Brunswick Road 15 - Four Portals

Penrith, Cumbria. March-2024. Money Pit II, Season 2, Episode 3 - Entrances and Exits. 

After the major works of the living room strip-and-rebuild that left some snagging list items that needed to be done. In this case four portals: front door, back gate, loft hatch and bedroom door.

Portal one: the front lobby. The carpet between the front door and the inner door was very grubby following all the works tramping plaster dust everywhere. So Mary decided she would pull it up with a view to cleaning it.

Underneath it seemed a little musty so she continued (with my assistance) to rip up layers of plywood to reveal a recess, obviously intended for a doormat.

The revealed floorboards were part woodstained so Mary sanded then revarnished the whole vestibule. Research online revealed that even today you can buy a coir mat of exactly the right dimensions to fit into this Victorian doormat niche.

Portal two: back gate. In order to re-concrete the backyard our Builder had to remove the gate into the alleyway that runs behind the row of houses.

So that obviously need reinstating with a couple of posts screwed to the walls and the old hinge fittings recycled. The posts are still awaiting their final coat of paint.

Portal three: The loft hatch. Previously, I had to use a stepladder to lift the skylight and access the loft while precariously perched over the stairwell.

The original carpenter who was scheduled to do the work hurt his back so a mate of our builder, who did the skirting boards and picture rails, did the work.  They installed a loft hatch together with the concertina ladder that we supplied.

We like this design of loft ladder. I first installed one in Mary‘s mum‘s flat. Then we installed one in Benson Row. And now here.

It has a small footprint in the loft and expands to provide a very sturdy ladder.

Portal four: Bedroom door. We wanted to be able to lock our bedroom door because of doing house exchange. So we could put all our personal stuff and valuables in a lockable room. The existing lock had a century of layers of paint and even when freed up was still a bit tricky to operate. So I went down to B&Q to buy a replacement. the white lock on the left is 125 years old. The black one on the right is what you can buy today in B&Q! The dimensions have not changed in over a century and a quarter.

That's it apart from the odd dab of paint.