Author: My Old House

Stone Sills

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Most of the windows have stone sills, which have been coated with what appears to be an unsuitable type of paint.

Front ground-floor stone sill with flaking modern paint
Front ground-floor stone sill with flaking modern paint
(Click on image to enlarge)

The sills to the rear of the house have been worst affected by this: the face of one of them recently began to laminate (split off).

Stone sill at rear has lost part of its face through use of unsuitable paint
Stone sill at rear has lost part of its face through use of unsuitable paint
(Click on image to enlarge)

Worst of all is the sill below the stair light, which is badly eroded — and again, has been coated with the wrong kind of paint.

Eroded sill below stair light painted with incorrect paint and now cracking
Eroded sill below stair light painted with incorrect paint and now cracking
(Click on image to enlarge)

I hope that this can somehow be saved rather than replaced (since I not only like its rustic looks, but wish to preserve it), though I don’t know whether that is feasible.

Crumbling Bricks

~ My Old House ~ 3 Comments

Little of the interior brickwork is visible, except in the loft & cellar — alarmingly, the brickwork in the loft is crumbling away.

Crumbling original bricks below line of modern chimney stack
Crumbling original bricks below line of modern chimney stack
(Click on image to enlarge)

The chimney stack was replaced (roughly thirty years ago), and rebuilt using modern brick. The bricks below it, however, are nearly two hundred years old and are slowly turning to crumbs.

Southeast edge of chimney breast showing deteriorated brickwork
Southeast edge of chimney breast showing deteriorated brickwork
(Click on image to enlarge)
Northwest edge of chimney breast showing deteriorated brickwork
Northwest edge of chimney breast showing deteriorated brickwork
(Click on image to enlarge)

The brickwork on the party wall is scarcely any better. One brick has a hole through which the interior of nextdoor’s flue is visible.

Hole in brickwork of party wall
Hole in brickwork of party wall
(Click on image to enlarge)

I’m really not at all sure what to do about this…

Black Stuff…

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The previous owner coated the gable wall with a black substance, perhaps something like bitumen or tar, no doubt as weatherproofing.

Black stuff on gable wall
Black substance on gable wall
(Click on image to enlarge)

Since old buildings are meant to ‘breathe’, this ought to be removed.

Section of gable wall beneath (modern) chimney stack
Section of gable wall beneath modern chimney stack
(Click on image to enlarge)

This will require scaffolding: if the pointing is indeed to be raked out and redone, then clearly it would make sense to do both jobs together, along with any other work that requires scaffolding. …Such as removing those unsightly modern PVC barge-boards.

Modern chimney stack with modern PVC bargeboards
Modern chimney stack with modern PVC bargeboards
(Click on image to enlarge)

Pointing

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The house has been re-pointed with cement mortar. This is unsuitable for old properties and will over time cause bricks to spall. Ideally, lime mortar should be used on period brickwork

Cement pointing on ground floor wall
Cement pointing on ground floor wall
(Click on image to enlarge)

However, removing (‘raking out’) cement mortar in order to re-point using lime may itself cause damage to the brickwork.

Contrast between pointing in lime (left) & cement (right)
Contrast between pointing in lime on left and in cement on right
(Click on image to enlarge)

…So my dilemma: to rake out and re-point or not?