Are we nearly there yet?

On a family holiday when my dad was driving us to the next town we were visiting I remember my younger brother saying repeatedly ‘are we nearly there yet’. I feel we’re on a similar endless journey never quite reaching our destination. The finish is always just a few weeks away.

The low point was coming back last week late at night from a few days away with the house dark, cold, damp and gritty from all the plaster work. We went to bed pretty fed up with it and just wanting it all to be over. I’m sure the builders do too as it’s more difficult working with natural materials in the cold and wet.

Rolling back a couple of months, with work underway in the sitting room some of the team started on the major job of removing the cementitious render from the outside of the building. This was the only way we’d be able to really see the state of the timber frame and wattle and daub underneath and restore the house to its original breathable state.

They quickly found that the cement coating was thick and had been applied to a mesh frame making it more difficult to take off. It took weeks of drilling and hammering to prise it all off and the whole house shook. We were warned to take pictures off the walls which was good advice as chunks of plaster did fall off on the inside as they slowly worked their round the front then back of the old house. The noise of the drilling and the literal shaking of the house to its foundations drove M to move his office to the summer house for the duration. A bit disruptive as it has no electricity and we needed to run a cable from the house to power the computer, light and heating.

It was a joy to see the original structure of the house and, in most places, it was in remarkably good condition. The builders told us stories of other jobs where they would need to prop up the house as they went along as it was only the cement render holding the whole thing up!

However, there were some problem areas, one we expected and two we didn’t. One of the main reasons for building the new extension was to house the kitchen enabling us to move modern appliances out of the old building. We knew the gas boiler in the old kitchen had been pumping out heat and condensation for over 30 years and had rotted some of the fabric. All of the timber frame and the panels around it had to be renewed and rebuilt. This left us exposed to the village for a number of weeks as it was a slow job. They had to board up the openings each night to keep us safe.

One of the other problem areas was around the upstairs toilet overflow and, again, that had to be restored although it was a smaller and much easier job. More serious was the gable end wall above the bathroom, when they started removing the cement render it looked like the whole wall would need to be rebuilt. As the room we’re currently sleeping in is only the other side of that wall we agreed with the builder to seal it back up and delay work on that until next year. It was unlikely they would have time to do that and the rest of old house before the weather turned anyway.

One of the challenges with a thatched roof is there is no guttering. The best way to deal with the water coming off the roof is a French drain. This is a small trench filled with aggregate that allows surface water to drain away from the building. One had been dug about 30 years ago but had since clogged up and been paved over in some places. The builder suggested we replace the old French drain front and back with pipes at the bottom of the trench to take the water to a soakway. It was a significant additional expense taking us to the limit of our budget, we agreed given all the investment in restoring the frame it would be a bit like spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar.

As they worked on repairing the frame they were then able to fix wood wool board to the outside, a sustainable product that improves thermal efficiency and against which the lime render would be applied.

They applied two coats of render with about ten days between each coat to allow it to dry out. It is a tricky process and the house is currently covered in hessian to protect it from the weather. The last coat went on at the end of October, a month later than planned but, although it’s been wet, it hasn’t been too cold so it should be alright. Time will tell.

Meanwhile we have continued to make progress in the extension with the installation of shelves in the pantry giving us valuable storage. Even more exciting, we now have a cupboard sealing off the boiler and hot water tank which meant we could finally have our cloakroom, very useful as the bathroom in the other part of the house is still only accessible across the garden.

The charm of walking across the garden to get to and from different parts of the house has definitely worn off as it has become wetter and darker. Installing a window, finishing the floors in the sitting and dining rooms and building the stairs still need to be done before we can access all parts of the house from the inside. It certainly doesn’t feel like we’re nearly there yet although, as with the family holiday many years ago, we will finally arrive at our destination and it will be wonderful.