked in. The lefthand gable was actually coated in some black bitumen coating under all the paint. The guys did well, started at 8ish and worked through till after 5, no breaks. I paid them off with a little extra.
As it dries the colours mellow and it looks even better now, but enough pics of that view for now.
This shows rising damp, it's probably largely caused by the raised patio slabs butted up to the walls and then a fillet of S&C to finish it off
To begin to relieve it we'll start with a French drain around the base of the walls. As said earlier we'll hack off the OPC pointing over the next few months and start to re-point in lime next Spring.
Here is a very good example of how moisture is held in stone when the wrong pointing is applied:
My first thoughts were 'Get that stuff off my house ASAP' and bugger the porch and extension, maybe I should have asked for them blasting too, but we plan to demolish them one day anyhow. I hit the porch with the Karcher and a Dirtblaster nozzle, it took most of the loose paint off, but some still remains. I'll either leave it, or put some beige paint on to see it through until it's end.
You may wonder why I said earlier the house has spread. I've always noticed an extra wide band of pointing running vertically down the front, now it's even more pronounced, This kind of house design doesn't lend itself to high strength and there is a huge Sycamore right next to it. It's on our neighbours land and I think in dry spells years ago it's dried out the ground and part of the house has been pulled towards it an inch. It hasn't moved in recent years. I'm pretty sure the end bit hasn't dropped, it's actually all moved sideways.
The remedial work is easy and as we're repointing the whole thing you won't know it's been done.
So we either monitor it in the future and leave the tree, just lop the lower branches off to tidy it up a bit.
Chop it down. It's only a sycamore, but then again I don't really like chopping trees down and the birds enjoy it.
An outsider would be to give it a water supply from a spring so it never dries out, but can't see that happening.
I think we'll go for Plan A for now and hope we don't have any more long dry summers, dunno, will speak with neighbour.
When you're moaning about putting the bins out always remember it could be worse.
It's about 1/4 of a mile to the road and I usually put them in the van to get them up there. That day however i'd come home late and the van was full so it was shanks' pony that got it there.
I said there was a lot to talk about with water management and there is. Because we've halfway down a slope it wants to go under, over and around us so needs diverting accordingly. The track will need attention as when it's heavy enough it just washes the gravel away and makes a right old mess of it.
The neighbour can be hard work, but two gems of his info have been useful: When dealing with water here think big and the water pools around our gate.
I set to work on the latter by killing off all the undergrowth around it, which consisted mainly of nettles and thistles and a bit of grass. A few weeks later I found this:
So dug it clear and now it works.
Then on the other side this:
Again, dug it out and found a rubber ball wedged in the outlet
Now the water runs in, out and under the track to get away.
Well that was an easy cure, for just that bit of an issue. Like a lot of things here it's been done properly by previous generations, just forgotten about, left unmaintained, misunderstood and bodged.
I'm just reading on the local FB page the Townies that moved to the village are moaning that the mains water was off for a while whilst repairs were made and the water a bit cloudy. Head Nimby Karen is urging people to write to the water authority to try and stop it happening again.
They have no idea
The remedial work is easy and as we're repointing the whole thing you won't know it's been done.
So we either monitor it in the future and leave the tree, just lop the lower branches off to tidy it up a bit.
Chop it down. It's only a sycamore, but then again I don't really like chopping trees down and the birds enjoy it.
An outsider would be to give it a water supply from a spring so it never dries out, but can't see that happening.
I think we'll go for Plan A for now and hope we don't have any more long dry summers, dunno, will speak with neighbour.
When you're moaning about putting the bins out always remember it could be worse.
It's about 1/4 of a mile to the road and I usually put them in the van to get them up there. That day however i'd come home late and the van was full so it was shanks' pony that got it there.
I said there was a lot to talk about with water management and there is. Because we've halfway down a slope it wants to go under, over and around us so needs diverting accordingly. The track will need attention as when it's heavy enough it just washes the gravel away and makes a right old mess of it.
The neighbour can be hard work, but two gems of his info have been useful: When dealing with water here think big and the water pools around our gate.
I set to work on the latter by killing off all the undergrowth around it, which consisted mainly of nettles and thistles and a bit of grass. A few weeks later I found this:
So dug it clear and now it works.
Then on the other side this:
Again, dug it out and found a rubber ball wedged in the outlet
Now the water runs in, out and under the track to get away.
Well that was an easy cure, for just that bit of an issue. Like a lot of things here it's been done properly by previous generations, just forgotten about, left unmaintained, misunderstood and bodged.
I'm just reading on the local FB page the Townies that moved to the village are moaning that the mains water was off for a while whilst repairs were made and the water a bit cloudy. Head Nimby Karen is urging people to write to the water authority to try and stop it happening again.
They have no idea
Escort3500 said:
Massive improvement, and good to see you’re repointing properly with lime mortar. We’ve got awful strap pointing on our cottage in sand/cement and we’re gradually replacing it with proper bagged (slightly recessed) lime mortar. Ball-ache of a job but will be worth it.
(ps though you're probably familiar with it already, Historic England have a really good advice note on traditional repointing)
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:(ps though you're probably familiar with it already, Historic England have a really good advice note on traditional repointing)
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.
I have one of the rarer 2.5T Vivaros, my philosophy when it comes to things which are going to work long and hard for you is 'Go big'. If it's over spec it won't struggle, it won't let you down and take everything you throw at it. It copes well with dragging tons and tons of stuff over, but when it gets in the farmyard it struggles to manoeuvre a fully loaded trailer because it 2wd and fwd. I got it and a trailer stuck when I tried to turn around in the entrance to a field and lost a full day.
'Stuff', er yes lots of stuff had to be brought over. Going back to when we first found this place in Spring 2020 I realised we were going to need a lot of logs to keep us warm in Winter. I already had a stove, but it wasn't essential for most of the year. Here now we have a through fireplace so a log burner will heat two rooms at once. You have to think in advance too, it's one to two yrs to dry logs for burning.
I saw an ad on FB MP for someone giving away free logs and it was close to where I worked. I answered it and picked up. Then they asked if I wanted more and more and more. It was a part time tree feller and once he'd found someone reliable (me) I got all the jobs. A hydraulic log splitter soon followed and over the next 14 months which it took to buy this place I collected tons and tons of the stuff. I'm from Yorkshire, I don't say no to free wood
Anyhow long story short, we needed a 4x4 and quick. I needed to get around the land, to be able drag a trailer and other things around. Maybe get us out and about on the worst Winter days too. I set a budget of £1k.
After a bit of research on here and elsewhere Terry appeared on FBMP. I'm still suspicious about the 'Selling on behalf of a deceased friend' in a Wakefield council estate and the 'Full years' MOT which must have been done over the phone. But with FSH, a torquey 2.7 TD engine and SWB it fitted the criteria quite well. Some moody posy Terry shots:
We live at the top there. Charging through the swampy bits with rushes up to the bonnet is great fun!
I can hook it up to a trailer with umpteen tons on, engage 'L4WD' and it just pulls on tickover. Did a bit of 'On Safari' and found Christmas dinner:
But had no firearms so couldn't bag it.
Terry was £750, but then a set of nearly new BF Goodrich All Terrain already mounted on some alloys came up for sale for £200 so I bagged those too. For now he'll get to see out his latter years roaming free on the fields. A bit like a re-homed battery chicken.
'Stuff', er yes lots of stuff had to be brought over. Going back to when we first found this place in Spring 2020 I realised we were going to need a lot of logs to keep us warm in Winter. I already had a stove, but it wasn't essential for most of the year. Here now we have a through fireplace so a log burner will heat two rooms at once. You have to think in advance too, it's one to two yrs to dry logs for burning.
I saw an ad on FB MP for someone giving away free logs and it was close to where I worked. I answered it and picked up. Then they asked if I wanted more and more and more. It was a part time tree feller and once he'd found someone reliable (me) I got all the jobs. A hydraulic log splitter soon followed and over the next 14 months which it took to buy this place I collected tons and tons of the stuff. I'm from Yorkshire, I don't say no to free wood
Anyhow long story short, we needed a 4x4 and quick. I needed to get around the land, to be able drag a trailer and other things around. Maybe get us out and about on the worst Winter days too. I set a budget of £1k.
After a bit of research on here and elsewhere Terry appeared on FBMP. I'm still suspicious about the 'Selling on behalf of a deceased friend' in a Wakefield council estate and the 'Full years' MOT which must have been done over the phone. But with FSH, a torquey 2.7 TD engine and SWB it fitted the criteria quite well. Some moody posy Terry shots:
We live at the top there. Charging through the swampy bits with rushes up to the bonnet is great fun!
I can hook it up to a trailer with umpteen tons on, engage 'L4WD' and it just pulls on tickover. Did a bit of 'On Safari' and found Christmas dinner:
But had no firearms so couldn't bag it.
Terry was £750, but then a set of nearly new BF Goodrich All Terrain already mounted on some alloys came up for sale for £200 so I bagged those too. For now he'll get to see out his latter years roaming free on the fields. A bit like a re-homed battery chicken.
AKT said:
Evoluzione said:
I'm pondering over making or getting a ram pump (look them up, they're very interesting) to get the water higher up the bank to gain more 'head' of pressure for free, but we'll see.
I did and this being Pistonheads I feel obliged to point out that the first one ever was installed at Oulton (as in Park). I expect to see the installation pictures by page 7 please.A
The deal is that loosely my domain is the outside which includes buildings, fields, vegetables,
Sorry you'll have to make do with a bit of a s
tty picture today.As mentioned we're still moving stuff across, I regularly pass by a sign saying 'Free horse manure'. The owners of some stables clear the fields manually every day and bag it up. Of course this works very well, clean fields and people will always take bagged poo, It doesn't stay there for long at all. The only mild annoyance is they won't take the bags back for some reason.
A quick rudimentary pallet compost heap was formed and it's dropped in then covered over by an old horse blanket. It needs to be of a certain consistency, not too wet, not too dry to be successful.
It takes time of course which is why i'm doing it now - for future gardening. It also creates a lot of heat, which has me ponder over using it to heat a greenhouse...
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