The white line in the middle is a power cable. I know you were wondering!Friday 18 June 2010
Rob wants you to see the difference he has made.
The white line in the middle is a power cable. I know you were wondering!
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Tuesday 15 June 2010
Lime mortar and all that jazz!
The builder is on holiday and work on the house is almost at a standstill, whilst dehumidifying.... but.....we have a second year architecture student showing a lot of interest in our walls!
It is great having Rob with us for almost 2 weeks. He has enjoyed looking at the hosue and he and I (Sue) have had several long discussions about whether we can leave some of the original brickwork and timbers of the house exposed. You may remember the portion of wall in the dining room from a previous blog entry.
Anyway, today Rob rolled up his sleeves and started to wire brush the brickwork and clean the timber framing and now it's decided. We are definitely going to leave that bit of wall exposed. The bricks are a lovely warm colour, once they are brushed.
Rob and I discussed mortar, as it is incredibly loose and flaky and there are sizeable gaps where it has crumbled away. It is obviously very old, quite white in colour, but with hair and small grey grit mixed into it. I picked up a bit this morning and put it in my handbag, just in case! (As you do!)
This afternoon I was looking for some dowelling for a project and went to Focus DIY, where it was incredibly expensive, so I went off to a timber merchants at the other end of town. They didn't have any, but recommended another builder's merchant nearby. I found my dowel- much cheaper- and went to pay.
As I was paying, the lump of mortar in my bag came into my mind and I asked if anyone knew where I could get a similar mortar. We had a discussion and then the chap paying for an item on the next till said, "I know a chap who specialises in matching old mortar." When he turned around, it was Meirion, the builder who had also looked at the house, when we were considering buying it, who we had also seen once at Hope Community Church. I even remembered his name! We had a long chat about mortar, the house, church, and what happens when you die! He had the lime man's phone number on him, was fine about us not choosing his comapny to do the renovations and left me his number, as he has done a lot of repairs to lime mortar on listed buildings!
It was a God arranged meeting!
It is great having Rob with us for almost 2 weeks. He has enjoyed looking at the hosue and he and I (Sue) have had several long discussions about whether we can leave some of the original brickwork and timbers of the house exposed. You may remember the portion of wall in the dining room from a previous blog entry.
Anyway, today Rob rolled up his sleeves and started to wire brush the brickwork and clean the timber framing and now it's decided. We are definitely going to leave that bit of wall exposed. The bricks are a lovely warm colour, once they are brushed.
Rob and I discussed mortar, as it is incredibly loose and flaky and there are sizeable gaps where it has crumbled away. It is obviously very old, quite white in colour, but with hair and small grey grit mixed into it. I picked up a bit this morning and put it in my handbag, just in case! (As you do!)
This afternoon I was looking for some dowelling for a project and went to Focus DIY, where it was incredibly expensive, so I went off to a timber merchants at the other end of town. They didn't have any, but recommended another builder's merchant nearby. I found my dowel- much cheaper- and went to pay.
As I was paying, the lump of mortar in my bag came into my mind and I asked if anyone knew where I could get a similar mortar. We had a discussion and then the chap paying for an item on the next till said, "I know a chap who specialises in matching old mortar." When he turned around, it was Meirion, the builder who had also looked at the house, when we were considering buying it, who we had also seen once at Hope Community Church. I even remembered his name! We had a long chat about mortar, the house, church, and what happens when you die! He had the lime man's phone number on him, was fine about us not choosing his comapny to do the renovations and left me his number, as he has done a lot of repairs to lime mortar on listed buildings!
It was a God arranged meeting!
Wednesday 9 June 2010
More history! We might have a name!
Yesterday, we went delivering computer repair leaflets across the river. Someone had told me that a local historian called David Pugh lived in one of the streets. They had described his house too. It just happened that the last house we leafleted was his house, so, being me, I knocked on the door and introduced myself.
David was most friendly and helpful. He told us that the house was called Bodlondeb before its name was changed by the architects in the 80's. He also confirmed that Deputy Chief Constable Brumwell had lived there before the Second World War and said that his son had died in the war.
We gave him our phone number in case he came across anything else. It was very exciting!
David didn't know what the name meant though, so we started to do some internet research when we got home. Andy found a wood and a hotel near Conwy called Bodlondeb. I rang up the Bodlondeb hotel, chatted to the manager and found out that the name means "place of contentment". What a great meaning!
I have to say that the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue- rather a tongue twister in fact! However, we don't want to live in Accent House and Haddef is a very recent name which most people are not familiar with, so we may well go for Bodlondeb. We'll let you know.
David was most friendly and helpful. He told us that the house was called Bodlondeb before its name was changed by the architects in the 80's. He also confirmed that Deputy Chief Constable Brumwell had lived there before the Second World War and said that his son had died in the war.
We gave him our phone number in case he came across anything else. It was very exciting!
David didn't know what the name meant though, so we started to do some internet research when we got home. Andy found a wood and a hotel near Conwy called Bodlondeb. I rang up the Bodlondeb hotel, chatted to the manager and found out that the name means "place of contentment". What a great meaning!
I have to say that the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue- rather a tongue twister in fact! However, we don't want to live in Accent House and Haddef is a very recent name which most people are not familiar with, so we may well go for Bodlondeb. We'll let you know.
Saturday 5 June 2010
A day of fresh air, wonderful views, aching bottoms and glorious gardens!
Yesterday (Friday), we took advantage of the lovely weather to motorcycle up to North Wales, to Bodnant Gardens. It was a long trip but absolutely spectacular, both in scenery along the way and in Bodnant when we got there. The laburnham arch was amazing!
I know that this is a blog about a house renovation, but I just can't let you miss out on the laburnham! This picture doesn't really show you just how long the arch is. I reckon it must be about 30-40 metres.
We had a great day and didn't think about dehumidifiers at all until we arrived back in Newtown. Then we went off to Haddef to empty them, like dutiful house owners!
Sue does some DIY!
Don't get excited! I just took some bolts off the doors we have had removed and moved them onto the french windows. I removed the fire bar on one door too. Doing odd jobs helps to make it feel like our house. Although we have spent a lot of time and energy (and money!) on it, it still feels at times like a house we are looking after for someone else. It's strange to think that we will be living there in 2-3 months time.
The brick wall behind the plaster in the dining room. Another historic feature!
I wonder why they put up a wooden framework then filled it in with bricks. I would have thought the bricks alone would be stronger. No doubt someone will explain!I rather like this "historic feature" too and am thinking about Julia and Lois's suggestions to have some exposed bricks. The kitchen wall is definitely not a candidate, but maybe a section of this might be?...
Andy isn't keen. We'll have to see.
Some historic bits! This is the lathe and plaster wall seen from the back, where Mike removed the bathroom tiles and plaster.
I really like this and have been trying to work out how one could make a small portion of it visible, whilst still having a bath and shower in front. No ideas at present!
It's great having a house which has history, even if we don't know very much about it!
Wednesday 2 June 2010
1st and 2nd June
These aren't counting in the days, as nothing is really happening! The house is steaming gently and the dehumidifiers are working flat out.
We met with Graham this morning and he said that various people will be in the house over the next few days- plumber, electrician etc.
Mike will be knocking out the plaster in the bathroom tomorrow. I think I mentioned that the wall behind the tiles is the original lathe and plaster, complete with horse hair! It is crumblier than my ginger flapjack, so no use for sticking tiles to!
Keith will be happy tomorrow, as he is taking out the two upstairs windows at the back. The frames are rotten, but the casements are okay, so Graham will take them to the window company, where they will make new frames to fit around the exisiting casements. Cunning hey! They are also going to make up the window for the kitchen at the same time, as the wood they use will be the same profile. It's going to make it a bit dark upstairs as they will plywood over the window holes! Hopefully we will have some more pictures tomorrow!
We met with Graham this morning and he said that various people will be in the house over the next few days- plumber, electrician etc.
Mike will be knocking out the plaster in the bathroom tomorrow. I think I mentioned that the wall behind the tiles is the original lathe and plaster, complete with horse hair! It is crumblier than my ginger flapjack, so no use for sticking tiles to!
Keith will be happy tomorrow, as he is taking out the two upstairs windows at the back. The frames are rotten, but the casements are okay, so Graham will take them to the window company, where they will make new frames to fit around the exisiting casements. Cunning hey! They are also going to make up the window for the kitchen at the same time, as the wood they use will be the same profile. It's going to make it a bit dark upstairs as they will plywood over the window holes! Hopefully we will have some more pictures tomorrow!
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