repair or renew?
Penny Holley
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Jonathan
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What would you do?
Comments (69)Have a look at how this house would have been presented in 1928. See if you can find any archives from the firm which designed it. Pebble-dash has a long history of domestic use here, going back to the nineteenth century, and it is possible to renovate it or replace it with modern pebble-dash which looks very handsome. At one time a terrible pink pd was used (later twentieth century), but the look you would be after is a tawny, sandy-beach range of colours. Your house was built at a time when there was a great taste for creating manageable homes with subtle rustic touches to give a cottagey feel without making extra work for the maid/housewife or actually making it look like a real cottage (which at that time still meant the slums people were escaping as much as anything else.) The 20s were also a time when the popular taste for half-timbered and timber-framed buildings was very strong. The people who call the buildings in Canada and the US "Tudor" because of the timber decoration on the exterior derive their description from early 20th c useage in Britain. Real timber-framed etc buildings used render which had to be reparied and repainted pretty constantly. This is where pebble-dash, a vry tough material, comes in. I wouldn't lose it! I'd keep it and clean and mend it. If you get someone in to fix it the old-fashioned way you'll be surprised at the skill it takes (not unlike harling.) Look at the nice way it flares at the bottom so neatly. Don't lose these humble period details, I beg of you. But rethink the porch and hide the burglar-alarm....See MoreParquet floor disaster? Help
Comments (166)Those are wise words Karen! am so glad it worked out for you. Love to see a photo, what colour or shade did you choose? Jools, The bitumen is a right pig, best way we found is to make it cold, so it becomes brittle, then you can scrape /chip it off. We used a window scraper, coarse wire wool and various sandpaper. We left the window open on a cold night, turned heating off in there, and you could try a cooler fan on it. Putting ice bags on it didn't work as well as we hoped. we used a round sander, but it can cause swirls, it's really awkward ! To be honest a few dips and scratches on an old floor are okay in the end, don't be too afraid of it, they are only pieces of wood stuck down on the floor, not bone china, as long as you try not to break them, or set fire to them, otherwise you can't possibly do more damage than I did, and they recovered!...See MoreExtension ??
Comments (29)This comment is a bit late, but we bought a house last year that was extended in 1992 over not one, but two, manhole covers (kitchen and cloakroom). Both had been tiled over but with sealed hatches that could be lifted in case of emergency. In 25 years this was never necessary but the idea of leaving them in tact was a little unpleasant. It's a public sewer that includes several neighbouring houses. We just undertook an extensive house refurb and moved the manhole access points outdoors and permanently sealed the internal ones. It wasn't as complicated as we originally thought. What you want to do as a starting point is get a drain surveyor to come and inspect the routes and flow of waste. We used Power Rod (we are based in Hertfordshire) and they came with their camera on a hose reel and mapped out our plumbing routes all the way to the mains in every direction. Then your builder will be able to take it from there, or you can hire a specialist grounds company to sort it out. If it's any help, in your head you may have this idea that raw sewage is just gushing under your floorboards but in reality, when I looked down the hatches, it's really just a matter of a few pipes several meters down. It was surprisingly more sanitary than I expected and I found that reassuring....See MoreOriginal Crittall windows repairs
Comments (2)Hi Steph, If you just want the cracked glass replaced, a local glazer or "glass replacement service" will be able to help. If you want the whole window (and steel Crittall frame) replaced they are thoroughly modernised now... The modern double glazed units offer far better heat insulation and help stop the dreaded condensation problems those much older windows suffer from. The strong steel frames are also treated to a molten zinc galvanising process and then painted in a super tough epoxy-free polyester powder coating, making them rust-proof and virtually maintenance free for a lifetime! Should you feel your window is in need of an upgrade to the modern Crittall, YES Glazing Solutions are an authorised genuine Crittall supplier for your area, and can happily provide a quote if required....See MorePenny Holley
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