Lintel leveled an mortared in

Hi Folks,

Well I leveled up the lintel with wedges and a big hammer, then squared it off with the joists using my framing square. As you can see the top of the lintel will be level with the floor boards so the framing joints will show through as a detail.

I know the floor seams slightly higher here these two joists that frame the stairs are slightly higher than all the other joists so the floor is level until it gets to this point them goes up hill.  I put this down to Victorian builders saying ah that'll do it'll be allright. I have leveled the lintel with the other joists and will sort this snag went I replace these two joists.

Replacing the rotten lintel

Hi Folks,

We are up to date now all the work shown here was done during the last three weeks

He floor joists were supported with shoring props then the rotten  lintel was removed also the rotton ends of the hosts are saw off. Really scary this what was holding the floor up?

The stonework was removed to make space for the larger lintel. Extra space was made to allow for a bit of fettling. Underpining props were put in to suport the wall.

All the joints and pads were repointed with lime mortar. The ceiling plaster was removed and the outside joist was cut back further to allow the new lintel to slide in at an angle. I found that a decorative bead had been planed into the edges to the underside of the floor boards. There must have been no ceiling when the house was first built and these are the original floor boards. I will try to recreate this detail when I replaster the ceiling.

I bought a rough saw green oak beam from Jo' Sawmills in Mabe near Penryn. I planed the face and face edge flat and square using my No5 jack plane and No6 jointing plane. Once this was done I marked out the beam to 300 mm x 300mm x 1.5 m ( Imp 12" x 12" x 5'). I used my jack plane to plane down the remaining sides.

Then I cut dovetailed and housed timber framing joints for 8" and 4" joists in the face edge.

This beam weighs about 250 Kg so I though I would do this hoe the ancient Egyptians did itbut Karen wouldn't let me build an earth ramp in the living room so I devised a ingenious contraption. I built a timber four post lift using every clamp I own and a car jack. Job done and I save the 80 quid hire for a lintel hoist tick VG.

Rotten lintel over front door

Hi guys,

Here is an update for early September. When I removed the render from the wall in the living room last year I found that the the granite lintel above the front door did not cover the full width of the wall.  There was a 12" x 3" timber lintel behind that supported the floor joists and stairs that was total rotten.

I will replace this with a 12" square  green oak lintel that completely full the space above the door to the level of the floor boards in the bedroom above. But first I need to expose the stonework and lintel and rake or all the mortar joints.

Thats all I can do this week. I have a three week leave coming up to do the job.

Repointed front wall in porch

Hi folks,

Here is another late update for July and August . I decided the repoint the section of front wall that is in the porch. I makes up one quarter of the front of the housstoneworkll have will give me a feel for how the rest will look when done.

I raked out all the joints ready for repointing. There was a strong smell of damp when I did this as all the moisture trapped  in the wall started to escape. This had cleared after a week now that the wall can breath.

I repointed the wall with CLM 28 course lime mortar for the Cornish Lime Company that I have been using for the rest of the house. As you can see from the photos it really lifts stonework and contrasts nicely with the brown granite.

Thats all for now folks.

Long over due update.

ThatïOk guys,

We have got a lot done this year so busy that I haven't updated the blog.  During  May and June I stared repairing the ajoining wall in the loft between my neighbours house on the other side. They had put thier house up for sale so I had to get a move on. There was a lot of damp damage in this wall and it was crumbling,  I could see into the flue in places.

Step 1: Take out all mortar joints on the top and face  of the wall back to good masonry but leave the wall beneath the chimney in disturbed. Repair and repoint.

Step 2: Repair and repoint chimney below roof level.  Replace the missing brick at the front of the that had fallen into the flue. Chimney had been lined with a metal flue so the brick has been removed and there is no danger of the core gases escaping.

Step 3: Repair the wall and flue below the chimney in small sections until the whole wall is sound.

Slate grey GPR top coast applied should be good for thirty years.

 

Old roof covering stripped off  18mm OSB board screwed down.  PVC trims and 600g chopped strand mat laid.