Welcome back to my blog Saving Elinlegh! Since I last wrote about this project things have moved very quickly and we’ve got a lot done, so I thought it was high time for another installment. In the first episode I introduced the project, why we were buying the property and roughly what we were going to do with it. So, what have we been up to since then?
Saving Elinlegh: Week 1
Saving Elinlegh – Week 1: Creating a Perimeter
We completed on the purchase on Thursday 7th November. This was useful because we had booked a chimney sweep to clear all the chimneys late morning on that day! I picked up the keys from the agent first thing in the morning for access, then two hours later I was informed that we didn’t need to take them back again. The property was ours!
Last time round I explained that first of all we would be ‘creating a perimeter’. This isn’t an official building term but what I meant by this was essentially getting everything off the and away from the outside of the property. This serves a couple of purposes: firstly it enables us to see what we are dealing with building-wise: cracks and defects and points of water ingress into the property become apparent. Second it allows the property to breath and start to dry out. We didn’t have much choice anyway, as we were going to struggle to get scaffolding up unless we cleared the rear of the property in particular.
In terms of clearing there was much to do. Over the years the grounds had encroached on the outside (and even inside!) of the property. We were given a head start in that we were allowed to start clearing foliage away from the property between exchange and completion. One of my major bugbears is ivy and I can’t for the life of me understand why people allow it to grow over their properties. We also had the added bonus of many layers of flaking paint that had been applied over ivy (yes you read that correctly over). All this was allowing water to penetrate the brickwork which couldn’t then dry out. We’ve made some good progress but there is still much to do.
We were having most of the outside of the property scaffolded so we could fix the roof and chimneys (the latter need repointing and new flaunching), and after a false start due to poor weather, this eventually got completed in the middle of the first full week of ownership. We immediately shot up there and cleared out the blocked rainwater goods and got rid of a tree branch that was threatening to take a chimney pot off. Meanwhile the fires were put to good use inside to create airflow and start to dry out the property.
As already mentioned, there had been a lot of water ingress into the property. This had mainly been from the three dormers at the rear (the leadwork had been removed), the valley between the annex and the main building and through the brickwork at the front of the property (due to defective rainwater goods). From the level of damage to internal woodwork and wall coverings, it looks as though this has been going on for many years. We could stop most of the water coming in by fixing roofing felt to the dormers as a temporary measure and clearing the rainwater goods and removing the foliage from the property. The valley is scheduled to be repaired in late November – so a bucket to catch the leak will have to do for now! We then set about cutting out all the water-damaged and rot-damaged timbers.
Along the way we made a few interesting discoveries: The cellar – once cleared out – has yielded some fine wines (and some not so good). Who would have thought that a 2001 English sparkling wine could keep so well? Underneath the rotted floor of the annex we found an old rainwater storage system. Unfortunately in my excitement I promptly dropped some tools down there so will have to go down at some point to retrieve them before the floor is closed back up! Finally, clearing out the eaves in search of rotted timbers and hidden leaks has been an interesting experience!
One of our main concerns before we bought the property had been drainage. Because of the history of the property and nature of the transaction, we had not received a Property Information Form. We only knew that the property wasn’t connected to mains drainage. However the drains survey yielded good news in that we have a usable system. So no digging up the garden just yet!
Towards the end of the first week – with the strip out still continuing – we began tentatively to ‘put back’ materials inside the property, the priority being insulation. During the strip out process we have found – not unsurprisingly – that the whole of the rear catslide roof and the side extension (kitchen) is uninsulated. So a large order for Kingspan Thermapitch went in with Jewson (via our LNPG account). This will aid with the drying out process generally, because the property will be able to retain heat. We consulted with the roofer to confirm that this wouldn’t hinder the drying of the roof timbers in those areas.
In between all this activity, we took time out to enjoy lunch and a drink at what will become our new local pub.
So what’s next? In the coming weeks we have tree surgeons visiting us to remove some of the bigger trees that are overhanging the property. We are having the boiler serviced and will report back to you whether we have been able to get it running. Towards Christmas time we hope to start ripping out the existing plumbing and replumbing the whole property. We also have an electrician visiting the site and the roofer will start in earnest on the chimneys and roof. So watch this space for further updates. Happy renovating wherever you are. – Richard #savingelinlegh.
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