We were expecting the roof to be long finished by now but events have conspired against us ( Local Authotity Scaffolding Licence and the weather). We are at last making steady progress. We’ve employed local builders who were recommended by a neighbour. They’re both experienced in traditional building techniques and were refreshingly enthusiastic about using lime etc. […]

While the scaffolding has been up the Stuff Doer has taken advantage and started replacing the cement pointing (ribbon pointing) on the front stonework. The pointing, although not in good shape and wasn’t on our priority list but cement mortar does the stone no good. Also working at height on a ladder on a very […]

In for a penny… As you’ll have seen, the scaffolding is up. The chimneys are straight and the back half of the roof is on. Now scaffolding has been a little bit of a problem (it’s also quite expensive) so whilst it’s up we’d best make the most of it. We wanted the cement render […]

We encountered a big problem with scaffolding that needed a small solution. The full saga is detailed on this post about our scaffolding license woes.  We eventual convinced “the man” from the council to let us errect a skinny scaffold or 2 board scaffold.  It’s the only sensible way we could get the access and saftey […]

See the “ONE Year On” progress report video here. We’ve had lots of interest in our little cottage project, both on here and people physically walking past the cottage and being given a tour. So, one year on , here’s an update on our progress so far.  We’re hopeful to have a further video of […]

Oh the joys of dealing with bureaucracy! Roofer booked, Scaffolder booked new roof in the beginning of October. So we were foolish enough to think until the Local Authority steps in. Our street is very narrow, the cottage is not very tall. The LA want a height clearance of five metres if the scaffold is […]

(All the details for for the chimney rebuilding are here on the main iDoDtuff site) The second of the top floor double bedrooms will be cosy. We are erecting a stud wall to form a passage to the master bedroom. It will easily fit a double bed but we want to make it as large […]

Back to the drawing board!!!!! I have accepted defeat. Our bathroom cannot accommodate the bathroom I had envisaged when the Stuff Doer said we could fit in a seperate shower. In fairness, he had thought of a way to fit one in, we could even keep the old bath! On paper it looked great and […]

We have recently returned from the first part of our summer “holiday”. Obviously, getting my priorities in order, the first outing with the youngest two was a visit to the local auction rooms (it was the last few hours of viewing before the sale!)  Among the things of interest was a pair of books entitled […]

I really don’t know where all the time goes. The six week holidays have flown by in a whirling dervish of full family Whitby visits, kid’s birthday parties, kids’ flying visits to Congleton (thanks B&G) and Stuff Doer’s lone weekends at the cottage making it safe for us to visit. There have also been numerous […]