The full and technical pages are here but in brief:

After a few hours carefully removing cement render with a hand chisel and then getting frustrated with the slow progress and resorting to power, we could see the previous incarnartions of the fireplace.  After some time mulling over the possibilities we decided to reinstate the Victorian arch where a range would have been fitted so we can instal a multi-fuel stove.  The brickwork was in very poor condition and needed a considerable amount of rebuilding.   I had to rebuild one side and the arch, with careful consideration to the fact that the rest of chimney was above it.  For the full details have a look at the Fireplace arch rebuilding pages on the website.  And I’m sure the ”Other Half” will let you know about the kind of distruption this kind of job entails.  

We welcome any comments or questions, ”Leave a Response / Comments”  below.

Before - this is what we had to start with

After- Knocked out and rebuilt

 Now we have been getting a very slight whiff near the gas meter (it’s situated outside the house) so we call the engineer. He arrives, very promptly, and provided with coffee and biscuits he replaces an elbow ( I think that’s what it’s called, it’s cylindrical and it bends). All well and good, until he tests the meter and he still says there’s a leak and tells us not to use it. This is a problem. My hour shopping yesterday was spent buying nice, expensive food and I know if I can’t cook the nice meals they will not be replaced by nice restaurants , they will be replaced by the chip shop! There are fantastic chip shops in Whitby (especially Silver Street) but it’s not what I’d had in mind.

Stuff Doer pulls out the (admittedly ancient) cooker to have a look to see if there’s something wrong with the connection. Nothing obvious and no smell. What he does find, however is something we hadn’t reckoned on. More blue asbestos (Doh!) and behind the larder cupboard another door. This door once led into the covered passage. It looks like this door has just been rendered over outside. The only reason for having three doors that we can think of is that, maybe, at one time in it’s long history the cottage has been a shop.

As there is no smell of gas in the kitchen (even after leaving the door shut for an hour) we decide to use the gas, but turn it off if ever we leave the building. I’m sure this isn’t best practice so “Don’t try this at home!” Stuff Doer decides that he’s not made enough mess today, so proceeds to rip down the ceiling in the master bedroom. In fairness, it’s a job that needs doing as there is absolutely no insulation, just plasterboard and pantiles. This is our anniversary “treat” (only a few months late) so after a clean up (stuff doer, not the room) we decide to go to The Beach Hotel in Sandsend. We usually stay in a flat next door to The Beach and wanted to pick the landlord’s brains about local tradesmen. After a good night with good company, we leave in a taxi with the contact details of a good plumber. (Note to self, don’t prop up the bar all night when you know the sun’s going to blind you in the morning)

We arrive, unload and decide we’ll get straight to work. This is using the royal we, as on our last visit we discovered blue asbestos inside the cottage. A little surprise since our, rather expensive, full structural survey didn’t mention it, though in fairness they didn’t say we hadn’t got any, just as they didn’t say whether we did or didn’t have anything, just that we could have  ( grrr!).

 This is a job for the Stuff Doer ( I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it). Now, as the offending part of the cottage was sealed off, I had no access to the kettle, so did what any other sensible person would do and went shopping!

An hour or so later the potentially dangerous stuff was over and all I was required to do was take funny photos and throw a couple of buckets of cold water over Stuff Doer’s head (I honestly took no sadistic pleasure in that at all).

All dressed up for a romantic weekend

The upshot of this removal is that we have, yet another, mystery. The asbestos was covering evidence of some substantial shelves, which have been removed. They have been plastered up to and appear to have been specifically designed for something as they are asymmetrical and of differing sizes. Monday night was spent drinking wine/beer staring at a wall and wondering. We didn’t come up with anything in particular, so answers on a postcard please!

note to stuff doer: Where’s the photos

Not on your life. Someone really needs to follow that beam up into the bedroom above! Oh, and whilst we’re at it lets have a poke around the dividing walls and see where the beams go to.

Well, next to be uncovered is the roof line of the cottage before the brick layer was added. We’ll need to do more research but it looks as though the building could once have been thatched. Again if anyone has any ideas drop us a comment.  (And here for a  more in-depth look at how we’re investigating the building’s history)

Just so no room remains untouched, the old roof timbers see the light of day

The beams (purlins) in the bedroom, which we thought looked a bit odd, turn out to have been clad in plasterboard, plastered over (roughly) and painted brown. This, though, is good news for us as every inch of head height counts as we would really like to put in a passage to properly separate the third bedroom.

Anyway we eventually do a final tidy up and head off home.

We’re desperate to get back. We’ll be there in a couple of weeks with no kids. After all we missed our anniversary few days away (why pay for the flat at Sandsend when we’ll have our own cottage by then!!!) and our Christmas treat was delayed. So instead of a few nice relaxing days on our own, we’ll be working like dogs. Never mind, I am insisting on one night out at The Beach Hotel in Sandsend so we can at least pretend we’ve had a holiday!

Wrecking (apparently they’re really called prise) bars in hands, work commences. Plaster board removed we find the stud work. Not new timber, but it looks like we’ve found the frame for the “hidden cupboard” and the date when it was removed. Beneath the stud work is gloss painted gypsum plaster and ,very helpfully, written on it a message from nearly 30 years ago “24/08/84 a sunny day, enjoy this house”. As the plaster needs to come off we can’t keep it so we take a picture which will be framed and hung where we found it.

Hidden message under the plasterboard, "Enjoy this house".

Now for the dirty bit. We shut all the doors to try to minimise the impact on the kids and Stuff doer and child number 2 set about removing the plaster. When the plaster is removed there is evidence of a leaky chimney, soot stains where the wall meets the chimney, which is quite scary when you think how many years those gas fires must have been burning in there. We also find that the wall wasn’t originally plastered, but there are signs it was once painted. A bit of a scrub and it will look lovely.

I decide to take the kids to the shops, they’ve been really good and have seen a toy they want to buy, and I feel my shoulders need a break from the cardboard stripping. I can’t leave him alone for two minutes! We arrive back and the downstairs gas fire’s out along with the plaster on the chimney breast it stood against. Now this has thrown up another set of questions. We find a 50′s opening, above that a standard fireplace opening, a little larger and then evidence of an arch above that where a range would probably have been. So far, so normal. Above this though there is irregularity in the brickwork with the impression a triangular section has been infilled. If anyone has any ideas after seeing the pictures please get in touch. We’ve got loads of books out of the library, including ones that they’ve had to order in specially, but we would be grateful for any advice we can get. Up to now we’ve decided to go with the “Yorkshire Arch” as it will house a stove nicely then we’ll just paint the brickwork so everyone can see its past.

More on the fireplace – Investigating the Building’s History

Discovering more of the original roof structure in the bathroom

He’s still not happy! There are still rooms to be investigated. So, after dinner, the bathroom’s next. Now this is a surprise. Stuff Doer finds paneling on an exterior wall. The only stuff we’ve found so far are room dividers ie. our “walls”. It’s not in the best condition though so Stuff doer shoves a screwdriver through a hole and discovers that the bathroom can be a good three inches bigger than it is. This is just too tempting so he removes “just a couple” of pieces of paneling. This is hiding an amazing beam. We knew there would be one as there is one in the bedroom at the front of the house, but this has been plastered up to and gives no indication of the true size of the beam. I say beam, it’s more of an oak tree that’s been flattened off a bit on one side! It gets more exciting every day. What will tomorrow bring?

We’re prepared to put the effort in to getting this done right. This will involve loads of research and investigations. 

CAN YOU HELP?

Any thoughts, comments, advice, suggestions or encouragement will be most welcome. Please add your comments below. (click the article title first if the box isn’t there)

For those that haven’t already seen the associated pages covering where we are up to, here is a good starting point for details of the cottage renovation.  A list of the cottage renovation related blog posts can be found here.

If you want updates of progress via Facebook , there’s an iDoStuff page, just click “like” to get the news feed.

Thanks in advance for any input you can give us

“Stuff Doer” Andy , “Other Half” Wendy.

So after coffee on the patio taking in the stunning views, I drag myself away to the kitchen to prepare the evening meal whilst listening to The Archers omnibus. I now decide it’s time for everyone else to get up and make a start, so I put on the bacon with the doors open (guaranteed to get my lot downstairs).

Where do we start? There’s so much to do but it’s all very exciting so we’re a bit like a dog with two tails.

We know that the plaster next to the front door needs to come off and we’d also discovered the paneling below it didn’t match the original paneling that had been used to divide the rooms up, so it’s decided that this shall be removed as well. We’re planning on leaving this stone pillar exposed. Lots of dust and mess later and ta da, a beautiful stone wall that just needs pointing.(I’m sure the Stuff Doer will go into all the technical bits about lime plaster etc. later).

Stone wall behind panneling ( Stuff doer notes "Just needs" in the above paragraph)

We then decide it’s time to investigate the upstairs living room and see what needs doing in there. We know there are some questions need answering as there’s a strange door in  the bathroom and nothing corresponding with it on the other side of the wall, so this is where we start. Strip a little wallpaper off to find the edges of the hardboard that we’re pretty hopeful covers all the walls, less wallpaper stripping you’d think, but you’d think wrong. Under the hardboard is many layers of wallpaper! Not just wallpaper but under all the layers  is a thick layer of CARDBOARD. Oh joy, absolutely hours of stripping. Even so this normally banal job throws up the odd surprise and we manage to retrieve a trade label applied to the cardboard.

Stripping back the wall paper to discover a despatch lable to (possibly) Ford and Sons of Flowergate, Whitby and hessian that covered panneling and a spare door.

So far, so usual. Then Stuff Doer finds something we didn’t expect, hessian stretched taught and nailed over the old door then wallpapered over. Not just that, but evidence that the old paneling is still there so stripping is resumed with renewed vigour. Yes, result, it’s all still there. Lots of work, but no wall skimming as we’d first imagined. This means this is a job for me (hey how did that happen?) no specialist skills required, just a straightforward restoration job.

But still, more surprises. Another piece of hardboard removed and reveals the man responsible for it (still can’t quite believe it wasn’t my dad as so many panel pins had been used) Mr William Nelson and son 1959 signed on the wallpaper. Luckily it’s been signed above the door which has been hessianed, so we’ll be able to remove it intact and display it for posterity.

We’re trying to date the layers we find, so please comment below if you have any ideas (click on the article heading if the comment box isn’t there).  More details will be over on idostuff.co.uk  site 

So, the first day of the half term arrives. Leave dog with my mum, load up the kids and sleeping bags etc. and off we go. Whitby here we come!

Two youngest excited to get in, look round and see what they can remember. Second child can’t wait to have a look as she’s never seen it. She’s had her tour and looks distinctly underwhelmed, even though we’d warned her it was a bit of a state and she’d seen some photos. After all, the cottage has been stood, pretty much unused, for approximately 10 years. Cue a wander around Whitby for child number two, while we and the youngest ones got stuck in with the scrapers.

Then the discoveries come thick and fast. I’ve had to buy a diary to jot things down in as they appear. Second child is suddenly enthused as the history of the place begins to unveil itself and she promises herself a trip to the museum at the first opportunity.

Kids Wall Paper Stripping and finding hidden doors.

One of the first things we discover is, while stripping wallpaper, a sealed over cupboard. I say sealed over, I mean under the 80′s wallpaper is a layer of gloss paint on top of about 60 years of wallpaper. We did manage to salvage the Edwardian layer and even get the registered design number of, what appears to be, the first layer of Victorian wallpaper underneath that. (more research needed on that). The cupboard has no other side to it, that’s been removed and boarded over in the room behind it. What was it for? We honestly don’t know at the moment but neighbours have mentioned “sleeping cupboards” for privacy. We’ll hopefully find out more when we start stripping out the bedroom behind it. We should be able to find evidence of how deep the cupboard was. Whatever it was I think it’s likely to become a “secret door” that I’m sure our and other people’s kids will enjoy.

Evening refreshments for the enthusiastic helpers

So that’s the end of day one. Youngest two go to bed, quite exhausted. Second one is treated to a can of cider for all her hard work and is appointed Official Historical Researcher. Stuff doer is rewarded with a few cans of beer, myself a bottle (or nearly two) of wine. It’s a good job, there would’ve been no sleep at all otherwise (we are in possession of a rapidly deflating airbed!).

You can Ask us Questions and Leave us your Comments below (click on the article heading if the comment box isn’t there).  The Stuff Doer will be filling the details on the Main Website

The sale of the cottage completed on the 6^th February. We decided to make a flying visit to Whitby to pick up the keys (by flying visit I, obviously, mean a 5 hour round trip) on the 7^th. We needed to check out the property to have a look at what would be needed to stay a few nights there with the kids during half term.

You have to remember that we had last seen the cottage in August 2010, almost 18 months ago! A ten minute open viewing with only a cursory look at what work may need doing, but we fell in love with it and made our offer over a year later. No second viewing. This, we have to stress, is NOT the way to successful property investment.

So, lunchtime in Whitby, after driving through rather dense fog over Fylingdales Moor (we couldn’t even see the Hole of Horcum, we stopped and checked) we parked on the West Cliff and walked past our cottage on Cliff Street to Astins to pick up the keys. Here we finally met in person “our” estate agent Nick, who had been Mr. Helpful himself. He even offered help in the future with local knowledge, contractors etc.

Back up the hill and we’re at our new (rather shabby) front door. Keys work fine sticks a bit at the bottom though, one for Stuff Doers list, but no matter I’ve picked the colour it’s going to be and dug out the antique knocker that’s going to furnish it.

Into the lobby, it’s not grand enough to be a hallway, with its blown plaster next to the door. At least that was one thing we’d remembered, then through into the downstairs living /dining room. Yes the wallpaper was as bad as we’d remembered, but once we’d removed the cover over the door window it was much brighter and opened up a view we didn’t realise we had.

Then through to the kitchen, the biggest surprise, it was a good bit larger than either of us recalled. This is great news. I’m aware that most people don’t go on holiday to cook, but some people (myself included) want a well equipped kitchen. Plus this cottage will also, for some of the year, be our home so I can now let my imagination run wild and think of ways to justify having a range cooker!

Everywhere else in the cottage is pretty much as we remembered it. We discover that we can put a proper passage on the walk- through bedroom, rather than the moveable privacy divide that we’d envisaged.

In the upstairs living room we discover what we think is a Victorian marble fireplace with a rather hideous gas fire plonked in front of it. Stuff Doer decides to have a quick look to see how easy it’ll be to remove but said fire isn’t actually attached to anything other than the gas pipe. Here’s one thing that can’t wait until our next visit. I can smell gas and we really don’t want to leave the gas off for a few days on one of the coldest days of the winter so far. The “elbow” on the gas pipe doesn’t work, the more it’s turned the more gas escapes, so off to the DIY shops round the corner to do a permanent fix. So, we’ve made a start already and we’ve only had the keys for two hours!

Now, please bear with me whilst I thank folk who have made our dream come true (our  experience may help you achieve your dream too) Many thanks to Phil at PG Mortgages & Loans. We can’t stress enough that, when in an unusual financial situation (in our case self-employed), it’s really worth spending a little on using a professional to search out a mortgage provider. Stuff Doer spent two days trawling the internet looking at (what we thought) where all the available options. For a few hundred pounds Phil saved us thousands in arrangement fees and failed mortgage applications. I’m sure Stuff doer will go into this in much more detail than I could possibly be interested in, this was area of potential DIY he opted out of.

Also Coventry Building Society for, after seeing the detailed information, being able to see the bigger picture (great if you’re self-employed). I have to say, we couldn’t have wished for a better mortgage provider or their free legal service provided by Fast Track.  It’s loads better than any other company we’ve had the misfortune to deal with! Also big thanks to Bill (DAL), our best ever plumber, who put us on to Phil and encouraged us to proceed with this project. “Go for it, you only live once”.

Diamond in the Rough

So, now to our cottage. It’s a few hundred years old (buildings on the site on 1740 map!) Please have a look here for a  first look at the cottage for a guided tour.

As previously stated, we first viewed the cottage in August 2010, we BOTH fell in love with it (not just me!). As you’ll see, from previous posts, the cottage was removed from sale soon after our first viewing. It went back on the market just before we went on holiday in August 2011. But, obviously, I’ve saluted all the magpies in the right order, and we were able to put in an offer, which was accepted on 17^th August 2011.

We finally got the keys on 7^th Feb 2012 (we completed on my best mate’s birthday on the 6^th)

We’ve worked hard and we’re fortunate to be in the position to appreciate the opportunity we find ourselves with. Not only is it a fascinating project but a beautiful (one day) holiday home and a massive learning curve. We hope you’ll join us on our journey.

To keep up to date “like” the iDoStuff Facebook page and we’ll keep you posted with any updates.