Archive - Thisoldhouse

I feel drained!

by oldhouseblog @ 2007-03-31 – 12:34:57

Drains ... strikes fear into every householder and today I can safely say with a degree of confidence why...to get them flushed / inspected is pretty costly and when drains are shared between householders, the problem of where the problem / blockage has occured, how it occured and who pays for the cost(s) can be problematic....

Yesterday, I cleared with Marcelo all the heavy clay soil around and above the damp course (bridging problems) at the back of the property exposing the very top of the drains. After many hours in pouring rain the work was completed with some mud/clay re-distributed within the garden and some bagged up ready for a trip to the local dump, I was ready to clear up and take a hot bath.

Whilst thoughts of a hot bath and the prospect of a good meal were running through my head these visions were swiftly wiped away by a knock at the door...our neighbour appeared looking a little puce!!!..he had popped home en route to the dentist to be confronted by a terrible smell of drains wafting through his house....although his wife was home she was impervious to the wretched stenk!!!

I was, naturally, panic-stricken worrying we had accidently fractured the drains so spent some time ringing round for an emergency drain clearance/repair service - the costs really varied and the best emergency service I could get was one which charged on a time basis in units of half hours and correspondingly charged for flushing on a time-basis (power flushing). A very nice drain-flusher (!!!) arrived and began his investigation...in the midst of this (loud banging flushing machine, terrible smells, me and Marcello covered in mud/clay and other smelly stuff!) my girlfriend made an unexpected arrival - she had come home from work early as she had a terrible migraine - she took one look at the chaos, said something (which I couldn't hear) to Marcello - who looked somewhat afraid (not an unusual experience for those facing the displeasure of my girlfriend) and went upstairs to bed - sleeping through the remainder of the drain cleansing fiasco.

It transpired that our drain was (relatively speaking) clean and well and unfortunately our neighbour was, by sheer coincidence, suffering from a blockage (in his drains....not personally!) caused by a neighbour further up the street. In fact, our drains and those of our neighbour are unconnected. So all's well that end's well....although cleaning of clothes/house that evening was, I understand from my other half, not a very pleasant task....but by that point I was in the bath I had been dreaming of and awaiting a sumptuous feast!

All aboard the skylark! (skylight)

by oldhouseblog @ 2007-03-28 – 20:42:21

Before I say anything more, let me say this is a complete nightmare, cannot use to thick MDF board, therefore have to brace thinner MDF to get level, all sides are not square and skylight window is not central apart from these issues its a breeze...however, I guess in these days of loft conversions this is not a problem!

Here's the progress ...

then spend a couple of hours pulling your hair out and then ...

and then (almost finally) I ended up with this ...

Skylight windows has been cleaned and coated with anti-rust undercoat paint, ready for decorating. The original skylight window has been cleaned up and ready for some new glass. Sorry bit of a quick (and a bit boring) blog this one, the hallway ceiling, stage one if you like, is virtually completed, so will be moving onto my next project which is interestingly called "what is that smell...AKA cracked drain(s)"...

Upstairs Hallway

by oldhouseblog @ 2007-03-27 – 19:25:09

The current project I am working on, with my working colleage (well OK the talented one) plasterer Marcel is the hallway. Before we started any work (although it is not building work it is refurbishment) I informed my local council where I spoke to the buildings control officer, this is a good idea and one I would recommend to all as you can check with the officer the materials, method and any requirement(s) for Part L of building regulations.

So far all the old laths and plaster on the walls and ceiling have been destroyed (carefully removed) as they had parted company with the walls / ceiling, if you do this, be warned this means 100 years or so of dust covered everything for weeks on end, so if you can tape some plastic sheeting across door frames and seal any laptops or similar in plastic bags before you start.

The hallway beams were not straight so some leveling had to take place, I used plastic shims for this as they come in 1mm to 6mm sizes...

After the ceiling was leveled, boarding with fireline plaster board can start ...

Then after a day or too ...

Ceiling level and insulated nice and warm :-)

The skylight is next up this is a tricky one as none of the sides are level or even, more about this tommorow.

Funny story from yesterday, as I buy my lunch with Marcel (the portugues speaking plasterer) we go a little out of our way to buy some humus from a deli I have never been into, the service is terrible but hey the humus is purchased and while we waited 5 mins to get served (with no one else in the deli) I decide to buy some olives, get back to the house and Marcel says as I put an olive in my mouth.

Marcel:"I am never going to that deli again!"

me:"Yeah, terrible service.." (chewing olive)

Marcel:"No they have a big rat problem"

me:"(I pause chewing) what do you mean?"

Marcel:"I used to go in there all the time, but I saw a big rat coming out of a hole in the kitchen wall at the back of the deli"

me:"Why did'nt you say anything?"

Marcel:"Olives and humus should be OK"

I now spend the lunch hour watching Marcel to see if he has any early signs of food poisoning.

As I mentioned in a previous post, employing roofers urgently to fix what we thought was an immediate problem (leaking roof), was a bit of a mistake, as I have now learnt (to our cost) do a lot of research on roofers and roofing companies, don't just take someone's recommendation, go and visit some jobs. Also when you get the quote check though the detail and ask them to explain it, tell them what you want (step flashing ect) as in our experience they do not ask you what you want they just do what they think you want.

I have now found (I think) a great roofer to come and fix some of the work the other roofing company could not remediate.

More pictures and progress in a later post of the skylark, I mean skylight...

Story so far ...

by oldhouseblog @ 2007-03-26 – 22:13:22

The last residence was addicted to smoking, hence all the internal surfaces were covered in a film of nicotine tar ... nice.

All carpets and wallpaper have been stripped out and some walls and ceilings where the plaster has blow out old plaster has been removed.

After a brief investigation we have found that the oven and washine machine are both broken (only appliances in the kitchen), all drains are broken, down pipes and the soil stack is/are cracked and corroded, the damp course is broken, the heating copper pipes and gas pipes on the ground floor are embedded in concrete, the copper pipes are rotting in the concrete, the garden is covered in approx 3.5 tons of concrete and the roof leaks...(which is sort of repaired -- our first mistake ... more about this later)!

Further investigation may reveal more surpises I am sure, at this stage I am kind of reminded of that film with Tom Hanks .. the money pit .. Apart from this everything is good

1st blog on the (re) building of a late 1890 house!

by oldhouseblog @ 2007-03-25 – 13:09:05

Hi, My name is Glyn and I live with Louise in one room in a house which needs more than a little TLC, not a totally unusual or unique story I guess, but its pretty unique for us as we have never owned a house or have any experience developing or building a property.

By setting up this blog I hope to achive several objectives (in no particular order), (1) help other people in the same situation, offering tips (that means ... learning by our mistakes, sometimes expensive!!!) (2) to update our family and friends on the progress of the house (i.e. when its safe to visit - we estimate taking bookings for 2010!!!), and (3) to keep a record of what we are doing and how we are doing it so the horror of the experience will never leave us!