So here I am again sitting down to update you with my Saving Elinlegh blog post. The months seem to be flying by! Where is the year going to? Anyway, we got lots done on the project in January – still seem to be going backwards rather than forwards but there are glimmers of ‘progress’, with some bits and pieces going back together. Did we get our new heating system installed I here you cry? What about the electrics? Read on to find out the details.

The month of January running into February is typically one of the coldest and wettest of the year; so not a great time to be trying to do two things: install a new heating and plumbing system and get on with some roofing, more specifically working with mortar on the roof. However, we have ploughed on and tried and been only partially successful in each area.

There has also been a whole load more ‘ripping out’ but this was mainly focused on the old heating and plumbing system and the last of the damaged and rotten ceilings. This enabled both plumber and electrician to get access to see what was what.

The plumber started in earnest in the second week of January and we soon had a very large pile of pipework which had been removed. The plan was to keep as much of the old, single pipe heating system going for as long as possible whilst, in parallel installing a whole new set of pipework in a much more logical location, also avoiding damaging the beams. In the end – after exploring and rejecting the floor void – we decided to use the loft space to run the flow and return for the heating and drop down to each radiator. We are also using a flow and return approach for the hot water system to keep the runs to various outlets to a minimum. The downside to this is that the plumbing budget is going to have to increase.

By the end of the month we had a limited selection of new radiators running having had only a few days without any heating at all. We are going for a ‘new traditional‘ look and so settled on column radiators on the ground floor with panel radiators upstairs. There were still some radiators to fit but these needed various other bits of work to be completed first before they could be fitted. Needless to say we continued to make very good use of the open fires during this period.

At the same time the electrician had started working on the wiring. After getting the outside power and lighting up and running, his attention turned to repairing and rerouting various bits of internal wiring that had been attacked by rodents! So we had no lighting or heating at times! Unfortunately he was so efficient at this that I didn’t get any pictures of the cabling stripped back to the bare wires by mice and rats!

Meanwhile outside after an initially promising start with one mild dry week in January, the roofers were struggling. We were able to get three of the chimneys re-flaunched and partially re-pointed with new chimney pots. Unfortunately the roofers recommended going from three pots down to two pots on the main chimney but this now has insufficient capacity to run both large fireplaces (one chimney pot is redundant as the fireplace is bricked up) so this work will have to be redone. We also got the old rotten valley removed and replaced but the final layer of gelcoat got effected by the rain and needs redoing. After this we had very poor weather and couldn’t do any more work on the roof. So it seemed like one step forward and two steps backward. However, we are at least water proof and things generally look quite good from the top of scaffolding.

Just a quick note about our ‘wonky chimney’. We did some research and asked around in the local area and found that one of the chimneys had been rebuilt – probably about 30-40 years ago – but had deliberately been rebuilt ‘wonky’. Now due for re-pointing in places as well as re-flaunching we also had the option to dismantle it and rebuild it straight. We also had to decide whether to fit the chimney pots wonky or straight. Photo evidence and local info shows that it has been wonky for as long as anyone can remember (even before it was rebuilt), so fighting a strong wave of eye twitching and going against our natural OCD in this area we have decided to keep it this way – and also put the new chimney pots on wonky too! Sometimes things are best left imperfect. At the time of writing in late February we are still waiting for good weather to get going on the roof again.

In progressing through this project there is always an interesting discovery to be had at Elinlegh and a couple of notable finds were made during January. With many floorboards up we were always on the look out for interesting finds – gold sovereigns for instance. Whilst no gold sovereigns have come to light so far, we found evidence of the first time electric wiring was installed in the form of an old label from a coil of Credenda wiring. This included a handwritten note of the resistance after immersing in water no less (interesting test method)! True to form, it’s good to know that even the late 1920s electricians threw all their waste into the floor void! We also found a silver sixpence dated 1932 and a pipe knife.

Much of the old lime plaster is crumbling off the walls and this will need to be replaced. Behind one layer of lime plaster – on what was the original external wall of the medieval part of the building – we found two old wattle a daub panels. One was in very poor condition with evidence of repair using lime plaster and brick infill (which was a typical method) but one wasn’t too bad considering the age. We will be renovating both panels using wattle and daub and then over plastering with lime plaster once we have found a material match for the daub mix. Also on this wall we found evidence of a very early wallpaper.  It is difficult to date this but it was sitting on only a very thin layer of lime plaster so could be mid 1700s – in the height of the wall paper tax (good job we don’t have this any more).

Outside on the occasional bright day we got on with clearing the land around the house. The tree supporting our beloved Kiwi plant (discovered on our first visit back in August) was for the chop – but we salvaged the Kiwi plant together with a generous crop of fruit.

So that’s it for now. Next time round it will be time for the Saving Elinlegh February update, by which time we hope to be able to report that the heating is completely installed. Good luck with all your renovation projects and thanks for reading.  – Richard #savingelinlegh.