My Blog

Disaster

04/05/2012 07:38:00

What a day we had yesterday!

It started with the dog ( 8 month old Lou Lou ) being sick every where, which followed by us discovering an attempted break in, and terrible weather. The weather is significant as since we bought the farm the prevailing wind has been from the west, but not yesterday it was coming in from the east.

A cold day Tom decided to get the house warmed up and lit the open fire and the multifuel stove which does the central heating. The bigger the fire the warmer the radiators get, so he made an enormous fire up and got it going, the next thing we had blow back down the chimney and smoke plumped out of the stove filling the room. I thought he had set the chimney on fire, but it was the change of wind direction that we had not experienced before. The fire recovered only for it to happen again so Tom and John thought best course of action was to put the fire out. Now that not easy once well li,t but the cunning plan was to put the hot coals onto the open fire making an enormous fire in there. We had been careful not to make to large a fire because of the tiles which we know were okay to around 180 degrees, one of the other lads then dropped some wood on an already over large fire, disaster the tile nor unsurprisingly cracked! A bit of redesign required on that one, meanwhile my beautiful just finished white ceiling in the dining room is now in need of another coat of paint!

Still today is another day and the dog has again been sick everywhere!!

Lets hope the day gets better.

Spoke to Soon

04/02/2012 07:40:00

Poor Tom has had quite a bad cough and cold the past week and has felt wretched, and been dragging himself around trying to get some of the plumbing done. We have decided on a multi fuel stove with back boiler to do the heating and hot water. I was quite confident about it until the water cylinder arrived and its over two meters tall, that will take some heating! A trail was done on the stove and thats managed to heat up ten radiators, about half of what we will have on completion, test to be done on the water yet!

We are moving forward i have been putting first paint coat on all the ceiling and walls that have been plastered so far. Yesterday Tom and I were leveling off the floors which are all over the place. The old Conservertory's floor had to go up 12 inches from one end to the house as had been built on a slope and the slope left! Why?? The kitchen floor level went by around two inches from one end to another so you can see what we are up against. However the design is for a slick modern interior to bring Maud ( The house) into the twenty first century, so it has to be done.We have chosen floor tiles which are 600x600 so they will not be forgiving on uneven surfaces.

The grass and weeds on the land are all dying off, our site looks like we are in autumn not spring, but will be ploughed in the next week it two and a crop planted. Tom and the lads have been clearing the stream and pomnd so that we can get down the bank to it and may get some fish in it.

The normal non stop week really!!!

Month Five

03/26/2012 16:06:00

I have to say that I am in awe of Tom he just keeps going whilst I am feeling exhausted, he really is amazing. This week the pile of debris that had been piled up in front of the house he has flattened down into the base for the patio. I could not believe he did it as there was so much building rubble I was certain that we would have to hire in several dozen skips. The scale is amazing as the patio is the size of the average garden in a new build, our garden furniture is going to look quite lost on it.

I have been busy painting the inside so a bit of a role reversal the gardener of the family has turned into the decorator and the decorator into the gardener!!

It's so fantastic to start to see the design taking shape, the front is all finished now, this photo was taken last month and a lot of work has been done since then. All of the land has been treated to kill of weeds and in the next week or two will be plough ed, around an acre will be seeded for garden and the rest is going to have maize in it. The hedges were all cut in the last few weeks thanks to Andrew which is brilliant and certainly tidyes the place up.

Inside we are working on the second floor creating the new stud walls to create the ensuites, the new stairs are in and the second staircase is being plastered to today. I must take some more photos to put on. Its Tom,s birthday next month and I had hoped to have a party as its a big diamond one, but we are not ready so like the Queen he is going to have his birthday celebrations later in the year hopefully July or August. I am really looking forward to inviting friends around and to actually enjoy living there as we have worked so hard the last six months with barely a day off. I wonder what the pub looks like!!

The story so far

03/12/2012 17:06:00

Four and half months in and we have pretty much blown the budget! Lots of sleepless nights thinking about how we are going to finish the job with the little money we have left. Its quite depressing, but then when I think of what we have achieved and what we have done to Maud ( the house) its really quite astounding. Maud has had three flat roofs replaced, the large section of pitch and tile roof replaced, floors lifted where they had dropped and steels inserted. Thirty concrete lintes half a dozen steels, floors leveled, the old veranda demolished and replaced with a new swish conservatory. Old the old wood wormed door frames ripped out the two rotten staircases replaced, new stud walls, three en suite bathrooms created ( no fitting as yet), all new windows and doors. Four fireplaces reinstated with two chimneys being rebuilt, under pinning where needed, it hardly surprising we have blown the budget!!

The Fireplace

02/23/2012 17:11:00

Write your post here.

Four months in

02/14/2012 17:11:00

Well its four months since we started work on this project and whilst we are still enjoying it both Tom and I are very tired and our budget is very depleted!!

Tom and Brian spent last week getting the chimneys ready, we have had to rebuild two and the other two which had been capped had about 100years of Jackdaw nests. It took all of Tom and Brians strength to get the nests out and there must have been around 6ft in each chimney, which is astounding when you think each nest was brought in by small birds. Finally they were cleared and swept and then of course the weather changed and we had snow, so they are yet to go back up and put a cowl on to stop the birds nesting again. We have been working on our design for all the fireplaces and are pretty happy with how they are coming along. We decided to put an open fire in the main lounge and then priced them and nearly fell over!! Even the man in the fire shop could not believe how much they were, so I went on e bay. I was a total ebay virgin having never purchased on ebay before, but bid for two fire grates and won both, result.

This week the guys have been breaking into the concrete in the yard to replace the drains which have collapsed. Tom said that he has found strange brickwork which he thinks could be a stairway which he hopes to investigate next week. In the garden of Mill House which was built on the site of a former windmill he uncovered one of the Old Mill Legs and all the Mill Stones, and so far we have not found the water. A house of this age and in this location would have had a Well which we have not found yet so who knows!

Lots of work to do and some days I think we will never get there, but the house is taking shape and i know it will be fantastic just such hard work!!!

Busy Month

01/28/2012 07:56:00

Well finally the wind died down long enough to make a start on the back

section of roof. That makes it sound like a small job, but of course the back section is a very large area! We have stripped off the whole area and once again all the woodwork had woodworm and had to be replaced along with further brickwork being rebuilt, with the lads coming off the roof during high winds and hail storms. It has taken since the 9th of January but at last the tiles are on, and the main building is at last water tight. We have one section of flat roof which has been damaged by having all the tiles and scaffolding piled up on it but that should be sorted out next week, no more leaks!!

So great me thinks, on with the interior, but no, problems with the drains!!

Next week we were going to have to dig down breaking into the concrete in the yard as the drains have collapsed and need to be replaced. These jobs are necessary, eat the budget but do not give the same feel good factor that comes from spending the budget on bathrooms or a kitchen.

Its hard slog at times and managing the budget or rather trying to make it stretch is difficult, however I have now purchased my first purchase on ebay. I know people have been doing it for years and I have often looked and bid the odd time but never before purchased. With four chimneys we have decided to go down the route of open fires and log burners so I have bought two fire grates on ebay. We have to rebuild one more chimney, which has already been done internally, and uncap the other two, the kitchen chimney has already been completed and tested with a fire yesterday.

All the guys we have working with are fantastic and are all like Tom, multi talented with more than one trade to their name, they go from joinery to plastering, brickwork to roofing its great. Tom is really enjoying working with them and they are all learning from each other all the time. Not to be outdone I have started an upholstery class I have always covered the odd chair seat or stool but with the course will be able to strip down and replace the whole lot which is great. With my usual optimism I have already made the curtains for the main lounge and will start on the snug next week.

The windows at the front are in and look amazing well worth the money and once again manufactured locally in Tamworth. I must take some photos to upload. My daughter Sasha has come home to live with a young dog which will make a great farm dog but is to big for a house dog she is going to be huge. A cross between a Rottviler and a St Bernard, she has already taken to digging up my garden, so we are building her a run today using one of the smaller barns as an over sized kennel. I have spent the last couple of days clearing it of rubbish and broken glass so we just need to put the pen round and she can spend the day there watching us work.

Storms

01/04/2012 13:51:00

The last few days have been very wet with high winds whivch unfortunatley took off part of the roof which was like God turning the tap on inside. Spent yesterday morning scooping water up off the kitchen floor whilst Tom battled to get the roof felt pinned back down. The site is so exposed that apart from trying to keep it water tight we cannot progress with replacing the roof as it is to windy and dangerous to have guys up there!

These things are sent to try us!!

Sykes Barns project

12/29/2011 08:44:00

Christmas has come and gone and it has been great to take some time away and spend it with family and friends! However the 27th saw Tom and I back on site assessing where we were and what our priorities for the next few weeks would be. Because we will be doing Bed & Breakfast its important to think hard about bathrooms. They are all being squeezed into existing bedrooms which are all in excess of four square meters, but will not have any natural light. Having already replaced 14 windows with at least the same again to do, we do not want the additional expense of creating new windows, plus the facade would not take it.

The rooms have to be well designed not only in style but also functional, easy to clean and suitable for all shapes and sizes. It was quite fun in the merchants as we were talking to the salesman about one room and then switching to another and different size shower tray, he got quite confused until we explained that we would be putting in six bathrooms!

We have also benn assessing the snug which was the room where no existing ingle nook or boarded up fireplace was found, very disappointing! We have decided to create a feature wall similar the one we have done in Mill House, which is the finished photo.

There was a lot of work done on the studding to achieve the look we want but it will be worth it. We will have a log burning inset stove, light boxes and the TV all built in. Apart from that I have again been moving bricks, I swear they are breeding, as fast as I take them away more appear! No chance of Christmas food excess settling on my frame. Anyway no more time to chat we have recess'es to work out in the Master Bathroom, back to work!

Mauds Tummy Tuck

12/17/2011 12:15:00

This week we had planned to take of the roof and re-roof the back of the building, but when we came to it the brickwork supporting it was shot, and had sagged. After discussing it with Brian our fantastic brickie, Tom and I decided the only course of action was to take down the offending brickwork, and chimney stack and rebuild

it. Every time things like this happen it has an effect both on the timescale and also on the budget. We always knew that on that part of the house the roof would need replacing, but had not anticipated rebuilding half of the supporting walls! So this week Brian has given Maud as I call her, a Tummy Tuck, much more streamlined!

Its been really cold on the roof but Matt and Brian have battled away all week, if the weather stays dry we may have the new roof on in time for Christmas.

Inside we have also been working away, I seem to spend most of my time sweeping up, emptying wheel barrows and cleaning bricks up to be reused.
After discovering three boarded up fire places, when we got to the room I have decided will be the family snug it was really disappointing to find nothing! However we have decided to design a feature wall which will take in a Log Burner, TV , Light boxes and some storage. It has taken quite a lot of time to set out but I am confident that it will be worth while and really give the room the wow factor.

The new windows for the front of the house are going through the factory, so I am hoping they will be ready before Christmas. We had looked at putting French Doors on the two front rooms leading out to a patio, but have decided for security reasons on just large Sash windows. The company we are using makes replica Sash Windows which look like wood with all the mouldings but are in UPVC, which means we will benefit form the U values of modern glass and frames.

This is a vast job and sometimes we feel like we are not achieving anything as it can be one step forward and one back, but turning Maud from an ugly duck to a thing of beauty is what motivates us, and keeps us going. The budget is being used at an alarming rate, Maud could do with 200k spent on her and we simply do not have the money. Everything we do has to be based on cost and need, is it a job we can come back to , does it need doing now. I have decided that the only way I can have curtains of the quality I want we be to make them myself. I have found a fantastic fabric supplier in Atherstone of all places called Eden Fabrics. The Dad had an automotive parts shop and the daughter sold fabrics from out the back, but last week I had to ring to check they were still there. The reason I could not find them was the shop had closed and was being refitted as a fabric shop and was not quite ready to open. The fabric range is fantastic and includes fabrics that all the major departments stores like John Lewis and Next sell. The only drawback is you have to buy it when you see it as she only has a couple of each rolls as end of lines. The savings are incredible £25 meter fabrics are around £3-4 so well worth a visit.