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 its far from level. Only a single beam over 5m long and with an average section of 140 x 140 mm holds the floor up.   The wall that was holding one end of the floor boards has moved away by about 125mm.  And then to make the problem worse there was a cast iron bath right in middle.

Slope on floor around 75mm in 1200mm

 The floor was packed out with any old bits of timber with chipboard over the top.  I had spotted this  prior to buying the cottage but the extent of the problem came as a bit of a surprise.

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 will make a wonderful feature. Right, this one’s sorted! Fit a Victorian style high cistern toilet, fit a large shower head with circular shower curtain, send the bath away for re enameling and we are in possession of a  “wow factor” bathroom.

Well, not quite. I had a bath and, unfortunately, the bath is just not designed to be stood up in. Ok can we fit in a separate shower? That would actually be the best option. If we have less abled or elderly holiday makers I’m sure they would rather not be climbing over a steep sided bath to take a quick shower (I’m sure myself and Stuff Doer wont one day either). We do need to have a bath though. They’re almost essential for people with young children.

Bath Toilet and Sink, where will the shower fit?

So a bit of jiggling about and we can fit in a cubicle, but it’s a juster {ONLY JUST FITS}and may well prove difficult to clean, Stuff Doer tells me that  we just needed a few inches to make everything workable. I have a brainwave, how about a slipper bath? They come in smaller sizes, we’d still have the look and then we have a bathroom suitable for everyone with a luxurious touch.

Now the purist would say that we should keep the bath as it’s original, well as original as a bath can be in a pre 1650 cottage, but we do have to be practical as well. We don’t want holiday makers not returning because it’s lacking in some way. We want everyone to love it as much as we do. Plus the bath is bloody huge and takes loads of water to fill, which will prove very costly if there are eight of us staying there (I’m also surmising that a very large cast iron bath full of water may well have contributed to the sloping floor). I am resigned to losing my cast iron bath, but will never be resigned to having anything less than the beautiful bathroom our cottage and we deserve. The cast iron bath will be salvaged to grace someone else’s home probably with a good mark up to the salvage man, but hey, everyone’s got to make a living and re using is green.

Stuff Doer payed a visit on his own last weekend to investigate the built up floor in the bathroom. The floor in the bathroom is raised with a small step up from the living room and a further step from the sink and toilet area up to the bath. We’ve assumed that this further step is probably there to have the correct fall for the bath  but we needed to make sure. It turns out that the floor isn’t so much raised but was packed to level out a very uneven floor. This, I’m assured can be sorted.

Problem. Stuff Doer arrives home on Saturday night with a bright idea. We’ll have a “p” shaped bath with shower over and that will solve all our problems. I am aghast. I like these designer baths, I’d have quite liked one in my bathroom at home, but at home we had not inherited a characterful bathroom, in fact we’d moved it and gone for a really modern look.

I’m not about to argue my point when he’s been working hard all weekend, other than to point out if we were going down that route we may as well save ourselves a few quid and just go modern and the beam can be the star of the show. Apparently he’s not saying that, but it would make it easier for the fall and all those other technical practical things.

Now I’m not spoilt, if that was the only way we could fit in a usable bathroom then that would be that, but I know that my dream bathroom fits (the Stuff Doer made the mistake of telling me so). I also don’t see how a p shaped bath solves the problem of people who are unable or unwilling to climb into a bath to have a shower. I appreciate people make do when on holiday but I don’t want people having to make do, we want people to come back year after year and have a sense of it being their home for a couple of weeks. The master plan is, eventually, to spend the majority of the year there (not Christmas though, don’t think we can shoe horn 16 round the dinner table, or peak season we’ll leave that to the youngsters) and when we’re old enough to do that we might not want to climb in a bath.

I am resigned to the fact that I have a bit of persuasion on my hands. I need to press home that this cottage needs to pay for itself and it’s more likely to do this if we stand up there with the best that Whitby has to offer. I will also point out that I have the greatest faith that he will find a solution, he is a designer by trade and has never let me down yet. My Stuff Doer just needs to play with an engine for a while then take a fresh look at my design and he’ll find a way to make it work, he always does. I am in love with our cottage and will make sure it’s the best it can possibly be and the Stuff Doer will be glad I did.

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 for Goth Weekend at the end of April. Despite camping on a building site, all eight of us (including a toddler) thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was the first time daughter number one and her family had seen it but the toddler summed it up by running to the windows and shouting “Wow”. Sunday was dreadful weather wise, which was a shame for all the people who’d made such an effort with their attire. The weather did explain a few of the problems that the cottage has though, as you’ll have seen, it needs a new roof!

Our very own Goths and a Gothlet ouside the cottage

Now I am, by nature, a “Glass half full” person. I point out to Stuff Doer that we always knew that it was likely that we’d need some professional help at some point. I also point out that the need for a new roof explains most of the problems that the cottage has, for example, the damp patch by the front door and a couple of rotting beams (some of those problems solutions could have been much more disruptive and expensive to fix). It is a bit galling though that it’s one of those things that didn’t get much of a mention on the survey and we just thought it would be a quick fix.

By now we’ve met a few of the neighbours (a lovely lot they are too) and one of them has been able to recommend a good builder. We can see her roof and they’ve made a really good job of it. Simple, get him out to give us a quote. Well you’d think so, but somebody is thinking to himself “I bet I could do that!” I don’t want the Stuff Doer scrambling around our roof and, anyway, Whitby’s picturesque roof tops might not be so pretty if he’s fallen through one! So I gently point out that he’s got far too much on his plate as it is and the roof needs sorting sooner rather than later. Trevor has now had a look at the roof. The general consensus is that we have a good roof that’s been put on badly!

Stuff Doer still has another go and informs me that he doesn’t really like to pay someone to do something that he could do. I point out that it would cost him a lot more to put in a downstairs bathroom and widen the doors in our house if he falls off and he can’t magic any more time out of thin air!

Trevor is replacing the cottage roof in September.

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 need to be restored so they can last. They also need to look nice so, while the Stuff Doer ponders what work may need to be done, I have the really important job of picking the colour. This I had done, I had a colour in mind and, thankfully, they do it in the type of paint we need ie linseed. So far so good. Until I start stripping the door (leave windows to stuff doer, he’s the expert). Most of the door strips well with a hot air gun (except the jambs on the back that someone has painted with treacle!) at some time before it was painted bright yellow, then green, brown, then green again it was a lovely duck egg blue. This is a problem, I now want duck egg blue but I know that’s not available in the paint we need to use. Doh!

Stripping the door and discovering the previous colours

I’ll leave the Stuff Doer to explain how he’s mended the windows, but the upshot is, he’d like duck egg blue as well. I have now sourced someone who provides a mixing service for linseed paint (thank god for the internet). Hopefully it will be delivered in a couple of weeks from now. I’ll let you know how we get on.

Window stripping takes longer than Stuff Doer envisaged, although it does have the advantage of enabling him to talk to interested passers by hence my doing three guided tours last time we were there! I’m certainly not moaning though, we enjoy sharing the cottage. It is decided to bring home all the opening bits of window, so the last time I saw the cottage it looked worse than it had ever done with half stripped doors and boarded up windows.

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 them via email with a couple of pictures attached and we arranged to meet at the cottage.

When they managed to find us (the house numbering system in Whitby is a little “unique” to say the least) they were almost as excited as us, the proverbial kids in a sweet shop. I think they were pleasantly surprised at our willingness to prod around with screwdrivers and pull bits of wall down so they could get a better look.

A full survey has been booked in by them for the end of July but they did tell us that the cottage is definitely pre 1650, before leaving for a fish and chip lunch covered in soot and brick dust.

The first structural repair we had to sort out in our Whitby cottage was a couple of ceiling beams / floor joists.  The ends had rotted away where they sit in the wall. The damp that caused the rot has been temporarily fixed (see the pan tile roof repairs article), a more permenant fix of a total re-roof is in hand.

The damage however had already occurred due to poor maintenance in the past.  So a fix for the rotten beam / joist ends was needed. I did a quick evaluation of the more common techniques used to fix joist  ends.    However I came up with a different way of  fixing the joists that is easier for me and more suitable for our particular problem.

I have made a comparison of the more common fixes for beam ends over on the main iDoStuff site.

The repair technique for rotten joist ends that I came up with is detailed with photographs also on the main site

If you find this information useful or interesting please let me know by leaving a comment below.  Questions or even criticisms are also welcome. Thanks.

One of the two rotten joists

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 fix Pantile roof from the inside are here.

In the mean time this fix and others I’ve done are keeping the house dry and have cured many of the damp issues we had.  A stich in time and all that, if some the previous owners had carried out some repairs a few years back there wouldn’t have been the rotten beams to fix and timber that now need replacing.

Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this quick fix repair technique.

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 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

 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 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 only normally get away without the Kids on special ocassions like our anniversary. So we used the “kids free time” this year getting rid of some asbestos)

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! (or leave a comment)

note to stuff doer: Where’s the photos ……  “stuff doer ” will this do”

lime plastered wall with a ghost of some shelving