FORTY TOWERS
The first two pictures show the first house to be renovated as it was before we started work. As you can see it was nothing much more than a shell which would have probably fallen down in a few more years as it was well and truly open to the elements.
The first house to be renovated had rooms on the ground floor level only as the first floor level was originally used as a granery as is commonplace with farm houses of this age. The interior was divided up into several fairly small rooms by walls made of 4" x 4" oak uprights with laths and daub largely made of mud and straw. As we intend to make use of the first floor level of this and the other houses we decided to remove these existing partitions and open up the area to provide larger rooms for the kitchen, dinning are and lounge etc. that would be on the ground floor level. Several problems came to light immediately, the two main partitions down through the centre of the house acted as supports for the first floor and the other major problem was that the two main roof truss were to low to walk under without stooping. We solved these problems by installing some rather large oak beams supported on two concrete block pillars which also act as service ducts to the first floor, these beams now support the first floor through the length of the building along its centre line. Fortunately the ceiling height on the ground floor level was quite high and therefore to resolve the height problem of the beams upstairs we decided to construct a drop corridor along the back face wall to provide full walking height access to the bedrooms that we will devide the grainery area into as the renovation proceeds.
The following three pictures show some of the 4" x 4" oak uprights and general condition of the ground floor level after several tons of daub had been removed from the old partitions and the general rubbish cleared away.
The next two pictures show the old central partition that supports the first floor level and the new columns that are to support our new oak floor supporting beams and also serve as service ducts to the first floor.
The new support beams were very substantial and consisted of a total of six 10" x 4" oak beams. These large size beams were partly to support the very heavy timbers used on the original first floor level and partly to keep the new structure in keeping with the rest of the original. This series of pictures show the beams being prepared and later in place with the old support partitions removed.
The service duct / support pillar for the above beams are located either side of the rear entrance lobby
Next are views of the drop corridor which runs along the back wall above the rear doorway and provides full headroom access to the first floor rooms. The pictures also show some of the concrete block walls that we have built from the service duct / pillars to divide the ground floor area into kitchen/dining area, cloakroom, entrance lobby and lounge.
The next thing that we have tackled is the roof, the roof was made from oak beams and rafters with oak planking on top. This planking was fixed with gaps between the boards about 2" wide and on top of the planking was placed pan tiles. These tiles were not fixed at all and were subject to slipping over the years, consequently the whole roof leaked quite badly and we have had to remove all the tiles and planking which was mainly rotten and replace some of the roof timbers which had also suffered from wet root as well as attack by wood worm. The following pictures show internal and external views of the roof during this removal and renovation process. All timber that we have used to renovate the roof is seasoned oak and of similar size to the original. To give you some idea of this size of these the rafters are 5" x 6" and the original main truss beams are 12" x 15", they are in fact complete tree trunks.
The roof timbers have now been renovated and renewed and the old planking replaced with high density insulation with roofing felt over the whole area and battening ready to accept new interlocking pan tiles which will be fixed to the battens to prevent future slippage.
One of the first things that we had to do before we started on the renovation was to set up a fairly comprehensive woodworking shop fitted out with a good set of commercial quality machine tools, including circular saw bench, plainer / thicknesser, morticer, pillar drill and many other bench mounted and hand machine tools. Mike, who in a former life worked as a carpenter, renewed his skills by manufacturing the new windows, doors, staircases and later on the remainder of all the new woodwork in the house all of which is in locally grown Oak. Some of the results of these efforts can be seen in the following series of pictures.
The next two pictures show one of three front upstairs windows that we have renewed. These have been increased in height, to do this we have had to demolish the wall around and above the old windows and rebuild. These are not finished yet but the pictures give some idea of how much work was involved and how it will eventually look.
The next window to be attacked was one of the windows on the rear elevation. The window has been temporarily fitted with polythene sheeting until the double glazing is fitted later on in the project. We will be fitting shutters to all windows at a later date. We went on to fit the second window and side window/door on the ground floor rear and it's starting to look more like a house again.
The next stage was to temporarily fit the staircase to make sure that it all fits OK and to finalise positions for the bottom landing and the new chimney and fireplace in the lounge area.
All the new windows and frame replacements are now installed and the front door completes the new hardware. The next stages will be to replace the walls below the ground floor windows so that they match the rest of the house front and then to replace all the between stone pointing.
Progress has also been slow on the feature fireplace that I have been building in the lounge area but at long last it is now starting to look the part.
The upstairs interior of the house is progressing and is now approaching final plastering, decorations, etc. The partitions are stud walls with 4" (100mm) of insulation material incorporated so as to shut off any sounds between the rooms. Roof lights have been installed to assist with lighting and ventilation and en suite facilities included in each bedroom. All electrics, plumbing and drainage have been completed.
After waiting for six months the 500 square metres of roof tiles finally arrive and we can get on with fitting them, however progress is slow as it's the rainy season.
Additional pictures will be added to this section during the renovations.