A Staffordshire Cottage...
This lovely little cottage in an old mining village was cold, damp and draughty, and has undergone a transformation using traditional building methods...
We thought this would be a great way to show some of the methods used to transform an old house, using methods that are sympathetic with the fabric of the building, and yet which allow us to introduce modern standards of insulation and technology.
Tackling damp problems...
The cottage was very damp and cold inside - our first task was to ascertain the reasons. There are 3 separate injection damp proof courses within the fabric of the building, which have achieved precisely nothing, beyond destroying the structural integrity of the lower courses of brickwork. The obligatory metre high hacking off of plaster and replacement with impervious gypsum plaster had only served to exacerbate the damp problems. High ground levels to some external walls, and layers of impervious gypsum plaster on internal walls, some backed by coats of tarry paint over the brickwork, had contained moisture within the walls and resulted in damp patches moving higher and higher up the internal walls until they could escape. The solution was to reduce outside ground levels, and remove every skerrick of modern plaster and acrylic paint finish to the inside of the building.
At this point the house breathed a literal sigh of relief, and the walls started to dry out remarkably quickly, even in mid-winter. Whilst other works were going on, the walls were left to dry naturally, and a stategy for finishing the walls was developed. All external walls were lined with steel frame, insulated with 50mm of glass fibre batts, and coated with 12.5mm plasterboard and gypsum finish. A gap between the steel frame and walls allows for services to be run (plumbing and wiring) whilst allowing air to circulate in the cavity and keep the brickwork dry and ventilated. All internal walls were plastered using traditional lime plaster, and painted with Beek Insil silicate paints, which are totally porous, in fact even more so than limewash, but are a little more akin to modern paints in their application.
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| Typical walls - old lime plaster with limewash still adhering, and on the right, walls with modern gypsum plaster already removed. (Soot the guard dog in attendance..!) | The same room, with steel framing in place, showing insulation fitted, and electrics and plumbing installed behind the framing. There is approx. 50mm air gap between the frame and walls, allowing the old brickwork to breathe and stay dry. |
Tackling structural problems...
This is a typical old farmhouse which has grown organically over the years. A small cottage would have had rooms added, followed by widening of the footprint, and extending upwards to create a second floor. At each stage, flaws were introduced which over the years contributed to a gradual deterioration in the structural stability of the house. Walls were no longer tied together, ceiling and floor joists had become detached from the walls and were hanging in space, upper floor walls were leaning drunkenly outwards as the roof had lost structural integrity, and numerous chimney additions had added huge amounts of weight to the foundations and caused one end of the house to slowly sink into the underlying boulder clay.
The owners were convinced the house was falling down.
It wasn't - it just needed a lot of TLC to ensure that each of the failed bits and pieces was tied back together and were structurally related to one another again. A long programme of bracing, steel strapping, and timber replacement and strengthening soon began to make a huge visible difference. Structual engineering examinations showed that weight could be taken off the foundations by removing redundant chimney flues, which provided a source of matching bricks for other repairs. New floor joists were tied to ancient oak joists which although too short to span the rooms, were nevertheless an important part of the historical fabric of the old building and were left in place.
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| Typical walls - chimney stack separating from internal walls and outside walls peeling away. Ceiling sagging as joists and beams have separated from outer walls as they have moved outwards. | The same wall, on left, stitched with concrete lintels, and strapped to the outside walls with steel angle straps. Ceiling joists are tied to the outer walls with steel straps, and new concrete lintel replaces rotten timber over window on right. Brickwork re-pointed and repaired using hydraulic lime mortar. |
Further structural problems arose throughout the house, but similar approaches were used:
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| Wall below window showing cracking and bowing which was threatening to collapse onto the terrace below | Above the same window - bowed old timber lintel, with cracking in brickwork, and rotten wallplate which is not tied to the wall. |
The solutions:
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| After a busy week of lintelling and strapping - walls above and below the window are linteled, the corner of the room is tied together, and wallplate is strapped to brickwork to prevent movement. | Finished bedroom, with new heating. Wardrobe has been built in left corner, and the window is now stable. All external walls are insulated, and there is 200mm of insulation above the ceilings. |
The new Bathroom...
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| The old bathroom was very damp - the carpet on the floor was rotting, and in winter the room was freezing cold. The old suite was dated, so the decision was taken to replace everything... | It's a little scarey to see your house disappear in front of your eyes and be replaced with rubble.... |
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| ... but after a new floor, structural repairs, plastering and re-wiring, re-plumbing, and insulating - this was the result... a lovely, bright, airy room that is now warm in winter. | ... The shower, with new heating... |
Heating and electrics
The old heating system was non-existent, and a new system designed. An oil fired, closed system provides heating to convection radiators in all rooms, and hot water to two bathrooms and kitchen. Pipework is part copper and mostly plastic to allow a gentle heating effect from the heating pipework located at the bottom of the external cavity walls - this slight heat loss from the pipework is calculated to keep cold water pipes located above the hot water pipes from freezing in the extremely cold, windy conditions prevalent in the area. This gentle heat also helps keep brickwork in the cavity dry.
Electrical work consisted of a complete re-wire of the entire house, and all cables are run through the ouside cavity walls where possible to allow easy access when needed.