Renovation Blog

4 January - Ring out the old
Happy New Year! Our phone line has been on the blink, causing all sorts of problems and meaning my internet connection has not been working properly - most frustrating, especially when running an internet business. It's been a busy time over the last couple of weeks for us with plenty of visitors braving the elements and we've done our best to keep them happy with plenty of booze. Now I am back looking for people to do my pointing, and researching other aspects of the work to be done outside as soon as the weather improves.

8 January - Chimney woes
Our chimneys are in a pretty rotten state. This one appears to be lacking any kind of mortar at all. Apparently the acid in the smoke from the fires attacks the lime in the mortar causing it to erode. This has obviously not been repointed at all. Virtually all houses over 100 years old will be built with lime mortar, and if you are carrying out repointing it is important to use lime as modern cement is too hard for older bricks and may cause them to "spall", or lose their faces. Also cement does not breathe and move in the same way as lime, so should not be used in this context, especially on a listed building. Also for what it's worth lime is a much more eco-friendly option than cement. Read more about lime.

15 January - Getting that warm glow inside

We've discovered a supplier of cast iron "traditional" radiators who is quite near to us, Paladin Radiators, with a great range at good prices. Now we have to do lots of measuring to work out how big each one should be for each room... Click here to calculate your British Thermal Units (BTUs), and hence how many radiators of what size you require for any given room.

19 January - Tools, tools, tools
I thought I owned every tool I needed, but I constantly seem to need to buy new ones for various jobs. I have resisted a sliding cross-cut mitre saw for some time but now find I have a lot of work that is going to be much easier with one. I settle for the DeWalt option and and about to place my order with Screwfix, who are a great source of well-priced supplies, but manage to find it even cheaper online. It's always worth having a search for the product number on Google once you have decided what you wish to buy.

25 January - That's floored him
In a bid to clock up more help I have agreed to assist a friend in laying a new solid wood floor in his house. Should be relatively easy but a lot faster with two people. As it turns out it's mostly okay apart from the fact that he has hired a manual nailer that you have to hit with a mallet rather than a gas-powered one. Consequently we both have aching arms from banging in nails for two days...