Well project this pulled in a few of my passions, Hand Crafting, the renovation and the Woods. We need a new beam to go in the Cottage to support a failing floor. It needed to be in keeping with the existing hand hewn beams, I really like trying out old time, traditional craft skill and with […]
If you’ve read the previous post from the “other half” you’ll know we’ve got plans for the bathroom in the cottage. After the last weekend’s investigations, I’ve got other things to keep me occupied. The details of a finished bathroom are far from my mind. I’ve discovered there’s not a lot holding the floor up and […]
You’ll be aware, if you’ve watched the video tour, that the cottage has a potentially fantastic bathroom. We have a fabulous, if a bit grotty, cast iron free standing bath, an original sink and a toilet that has been replaced probably in the ’50’s. To top it all we later found the fabulous beam which […]
I realise that I am unable to write up all that happens in the cottage chronologically. I don’t have the time to write an article for every day we are there so I will aspire to blog every visit. For now I will do an overview of what’s been happening there. We went to Whitby […]
The doors and windows in the cottage are not original, but are old and characterful and will do until Stuff Doer gets round to making new ones (not the horrible plastic ones on the top floor, they’re on the “as soon as is reasonably feasible” list). This though means the windows and doors we have […]
Since buying the cottage and discovering some of it’s hidden secrets, we have been doing lots of surfing of the web. Stuff Doer has found the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group (have a look at their website). They are a voluntary organisation with, obviously, an interest in Yorkshire buildings of the vernacular style. We contacted […]
How to fix a beam or joist end. Comparison of common techniques and a novel method. Your comment are welcome
When I made these fixes I was think the roof would last another few years. However there are so many problems with it and weak points that about to fail, we going to have a re-roof in the next few months. Quotes are coming in and it’ll be decision time shortly. The full details of how to […]
Restoring a fire place in our Whitby cottage to a previous opening. Involving rebuilding a Victorian brick arch. 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 great thing about not taking the kids is that we get to sleep on a bed! The blinds are still as thin as a cigarette paper so I’m still getting the sunrise, but am at least getting some sleep. Now we have been getting a very slight whiff near the gas meter (it’s situated […]