However, we have continued with as much as we can ourselves. The radiators and central heating pipes have been removed throughout the house, more plaster is off, more skirting boards have been removed and the downstairs fireplace has been completely cleared.
While we thought we'd get away with leaving the downstairs floor as-is, we have been advised otherwise and all these floors will have to be dug out in order to put in a proper damp course. Bummer - as this will be a back-breaking job and is obviously going to have extra costs involved. But on a positive note, it means that we will be able to put in underfloor heating throughout the house as most the of the cost in retrofitting underfloor heating is digging up the floors. Yay! No radiators on the walls! Not only does this have advantages aesthetically, but modern underfloor heating is much more eco-friendly and energy efficient. So, the floor has started to come up this week as well...
Living room fireplace over the last few weeks....
Before...
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(with plaster off - note the fireplace has been in-filled with bricks & rubble when the gas fire was added)
During...(tiled gas fire base still in place)
During ... (tiled base removed)
During... (in-fill rubble and bricks being removed)
During...
Almost there...
After!
(Gas and radiator pipes removed, brick base removed... clear at last!!)
Screwed-up newspaper used to fill holes made in bricks (for the piping to pass through the back of the gas fire) indicate that this was actually a 1970's addition and not 50's or 60's as previously thought.
Central heating...
Piping being cut, radiator drained...
...then removed.
A growing collection of radiators and copper piping goes onto the scrap metal pile.
Spare bedroom pipe connections - quite a few - luckily any new pipes will be hidden in floors instead of running along the base of the walls... or not needed at all due to underfloor heating. Yay!
Floors...
Meanwhile... it was time for me to get started on the floors!
A lifted pamment under the black asphalt shows that the next layer is sand! These houses must have been FREEZING, as originally the occupants would have most likely lived just with the pamment flooring, or if they were lucky, they might have a carpet partially covering the stone floors. Eek! This combined with uninsulated walls and roof, no radiators (an open fire instead) and an outside toilet must have been tough during the cold, damp winters!
TA-DAAA! Original floors in lounge
We will be keeping these - restoring them and laying them in kitchen, dining (maybe??) and in the lounge (very maybe!) It might save some cash, but I'm not so keen for them in the lounge.
Walls...
Nice, clean walls in master bedroom...
...And in our bijou walk-in wardrobe.
Also finished in 2nd bedroom.
(Note the different coloured plaster to centre-right of this photo - this is newer plaster that was MUCH harder to take off and marks out where the chimney breast was removed.)
This newspaper dated 1938 was found where the external wall and the internal wall (that separates the bedrooms) meet. The internal partition wall is made of reeds and plaster, so it's definitely much older than the 1930s. Some work on the walls must have been undertaken in the 30's, but what - we aren't too sure.
Thanks for taking all the tiles off in the bathroom and kitchen, Steve and Kirsten! XX
Floors again...
This is the living room before we had touched it
Getting stuck into the dining room floors.
HA!
TA-DAAAA!
Dining room - pretty much sorted except for the plaster on the bricked-up window, boiler and the shelving behind. At the end is the dining room external wall, which will be knocked-through to install French doors. The recess in which the current window sits is the left-overs of the old chimney breast.
Some original wallpaper. 1950s????
Some of the original forged iron nails found throughout the property. Even though they might be close to 200 years old, some of them (where there has been no dampness) are still solid as ever!
