First oak floors down - video update

Either I'm getting lazy, or I simply don't have time. I'm going for the latter. Another video-only update, where you can see some major progress with one of the bedrooms, and the first bits of oak flooring having been laid.

Click here for the big version.

The heat is on.

We've been keeping the pace up the past couple of weeks, trying to keep to our goal of getting the wall plastering started as soon as possible. This of course means any remaining wall heating has to be installed which in turn means all the underconstruction has to be completed before the heating panels can be stuck on. This is now complete in my favourite room on the second floor, as well as starting to close the hole in he ceiling up to the next level.

It actually makes the room feel larger and a little brighter, as the old plaster and wood behind these panels wasn't the most reflective.

Having said that, I thought I'd include myself in a photo for a change, to give some sort of scale. And I'm not a tall man! Nevertheless, despite the low ceiling, it's roomy enough, and definitely cosy.

The past few days have been spent sorting the kitchen out, as it has been neglected for quite a while. The mesh has been nailed to the ceiling to carry new clay plaster.

The gaping hole where the old chimney went has a new beam bolted to the others and laths installed ready to receive plasterboard.

Best of all, we finally closed off the wall behind which the spaghetti of cables and timber frames is hidden. Suddenly the kitchen feels cleaner and bigger.

And staying in the kitchen, the west wall was being prepped for fresh plaster by chopping off any loose stuff and keying the surface. While doing this, the big lumps were coming easily off the remaining chimney, revealing red brick. I hasn't thought his might be red brick, but it makes sense for a chimney.

Thinking this would make a nice feature, i removed all the plaster and then cleaned each brick with a nylon brush attachment on a drill, with quite nice results. All that's left to do is to scratch out some of the old mortar and repoint. I've plenty of experience of that!

Meanwhile, down in the cellar, Sace popped by yesterday and hooked up the wall heating in the bedroom and office (these designations are subject to change!), so now three rooms are running on the heating system Not that we need heating right now!

 We've now a list of tasks that we need to complete in two weeks, if we want to stay on target and start plastering. Apparently our kitchen is coming in August! I doubt it...

Introducing the Guest Bedroom and "Study"

Location of future guest room?

These two rooms, at the eastern side of the house, were previously used as a bedroom (the larger room) and a kind of small sitting room/study (well, the smaller room).

The floor, and beams underneath the smaller room have been completely replaced in the recent past (over cellar 4), as the timbers had rotted due to the moisture from the animals in the stalls below. The floor in the larger room may well be original, and are certainly solid timber, but carpets had been glued directly onto the boards, so it's going to be quite a job cleaning it down (see the grey covering in the photo below).

Large room. The door on the right leads to the smaller Northern room.

Location of future study?

The walls in these rooms have been dry-lined completely, and we'll remove this to assess to condition of the walls before updating the insulation, particularly the half-timbered front facade. Who knows what will be revealed?

Not much to say about these rooms, other than the large one in the south-east corner will probably be a guest room, and the smaller one may be another guest room or study. As shown in the previous post, we plan on turning one corner of the large room into part of a hall to link the rooms to the main landing, while the adjoining room houses a guest bathroom.

Today we had a nice surprise from the former owners, who gave us the original plans from various building changes, dating back to 1922. They answer some questions and confirm some suspicions. A history of the development of the farmhouse and other buildings will follow at some stage.