Doing up our shack

Gimpymoo · 8 Feb 2017 at 10:22

Well, this escalated quickly.

Got the room plastered, a line on the bay ceiling in the lounge was not drying.

Suspected that the flashing may have needed a repair and small amount of ingress above the ceiling, hence plaster not drying.

We think may as well replace the roof anyway, looked old and tired.

Roofers come, take away old roof, the wood has completely disintegrated

Must have been leaking for a while and we not known. We have been here for 10 years (albeit, not done much to the house till now).

So new timbers added and roof replaced.

Turns out the lead roof was the original which surprised me as house was built around 1907.

We were going to ditch the parapet BUT knowing it is an original feature, I feel guilty for ditching it so will get it re-rendered and painted. It looks well crap though at the moment and is blocking seeing the new roof - lol.

I asked the roofer what the purpose of the parapet was, he said it was one of those Victorian jollies

All in all, no purpose but look nice.

Gimpymoo · 8 Feb 2017 at 10:34

delete.

Englander91 · 8 Feb 2017 at 10:42

Oooh, I like this threads. Subbed.

Gimpymoo · 8 Feb 2017 at 10:54

Maccapacca;30412852 said:
The lead will be just as tired as the render so check it out.

You are not far off.

The roofers said the lead was the "Original".

Jobe · 8 Feb 2017 at 12:51

Looks like you found the hard way of renovations.

Always start on the outside and make sure it's watertight first, then start on the insides.

think you have made the right decision in leaving the parapet up. it may look dated now but original features should always be kept/repaired over putting something more modern on them.

JB

Rroff · 8 Feb 2017 at 13:00

Gimpymoo;30482095 said:
Turns out the lead roof was the original which surprised me as house was built around 1907.

Lived in an 1885 house in the 1980s which still had its original roof heh - looking on google maps someone has subsequently replaced it.

Gimpymoo · 8 Feb 2017 at 13:09

Jobe;30482720 said:
Looks like you found the hard way of renovations.

Always start on the outside and make sure it's watertight first, then start on the insides.

Lesson learned

Luckily, not a "Major" job and was noticed in time.

Thing was, before the plastering was done, there was no sign it was leaking.

Although, saying that, we do get what looks like black mould in each of the front corners of the house.. not a lot, but some.

Wondering now if the ingress was spreading out to the corners?

Gimpymoo · 8 Feb 2017 at 23:12

Our fireplace looks similar to this:

It is gas although the gas has been cut long ago as the fire was decommissioned as it was useless and inefficient.

Me being a twit, I have just had the room plastered, now decide I want to remove the fireplace

I want to put in am open fire or log burner at some point but for now, just want to clear it in readiness.

I assume I need to remove the wooden surround to remove the fire? Or can the fireplace be removed without touching the wooden surround thus not affecting any plastering which has been done?

I realise the balls up I have made but re-plastering that bit should not cost too much I guess but lesson learned.

Thanks.

BigBoy · 9 Feb 2017 at 00:01

The fire should just sit into the alcove, no need to remove the surround although it will probably need pulling out at some point.

As for the black mould, check your front garden for soil/leaves that build up against the house, try and leave a good 3-4 inches clear around the brick work to stop any chance of damp ingress, I have just installed a gravel trap all around the house to help alleviate and issue that was created by the previous owner putting a concrete path all around the house above the floor vent level :mad:

Gimpymoo · 9 Feb 2017 at 00:08

Will get some pics of the fire, it looks like the iron bit goes in then the surround tacked on around it?

Gravel trap is a good idea.

How far down did you go?

We have all slabs. Tempted to rip them all up. Slabs really are just ****. I rather fancy something like this:

Need a good sledge hammer

Any recommendations?

Maybe this would be better?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faithfull-...6600076&sr=8-4&keywords=sledge+hammer+hickory

BigBoy · 9 Feb 2017 at 00:35

went down about 10 inches, was doing it all by hand some some spots are deeper than others.

Gimpymoo · 9 Feb 2017 at 01:49

Did you use any lining?

Gimpymoo · 9 Feb 2017 at 03:47

The more I look at the fireplace, the more I think it is an original with something like this retrofitted...

http://www.screwfix.com/p/focal-poi...x6V3oUZe64A_xDAjQel53541gm-rRBLRDGxoCbbbw_wcB

If so.. interesting. And if it is so, no way can I rip it out.

dirtychinchilla · 9 Feb 2017 at 08:51

Why in the world would you take out the fireplace? Christ.

Gimpymoo · 9 Feb 2017 at 11:15

I did not think it was an original.

It is only now doing up the house we are noticing more "original" things are still present that I decided to look more closely to it.

I thought it was a "modern" gas fire, all in one.

Because it was decommissioned, I had never really looked at it before.

Going to get a plumber to disconnect the gas insert and remove and see what is left.

On some of the ironwork there is a patent number and AD.01

I assume that means the year 1901 of the patent?

I guess it would have originally burned coal? Is not a large opening really.

dirtychinchilla · 9 Feb 2017 at 15:07

You could probably burn coal or wood in there. At my parent's house, we burned whatever we had available when we wanted a fire (once a year probably). They're lovely things to have.

I have a new build house and really miss having a mantlepiece.

Gimpymoo · 9 Feb 2017 at 15:26

I have done a smoke test on the chimney and it failled rather dramatically.

I need to find out if a liner can be put in then the gap around it filled near the fire?

Not sure if that is even an option if wanting to burn wood?

Smokeless logs maybe?

a1ex2001 · 10 Feb 2017 at 22:32

We have a lined chimney and a modern cast iron tiled open fire insert, get a local company in to tell you what is what. We are officially in a smokeless zone so I only ever burn smokeless coal and never random bits of wood from skips.

Gimpymoo · 22 Feb 2017 at 23:54

Some pics of before and during. Nothing exciting.

Havng both living rooms out of commission to such a degree for a family is no easy task but doable.

Front room has now has an undercoat.

I really like the cornicing and ceiling rose, I think they look rather nice in white.

Will get some better quality images tomorrow.

Next stop, skip arriving tomorrow for general house clearence and digger arriving on Saturday so I can clear away all the rubble from the plastering and the concrete and bricks I cleared away with the breaker which was awesome.

I also need to get rid of a load of earth too.

Gimpymoo · 26 Feb 2017 at 23:19

OH DEAR.

Digger came on Saturday.

Been on it all weekend, made everything fun

I would not have wanted to remove it all by hand/shovel.

Now, the problem I have is that the 8 yard skip is FULL and having disposed of the plastering rubble and bricks from the old planter, I have no room now for the MOUNTAIN of earth I removed when flattening the rockery and removing soil from the planter, there is just LOADS.

Going to need need another skip and painfully wheelbarrow it out

Need reinforcements else this will take a LONG time.