It’s been three months since I last posted (apologies to my readers) but much has happened with the cottage!
We knew it would be a steep hill to climb but we’d no idea just quite how high!
As we started to peal the layers back and reveal the heart of the house it rapidly became clear we would have to make good the interior fabric of the building which meant removing pretty much most of the interior of the house and starting from scratch. It’s the only way I could be confident the house would be safe.
First job, we had to remove the fake cupboards and nasty melamine wardrobes which seemed to be everywhere so we could reveal the beautiful beams which are synonymous with buildings of the period.
The back and left side walls were hidden behind nasty melamine cupboards … now we can see them in all their glory.
Next the carpets all came out as they all had that musty smell followed rapidly by the bathroom suite. The floor was clearly sagging under the weight and I was convinced it would collapse and that wasn’t a risk I was prepared to take.
The bathroom was where we made our first significant find … but more on that later.
First, I need to explain the basic structural makeup of the cottage.
The original part of the house is the oldest and was built around 1650. In the 70’s a rear extension was added across the back of all the cottages in our row, which added a kitchen and a second bedroom. It’s clearly visible when you stand at the rear of the cottage and it’s the rear of the cottage I made my second discovery … unchartered loft space!
Anyone that has or is living in a small space will understand the significance of a loft … Storage!
So, first jobs was to cut a hatch in the ceiling in the back bedroom to gain access.
Have to say I was more than a little excited to see what was in the loft. But rather than any priceless paintings I did find what was the original roof at the rear of the house basically still intact. The tiles had been removed but the roof joists, what appeared to be roofing felt and timber batons, were all still in place. I can only think cost to remove was an issue or possibly the conservation officer insisted the original roof should stay.
Anyway, back to the bathroom. On closer inspection, the walls were all hardboard on a softwood frame which didn’t make for a great surface and looked terrible. So, we decided to strip them all out and replace with plasterboard.
The cottage had pretty much been left for the last 3o years untouched …
It’s at this point we made our first nasty discovery!
Grim discovery number 1 … 😦
One of the original rear support beams had rotted right through due I suspect to rain running down the original roof at the back of the house. ☹ We were going to have to do something about that and pretty fast given it was being held up by a few pieces of old 4″ by 2″! Next time I’ll share with you how we went about fixing it which was easier that I first thought.
Having had one nasty surprise I thought it wise to strip the rest of the walls in case there were other nasty surprises lurking! .. and unfortunately I was to be proven right. This was just the start!
Next time we’ll share how we found out the floors were rotten … and how we discovered we had a man hole cover in the middle of the kichen!
Best wishes
