Dude, Where's My house(s)?
Discussion
I hope you all had a productive weekend, mine was not quite as productive as I had hoped. but still managed to get a couple of small jobs done.
I cleaned up some brickwork and cleaned up then painted a corner of the house that I think is letting in some penetrating damp.
2 pictures in 1... look at my bricks, and... what should I do with this oak door? Sand it and oil it? Any recommendations?
I cleaned up some brickwork and cleaned up then painted a corner of the house that I think is letting in some penetrating damp.
2 pictures in 1... look at my bricks, and... what should I do with this oak door? Sand it and oil it? Any recommendations?
Another update from living in an old house - Last night, a scratching noise appeared at the wood burner. We have had a couple of fledglings kamikaze into windows over the last 2 days, so we assume a baby bird has gone down the chimney. It was late, and I thought, perhaps naively, that it might find its way out overnight. A fire toolset had conveniently been ordered the day before and was due to arrive the next day.
Morning arrives and the occasional scratch has now developed a squawk. it's getting angrier. With the kids packed off and at school I covered the area with old sheets and started dismantling the wood burner. I got to the stage where I could see past the baffles and was greeted not by the baby bluetit I had envisioned, but by a great big angry crow.
The plan was for me to lower the upper baffle and for the missus to catch it in a towel, then redeploy the Coloeus monedula (Western jackdaw) outside. Alas, the best-laid plans ended in screeching from both our new feathered lodger and our intrepid chimney sweep. (Me).
The crow decided to make a pitstop at the library before flying out the window. Fortunately not headbutting it or pooing on anything.
Now, how to re-assemble and clean a wood-burning stove.
Morning arrives and the occasional scratch has now developed a squawk. it's getting angrier. With the kids packed off and at school I covered the area with old sheets and started dismantling the wood burner. I got to the stage where I could see past the baffles and was greeted not by the baby bluetit I had envisioned, but by a great big angry crow.
The plan was for me to lower the upper baffle and for the missus to catch it in a towel, then redeploy the Coloeus monedula (Western jackdaw) outside. Alas, the best-laid plans ended in screeching from both our new feathered lodger and our intrepid chimney sweep. (Me).
The crow decided to make a pitstop at the library before flying out the window. Fortunately not headbutting it or pooing on anything.
Now, how to re-assemble and clean a wood-burning stove.
RustyMX5 said:
That door isn't an easy thing to sand in situ. Certainly not if you want something that looks neat. If the majority of the varnish is holding then perhaps lightly scrape away the bits that are flaking and apply a coat of varnish there. Once fully dried, rub over the whole door and apply a couple more coats of varnish. That's just my opinion though.
Out of interest, why would it be hard to sand in situ? just the angles? It wouldn't be that difficult for me to take off, although I suspect it's very heavy.Fast Bug said:
I've had good results with Osmo's product line. It's not the cheapest, but seems to be holding up well around my house so far
The oil woodstain stuff? I'm assuming it's ok for oak? I would be tempted to use the clear finish. but would need to get the door very well sanded first.Updates on ground clearance. or lack of.
This weekend was all about getting access to the land, if nothing else then I wanted to be able to walk the perimeter, I think I almost achieved this.
So far my efforts have been limited to a petrol strimmer with an oversized brushcutter attachment. I have made good progress but it all became too much for little chopper. First, the handles started to fall off, and then bits of cast metal sheered off. I fixed these with bolts and new holes. but it was not enough to keep the little chopper in the game, the engine finally seized up.
After the ceremony, I went and found someone who would rent me something a little bigger. Enter big chopper.
Absolutely useless!
I don't have pictures of the brambles, but it essentially rode up them insted of cutting them. I did manage to clear a reasonable amount, but it was so hard on the machine that it started showing signs of breaking. That, and wrestling it about was starting to hurt.
So I turned its attention to the fields... and it was equally as useless. this is about as far as I got.
Little chopper 2.0 is on order.
This weekend was all about getting access to the land, if nothing else then I wanted to be able to walk the perimeter, I think I almost achieved this.
So far my efforts have been limited to a petrol strimmer with an oversized brushcutter attachment. I have made good progress but it all became too much for little chopper. First, the handles started to fall off, and then bits of cast metal sheered off. I fixed these with bolts and new holes. but it was not enough to keep the little chopper in the game, the engine finally seized up.
After the ceremony, I went and found someone who would rent me something a little bigger. Enter big chopper.
Absolutely useless!
I don't have pictures of the brambles, but it essentially rode up them insted of cutting them. I did manage to clear a reasonable amount, but it was so hard on the machine that it started showing signs of breaking. That, and wrestling it about was starting to hurt.
So I turned its attention to the fields... and it was equally as useless. this is about as far as I got.
Little chopper 2.0 is on order.
Happy Jim said:
I’ve just about killed a rough cut mower (spinny roundy blade) and am thinking of getting a small walk behind flail mower - might be better?
The walk behind was supposed to be a flail mower but was a spinny blade. I might have just accidentally bought a tractor that comes with a topper/flail mower. hoping it's the flail type and not the spinny blades. it's big anyway, so it cant be any worse than the walk behind one.LooneyTunes said:
Surprised you found that useless, it looks very similar to ours (which we really rate). My teenager cleared a load of scrub/brush with it the other day and it was going through 1” thick 6 ft tall saplings without difficulties…
It went through the brambles and brush ok if it could get its teeth into it, but they were so dense, it just lifted the fount up. I could wrestle with the machine to get it to chomp in and get them down, but I was breaking it, and myself in doing so. It also left the little things that brambles do to trip you up.In the fields, it either stalled out trying to eat the rushes, or got clogged up eating the grass. the blades were blunt, so I put an edge back on them. Didnt make much difference.
It goes back tomorrow, and hopefully, the new (old) toy I brought will arrive.
For anyone still looking, it's been a busy few weeks. new tractors, cutting trees. roof repairs, scaffolding and burst water mains.
A full update will be on its way in the next couple of days.
in the meantime, I have had my 2nd electric bill, and it's a scootch higher than I would like. Punching in at around £500 a month. We do not have electric heating.
Since I have uncovered some space in the fields, I fancy putting in a wind turbine. Companies offering this service are eye-wateringly expensive, so I want to have a crack at this myself. the catch is that I also want to have a feed-in tariff. I wouldn't mind having some solar as well. this, unfortunately, means it needs to be a certified "professional" install.
So, how about this as an idea? I get one of those companies to bung a few pannels in a field and hook them up to the mains, with a certificate. I then extend the solar with more panels, bigger inverter and add in a wind turbine myself.
Would they catch on and wonder why my 5kw solar system is pumping in 20kw in the middle of a dark windy winter night?
A full update will be on its way in the next couple of days.
in the meantime, I have had my 2nd electric bill, and it's a scootch higher than I would like. Punching in at around £500 a month. We do not have electric heating.
Since I have uncovered some space in the fields, I fancy putting in a wind turbine. Companies offering this service are eye-wateringly expensive, so I want to have a crack at this myself. the catch is that I also want to have a feed-in tariff. I wouldn't mind having some solar as well. this, unfortunately, means it needs to be a certified "professional" install.
So, how about this as an idea? I get one of those companies to bung a few pannels in a field and hook them up to the mains, with a certificate. I then extend the solar with more panels, bigger inverter and add in a wind turbine myself.
Would they catch on and wonder why my 5kw solar system is pumping in 20kw in the middle of a dark windy winter night?
hidetheelephants said:
I don't think you can get an domestic installation that exports more than 5kW, I forget the details but the numbers don't add up or it becomes non-domestic/commercial and the DNO starts asking for telephone numbers rather than rational sums of money. I expect it's covered exhaustively on the Solar panel thread.
A bit on the low side given that lots of folk will sell me an 8KW system. Still, something else to think about. If I'm capped at 5kw, then I might as well just do it myself and put in a big electric boilerSheepshanks said:
Yes, that's a pretty insane bill - is there an immersion heater bubbling away somwhere? Or some acreage of electric underfloor heating? An EV on constant charge?
I have some dodgy electrics in some outbuildings that I need to investigate. But I think most of the usage is the 3 big dehumidifiers I have running almost 24x7, trying to dry this place out.woodypup59 said:
Hows it going Have you cleared the field yet ?
I forget how much I have shared here. I have cleared around the edges of all the fields, along with the pathways and have cleared around all of the buildings. the formal gardens are growing back as fast as I am clearing them. I now have access to the other house. I still have the other end of the bridge to fully uncover, along with the ponds. life has been busy and I have decided I am spreading myself too thinly, so I'm only concentrating on single jobs at a time.In other news, I have had a LOT of work done on the roof(s). more on that later.
I have also washed, scraped, repaired and painted the outside of the house. The question I have for the PH masses, is... should I also paint the chimneys?
I think they are a render/pebble dash. I'm not sure if its a good idea to paint over this.
I have cleaned them up with a wire brush, one of them has a lot of salts coming from under the render. This one is not used, or blocked, or lined. though it's about to have a small wood burner installed. I know the correct approach is to have the render off and start again. but i don't want to go down that road.
So... paint? if so, what colour? tosh some Ronsil over it? or leave alone.
I have also washed, scraped, repaired and painted the outside of the house. The question I have for the PH masses, is... should I also paint the chimneys?
I think they are a render/pebble dash. I'm not sure if its a good idea to paint over this.
I have cleaned them up with a wire brush, one of them has a lot of salts coming from under the render. This one is not used, or blocked, or lined. though it's about to have a small wood burner installed. I know the correct approach is to have the render off and start again. but i don't want to go down that road.
So... paint? if so, what colour? tosh some Ronsil over it? or leave alone.
Too late, I painted them. The house is stone with render, most of the old stuff is lime.
The chimeys are diffrent. One of them is definitely block-built, both covered in pebble dash. What a bugger that is to paint. One of them is lined, the other is about to be. ! I used sandtex breathable masonry paint. i think it looks better.
The chimeys are diffrent. One of them is definitely block-built, both covered in pebble dash. What a bugger that is to paint. One of them is lined, the other is about to be. ! I used sandtex breathable masonry paint. i think it looks better.
The house was already painted with "modern" stuff. As I pressure-washed it, a lot of the old stuff flaked off and you could see green algae under it where it had been trapping moisture. I then wire-brushed the whole house and repainted it. The house has been orange, green, white and now "ivory".
The chimney stacks were not painted. Aesthetically, one of them needs rebuilding anyway. It has a lot of salts bleeding through the pebble dash.
The chimney stacks were not painted. Aesthetically, one of them needs rebuilding anyway. It has a lot of salts bleeding through the pebble dash.
markymarkthree said:
Loving this thread.
Keep it up op, don't go AWOL on us.
Revisiting this thread with a bunch of updates. It's been a busy 6 months! Reading back on some of the comments, I wonder if I can be bothered, eloquence is not my first language after all, but I will try to write a proper update in the morning.Keep it up op, don't go AWOL on us.
Meanwhile... "Dude, Where's My Poo".
The property, allegedly, has 3 septic tanks. I can't find any of them and I have cleared most of the likely places that they could be. The most likely scenario is that they are covered in soil and grass and I just can't find them.
Not only do I want to find them because, well.. that seems like the right thing to do. But because I fear I will drive the tractor over a rotted-out manhole cover and end up having to remove more than just my excriment from a hole in the ground.
Any clever ideas on how to find a septic tank?
Well, it’s been just over a year since I moved in—and let me tell you, the outside of the house is thriving like it’s on a home renovation reality show. The inside? Let’s just say it’s still waiting for its big makeover montage.
I’m about two years ahead on the outside and six months behind on the inside.
The roof got a revamp early on, just in time for Mother Nature to throw a tantrum. We had some serious storms this winter—like, “hold onto your slates” kind of storms.
Spoiler alert: the slates did not hold on.
Emergency repairs were made. I called around for help, but every roofing firm was booked out until the next ice age. So, I did what any sensible person would do, I wanted to rent a cherry picker to do a proper fix, but apparently, cherry pickers are the Ferraris of the construction world. If you want one that doesn’t look like it’ll collapse if you breathe near it, you need a small fortune and a certification in “not dying.”
So naturally, I bought the cheapest, most questionable cherry picker I could find.
Enter: Simon. Simon is... well, he’s seen things. He’s got the mechanical equivalent of PTSD. But after some Frankenstein-level tinkering—worm drives, hydraulic lines, resistors, and a bit of electrical wizardry—Simon lives! He got me up on the roof, and I patched the leaks like a slightly terrified pro.
Now it’s time to move Simon to the other side of the house to straighten some slates that aren’t leaking—yet. Because if this house has taught me anything, it’s that “not leaking” is just a temporary state of being.
I’m about two years ahead on the outside and six months behind on the inside.
The roof got a revamp early on, just in time for Mother Nature to throw a tantrum. We had some serious storms this winter—like, “hold onto your slates” kind of storms.
Spoiler alert: the slates did not hold on.
Emergency repairs were made. I called around for help, but every roofing firm was booked out until the next ice age. So, I did what any sensible person would do, I wanted to rent a cherry picker to do a proper fix, but apparently, cherry pickers are the Ferraris of the construction world. If you want one that doesn’t look like it’ll collapse if you breathe near it, you need a small fortune and a certification in “not dying.”
So naturally, I bought the cheapest, most questionable cherry picker I could find.
Enter: Simon. Simon is... well, he’s seen things. He’s got the mechanical equivalent of PTSD. But after some Frankenstein-level tinkering—worm drives, hydraulic lines, resistors, and a bit of electrical wizardry—Simon lives! He got me up on the roof, and I patched the leaks like a slightly terrified pro.
Now it’s time to move Simon to the other side of the house to straighten some slates that aren’t leaking—yet. Because if this house has taught me anything, it’s that “not leaking” is just a temporary state of being.
TA14 said:
Hold on. That's a nice cherry picker and you need no justification to buy it but why was it needed after:
Scaffolding was up as a part of the deal with the roofers when the roof was done last summer. By the time the storms came in winter, the scaffolding was long gone and I didn't much fancy paying for it again.Prizam said:
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