Boarding The Loft

Penrith, Cumbria. February-2021.

We need extra storage space so I am fitting a TARDIS circuit in the loft! 

Step one was to install a ladder, Specifically a "Werner 1-Section Anodised Aluminium & Plastic Telescopic Loft Ladder 2.61m". We bought ours from Screwfix. It is an excellent ladder as it is easy to fit and has a very small footprint in the attic. 

Next I bought a load of Diall loft stilts and chipboard loft panels from B&Q. Reading the reviews several people advised pre-screwing the stilts so you are not fumbling in the dark when you get to the installation. Sound advice to which I would add: get a battery powered screwdriver and a head torch.

First row required moving the insulation which is filthy stuff. Wear a mask or you'll spend the next day coughing.

I then replaced the insulation, fluffing it up as best I could.

The first row of column of boards, using two whole boards tucked nicely into the eaves. I only screwed the corners, not at every stilt; I can always revisit later and add more screws if required.

With the first column in place I had a platform to work from for the second row. I cut off a piece equal to the spacing of the rafters so the joints were offset, I reckon it makes for a stronger floor.

Then "rinse and repeat". The third row was the same as the first to continue the offsetting. The rubber mallet was very useful for banging the tongue and grooves together for a snug fit.

Nearly there. I was able to move some of the boxes that had been stored on an old sheet of hardboard laid on the insulation onto the proper surface so I could complete the area.

This section complete and ready for boxes of stuff.

The roof timbers are gnarly, old, rough hewn oak beams. The house is somewhere around two hundred years old and these certainly look the part. The tubes are the light well and extractor fan from the bathroom which has no window.

At some point there will be a stage two extending deeper into this loft space and possibly a stage three in the opposite direction.

Benson Row - 20

Penrith, Cumbria. December-2020.

We are declaring victory on the Money Pit. We no longer have an Oubliette just inside the front door and all works are complete. Well not strictly true, we still have to choose a hearth stone and there is some minor decoration to be done but the works are, in essence, complete. Break out the champagne!

It has been a long old slog. We started the buying process in November 2018 but did not complete on the purchase until March 2019. Then the work began:

2019

• March: purchase completion
• April: furniture buying
• May/June: kitchen design and the fateful decision to knock through into a kitchen / diner
• July: destruction of the wall, staircase and landing
• August: construction of the new staircase and landing
• September: new boiler, underfloor heating in kitchen, beam strengthening, wall reinforcing
• October: bathroom / front bedroom restructuring, shower installation, cellar expansion
• November: decorating, completion of shower, the saga of matching the paint colour
• December: more decorating, carpet fitting 

2020

• January: decorating
• February: kitchen installation starts
• March: lockdown with kitchen worktop fitted in the nick of time
• April/May: Mary destroys anaglypta in living room
• June: Mary destroys false wall in living room to expose fireplace
• July: Mark repairs and redecorates living room
• August: front room flooring starts and stops
• September: rectification work on joists, new front door
• October: chimney removal, we have a hole in the living room floor
• November we no longer have a hole in the floor, chipboard is down
• December: we have floorboards, yeah!

We could then move back into our living room and retrieve the furniture and possessions that were previously scattered throughout the rest of the house and in a friend's garage; normality has been restored. We are pleased with how it has turned out:

Living room. 

Kitchen end of Kitchen / Diner.

Dining end of Kitchen / Diner.

Downstairs toilet and shower room under the new stairs.

Upstairs bathroom.

Back Bedroom - Ours.

Middle bedroom - bunk beds suitable for children or adults.

Front bedroom - guest bedroom.

When the rest of the world returns to normality we will be open for visitors. Come visit the lovely North Lakes!

Benson Row - 19

Penrith, Cumbria. November-2020.

After last month's hiatus caused by our fitter having to self-isolate for two weeks the flooring recommenced. First the insulation in between the new joists...

...then the chipboard.

Then the engineered oak was delivered. Unfortunately it had to acclimatise in its final resting place for at least a week before it could be laid, so that meant another 10 day hiatus before work could recommence.

In other news: we have a bedroom door that closes! Following the settling of the building after all the structural work last year the opening was squint and the door no longer shut. So for over a year we have put up with the door ajar. Prudence dictated a good long wait to be sure all movement had settled before trimming the door. Now it shuts, Mary can creep out early in the morning, close the door and leave me to sleep. Oh joy - simple pleasures!

Next month the floor laying will resume and skirting boards and architraves will be fitted. We are hoping for no more delays so that it will all be over by Christmas!

Benson Row - 18

Penrith, Cumbria. October-2020.

The month started off slowly and then went into a bit of a decline.

First up we removed a chimney. Although it was capped off with copious quantities of lead we were still seeing damp patches on the chimney breast in our bedroom. Obviously not watertight! We had no need of the chimney as there is no fireplace in the bedroom and we removed the chimney breast in the kitchen / diner below when we took out the wall. 

This chimney sat above the junction where the middle and back cottages meet and the disparate rooflines made it hard to seal the join. So the answer was to remove the chimney completely, batten the roof and tile over the hole. The lads did a good job of matching the two different (of course) styles of tiles. While they were up there I got them to remove the redundant Sky dish, bracket and cabling; always satisfying to tidy things up.

In other news we had a water leak from the flying freehold where the neighbour's bathroom intrudes into our building at the first floor level. We informed the owner and the tenants and it would seem that some remedial action has been taken as we have had no further leaks. Provided it stays that way we just have an investigatory hole in the ceiling to patch. 

The living room floor was a different matter. The timber man came to implement the structural engineers plan to treat and reinforce the joists. Once he started work he did a sudden body swerve and decided to replace the offending sections entirely. As part of this he removed some plasterboard from the cellar ceiling leaving us with a big hole in the living room floor.

He then coach-bolted new timbers to the main cellar beam and affixed new joists from there to concrete pads in the front wall of the house. The plan was then for the floor fitter to come and lay new top joists, hardboard and engineered oak floor.

We had a two-seater and a three-seater sofa in the living room which had to go to a friend's garage for the duration to make the work possible. The corridor is too narrow to move them to the back of the house so they had to go out the front door. It was a "Right Said Fred" moment "we ought to take off all the handles, and the things wot held the candles." Only by unscrewing the sofa's feet and removing the door were we able to squeeze the sofa out the building. We will worry about the scuffs later.

That done the floor fitter could lift the remaining chipboard revealing evidence of woodworm and a dead mouse. The timber man was called back in and, after some discussion, it was decided to treat the remaining old oak timbers, remove all the 1970's joists and go for a complete replacement; all new treated timber with cross braces to stiffen and spread the load.

Unfortunately the work is now on hold because two of the floor man's children have tested positive for Covid-19 and he has to self-isolate for two weeks. Work will recommence mid-November with him keeping to the front half of the ground floor and us in the back. 

We really hope it will all be over by Christmas!

Benson Row - 17

Penrith, Cumbria. September-2020.

Despite being in Italy for the whole of the month of September some progress was made in the money pit.

We had a joint visit from a structural engineer and a timber treatment specialist to look at the dodgy joists. The recommendation was some reinforcing to the Victorian joists in the corner nearest the door. That will happen sometime mid-October.

Once that is done a kitchen fitter will put in additional cross joists then lay boarding and the oak floorIng on top of that.

In the meantime the fitter came and installed skirting boards in the kitchen/diner - the final touch - so that room is now done, hurrah! The cross piece was temporary to hold the skirting in place while the glue sets.

Although the dining room is now complete we still have some furniture from the living room there until that floor is done.

This bookcase is now attached to the wall for safety as it will contain all our glasses.

In a more exciting news, we have a new front door. This was necessary because the new floor will be higher than the old floor. Not only is it new and lovely but it hinges the other way making it easier to get into the room without falling onto a sofa.

It is a proper wood door not uPVC. The colour is chosen to continue the gradation from light blue wall to dark blue surrounds to navy blue door.

Slowly getting there. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer!

Benson Row - 16

Penrith, Cumbria. August-2020.

When I said the end was in sight it turns out that the light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming train!

The fitter came to start work on the new oak flooring in the living room. He lifted the old laminate and remarked that the floor seemed a little uneven. High in front of the fireplace and low by the front door; it was a little bouncy there. So he lifted an experimental piece of chipboard to discover that a 5 inch section of joist had rotted away and was precariously balanced on a piece of plywood!

Under the floorboards it is a curious tiered construction. In the cellar are two massive oak beams supporting the structure above. Laid across those are what look like the original joists from the mid-Victorian construction made of some chunky, dark timber, possibly oak. Laid atop those are modern pine joists dating presumably from the 1975 works.

We guess that rain coming in under the front door is responsible for the rotten joist which is rather unfortunate as the modern pine joist closest to the door is not attached to the side wall!

We called round the structural engineer who recommended that we really ought to pull up the rest of the chipboard so we could see the entire room joists to make sure that nothing else was amiss before laying the new floor.

So far that has revealed that the stud wall furthest from the door is actually resting on the chipboard not the joists. The next step will be to have the structural engineer and the timber specialist visit together to come up with recommendations and a plan of action.

Once any rectification has been done we can get back to laying the new floor. With any luck it will all be done by the time we get back from Italy.

The money pit that never ends!

Benson Row - 15

Penrith, Cumbria. July-2020.

The money pit for July has been very quiet. Following the exposure of the fireplace I had to redecorate the four walls: two coats of white emulsion and a top coat of White Mist. Given the (poor) quality of the walls this meant an awful lot of filling and sanding.

We have now re-hung lots of our pictures so the place is looking more homely.

We ordered a glass splash back for behind the hob which I fitted. 

We decided against an upstand all round the worktop because of the wobbliness of the walls. Instead we went for a cheap and cheerful quadrant moulding painted, mitred and glued by yours truly.

We have commissioned a replacement floor, continuing the engineered oak in the kitchen / dining room all the way though to the living room. We have also ordered a new front door that hangs the other way.

That's it. The end of the tunnel is in sight.

Benson Row - 14

Penrith, Cumbria. June-2020.

The big excitement was the easing of lockdown which meant work on the kitchen could resume. We retreated upstairs with a picnic lunch while Alan fitted the doors to the kitchen units. Barry also came and drilled a hole in the back wall for the extractor hood flue. Now it all looks like a show kitchen.

In the living room I made good the three walls that Mary had stripped of anaglypta wallpaper and painted with two coats of white emulsion ready for the top coat. The back wall was in a particularly bad state and I used most of a large tub of B&Q filler to smooth out all the dents and general roughness.

Next Mary did what she'd been wanting to do for ages: take out the false wall in the living room and open up the fireplace behind it.

Either side of the chimney breast was basically stud wall construction, the fireplace was bricked up and cemented over.

We got Barry's lads to chisel off the cement and unblock the opening. That left us to bag up huge quantities of rubble and make multiple trips to the local tip.

The fireplace has a lovely stone lintel and pillars. The interior had clearly been through several iterations to accommodate different ranges. We took out even more stone to get back the original opening.

The electrician had to chase in the exposed wiring which was then cemented over. Next the chimney breast was repointed and the two alcoves plastered (and still drying out). The interior still has to be cleaned up.

 

In other news I installed a mosaic splash back in the shower room; a lovely neat job.

Then Mary decided she didn't like it and I had to chisel it off and replace with a white one!

Down in the cellar we installed two sets of shelving so it is now more organised. Plus I have put a bolt on the wine cellar door so can finally tick that off the list.

Next month I will mostly be painting walls.