No time to rest

Our shed is now done and we had great fun moving all the garden stuff and DIY tools in although it is still a bit of a jumble at the moment as we haven’t installed the shelving yet. It felt great finally bringing some order to the chaos we’ve been living in for three years, even if only by getting the right things into the right space. Sorting and tidying will have to wait.

• 

• 

• 

As with any building work nothing is ever quite finished. The patio, currently a MOT limestone sub-base waiting for pavers, will give us mud free access to the shed and the house and be a lovely spot for breakfast and evening drinks under the cherry tree. Thankfully the tree looks like it’s survived the building work which cut off half its roots.

We’ve had to wait a couple of months for delivery of the clay brick pavers as, with many building materials at the moment, supplies are erratic. In the meantime our builders have moved on to another job and we’ll have to wait until they’re free to come back for a few days. As they have work booked well into next year I hope it won’t be next summer until we get our dream patio. A gate will complete the link between the extension and the shed giving us privacy and increased security at last.

Focus back on the old house

With everything but the patio finished we were builder free for a couple of weeks over Easter (yes, I’m a bit behind with my updates!). However, we still had a rush to get everything prepped before our restoration builders came back to work on the old kitchen and spare bedroom above. This is the last part of the old house to get the full renovation treatment.

The serious work on renovating our 15th century home started with the chimney and hall in February 2018 outlined in yellow. The new extension and main bedroom ensuite (orange) were next starting a few months later and took nearly a year to complete. Only a couple of weeks after the extension was finished we started on the major restoration of the old house (blue) in July 2019. Building work paused for most of 2020 mainly due to the COVID pandemic. We re-started in January this year with the gabion retaining wall at the back of the garden and the new shed. Now we are embarking on the final stage, hopefully, of the restoration project focusing on the old kitchen, spare bedroom above and the stairs, outlined in pink.

The first challenge in preparing for this phase of work was clearing out both rooms as they have been used for storage and as swing space. Like many people I used some of my time in lockdown last year to clear out clothes and belongings and not being able to get rid of them. They all went into the spare room. While all our books and my wardrobe moved into the old kitchen to free up space for M to have an office as he became permanently home based.

We have managed to stuff most things into the dining room including our PCs and office gear. With the stairs coming out to be rebuilt we won’t have access to upstairs and our studies for at least a couple of months. Everything destined for the car boot sale, recycling, charity or online sites is in the hall. First out of the door will be donating most of my suits to Smart Works, a charity that helps women into work. I don’t need so many now I’m working part-time and hopefully they will still be useful despite the current more relaxed home based approach to office work.

Peeling back the layers

By the end of March the rooms were clear and ready to strip the modern finishes off the beams and walls in preparation for the builders. We brought back Clean Beam Restore to strip the black paint off the beams. Their approach of soda blasting is gentle on the wood leaving the history and patina intact while cleaning off the stuff we don’t want.

That only took a day, although clearing up all the dust which gets everywhere took much longer. More laborious and time consuming was removing all the modern plaster, cement and paint finishes. I decided to tackle this as it would save having to pay the builders to do it and I would be able to take the time to save more of the original features. One of our goals is to preserve as much of the old building as possible so it’s been worth it to us for me to spend time gently peeling back the layers.

I started upstairs in the spare room as we believed this would be in the worst condition. The paint proved quite easy to remove with a putty knife and chisel as the trapped moisture had lifted most of it from the lime surface underneath. Over the years the edges of the panels have deteriorated and been filled with modern plaster. In some cases even concrete. The worst case has been plaster and cement used to cover up some of the wooden beams then painted black to look like wood. This has led to the wood underneath rotting to such an extent that, in some cases, it fell away as I was removing the pink plaster.

There have been less worrying and more interesting reveals including newspaper stuffed into holes and pasted onto the wall. Unfortunately none with a date! Also, the internal dividing wall with the landing had been plastered over with lime render but onto lathes rather than wattle indicating a possible Victorian repair. Wonderful to reveal were timbers of the oak frame which had been covered at the same time.

• 

• 

• 

Downstairs was a similar story with paint, plaster and concrete affecting the timber frame and wattle and daub panels underneath. The panels are not a structural problem as they basically fill in the frame to create the wall. More of an issue is where it has rotted the wooden timber frame. The first step is to let it dry out and then see how soft the wood is, how much can be repaired and strengthened with a resin filler and how much is so far gone it needs replacing. This is more important on wood exposed to the elements where new timbers have to be cut into the old wood that is still structurally sound.

• 

It’s been a very dirty and dusty job and I still haven’t quite finished. Only just managing to stay one step ahead of the builders as they work on the frame and floors. It’s a good thing I’ve been used to wearing a face mask as it’s been essential along with eye protection.

The lifting of lockdown restrictions and being able to get away from the building site by going out has been very welcome. Most exciting was a Saturday lunch in London followed by drinks in Covent Garden. It felt almost normal!