Renovating a stone cottage. Thoughts?

[mpmaho2]

Anyone here know anything about building, renovation etc. I'm still waiting on replies in the various building forums, but I just thought I'd check with the DK minds and see if you have some thoughts.

Let me know if it's something that some of you have experience in and I will copy and paste my actual query from the other forums.

Thanks.

[chroma]

Whats your budget and timescale?
Double both and you might just pull it off.

Is there any listing on the property? if so that can be a complete nightmare, i renovated a cottage which was listed and had to replace like for like, an entire roof covered in ballachulish slate needed replacing and it cost me a fortune. not to mention the time and effort involved in restoring it myself.
Then theres nightmares like rewiring, plumbing, heating etc.

To be honest, i would have saved money if i had bought a plot and built from scratch.
The romantic idea of doing up a cottage wore off rapidly and i realised just what a money pit id wound up in, then theres the current economy, dont expect to get a return on your investment now, 5 years ago i made out quite well on the resale, now i dont think i would have gotten enough to cover the initial property, let alone anything for the improvements.

[westkill]

i will go with what chroma says
im a scaffolder by trade and worked on many a project like this,it might go smoothly or be a right bitch for the unseen things that can crop up structually from whole roof coming of to whole house being shawed up to a whole side of a house being knocked down and rebuilt
so if you double the budget like chroma said and pull it of in your original budget all the better, from the right trademan to the weather and any work being passed by building inspectors especally if this is being project managed by yourself for the first time,if you can cope with that can be rewarding

[gmb45]

Anyone here know anything about building, renovation etc. I'm still waiting on replies in the various building forums, but I just thought I'd check with the DK minds and see if you have some thoughts.

Let me know if it's something that some of you have experience in and I will copy and paste my actual query from the other forums.

Thanks. im a groundworker m8 so know a fair bit about the building trade, will help if i can :D

[zaphodbb]

i too bear the scars of renovating a stone cottage in the lake district. ten years doin it and i needed to start at the beginning again. roof, damp course? impossible because of the slate foundations, it had one cottage on the side as a garage sheeted in asbestos imagine that, so anyway it was all a freekin nightmare, when i sold it and drove away i never even looked back i hated it. it sucked me dry just a money pit, and took ten years out of my life, best thing to do imho is knock the ~~~~er down and build fresh, sorry to be so negative but they are just not worth the time a trouble m8

[Mr Pumpy]

Gotta agree with these guys.
You might be lucky and everything might go smoothly and within a reasonable budget.
But, it could very easily turn into a money pit, be prepared to have very deep pockets. Its no good trying to renovate summat like that on a tight budget, yer asking for trouble.
On the other hand, if you have got deep pockets and like Chroma says your not looking for quick investment returns, you could have your dream house.

Will you do alot of the work yourself or would you contract it all out?????

[mpmaho2]

Thanks to all for the replies. I wasn't expecting such a response. I only posted here because I've always found everyone on this forum to be really friendly and helpful, unlike some our forums here in Ireland where you can be made to feel like an idiot for not already knowing the answer to the question you are asking.

I'll just answer your questions and then paste in the query I posted in a build forum underneath that.

Tight budget/ short timescale. My brother/brother in law/and myself will do as much work as we possess the skills to do. Free labour.The building is not listed.

The plan is to fix this house up enough to live in for a few years while we try to build a new house in the large garden to the rear. The cottage and outhouses would at that stage be used for an office/gamesroom/storage. Can't possibly affoed to do it right, so just want to fix it up without having to worry about killer mould behind the drylining.

My query pasted from building forum:

Hi guys,

I own a detached one and a half storey cottage. The walls are of stone rubble contruction. The outer walls are finished with a wet dash and standard exterior paint. The ground floor is very thin concrete. No DPM. Gutted the house last week and what we have now is a roof, a first floor, and all the walls and chimney have been stripped back to the stone internally. Front north wall and 1 gable attached to council and private properties, so french drains and external insulation is just not possible. Can't afford to replace the wet dash with a lime render, so just going to have to do what I can inside. Ground floor is lower than the footpath outside. Walls downstairs have rising damp issue. Putting some french doors in the southern wall to let the sun in, if the walls can take it.
So bearing all that information in mind, what do I do next?

1. What's my best option for the floor? DPM and insulation?

2. The walls etc regarding insulation? I have swayed away from drylining due to the associated health risks etc, so what else? Woodfibre boards, hemcrete, biofoam between studs, dynamite?

I did see a site with hempcrete (or the like) lumped on to the stone directly leaving a rough finish which still showed some of the shape of the stones beneath and supposedly insulated the wall. Looked quite nice, but would it keep me warm? Also bear in mind that space is really at a premium. Apologies if a lot of this stuff has been covered in other discussions, but I can't seem to find any discussion that fits my situation closely enough to help me make a decision.

[chroma]

Id fix the damp first and foremost.
Dignose what caused it, figure out if it was poor drainage around the property or a roof leak forming pools inside (you mentioned the internal floor was lower than the external ground) defective plumbing that runs thrugh the masonry?
or is there water getting in via broken guttering, worn out sills, damage to the roughcast etc?


The point being if the inside is likely to remain damp then your essentialy going to be pissing money up a rope. Any internal work you do could wind up getting moldy from the humidity, wood will rot and warp etc. so all your time and money will essentialy have to be replaced unless you begin with the damp.

Stick to getting the shell structuraly sound, dry and weathertight before worrying about anything else at this point.

[mpmaho2]

Thanks Chroma. The damp is my primary concern at this point.

[ste6106]

Do you have leaded lights in the cottage or stained glass im expert in that area:)

[Mr Pumpy]

"Ground floor is lower than the footpath outside"


That doesnt sound too good.

[cablefreejunkie]

if the ground floor is lower than the outside level then you will have major issues with damp etc in an old property,,is the outside land level around the property or does it slope down towards any side of the structure,,,this would have to be the first thing to rectify,,you mentioned theres no DPC,,,,you will have to excavate around the building,,then fill with hardcore this is very good along with a DPC at draining up any moisture,,,experts might laugh at this but im from a paddy lineage and we know more about groundwork than egyptians know about pyramids
before you attempt any interior renovation secure the roof and sort out the drainage and DPC
remember that as its a stone wall building this would have soaked up a lot of damp/moisture,,,,so once rectified it will need time to dry out before you render etc etc
to be honest this dosent sound like a first timers project,,,you might be better of getting a good reputable paddy damp specialist to get that side of things sorted out first and then maybe attempt the rest yourself
trying to sort the damp etc for a novice could end up costing you twice as much in the long run
good luck and keep us all posted on how you get on

[bobwill]

when I am doing a house with damp walls I normally put in a french drain ( perforated pipe and stone on top to surface level) and pipe to ditch or soaker way. what is the heath risks with dry lining? we use masks etc anyway I would think about lining it with plasterboard with 40mm insulation prefixed
Kingspan Insulation - Self Build (http://www.insulateonline.com/index1.htm?walls3.htm%7Emain)
but you might find you might have to drill plug and screw dry lining not dab if wall is damp


sorry did not notice date of first post just noted date of last post:hmmmm2: he has probably finished job built new house in garden

[red rose]

just put in a search restore e stone cottage and this site came up. Can you help we are thinking to buy a one and a half storie house. I think it is about 60 years old. walls inside are dry lined porch juts out with flat roof this looks like it has some rising damp not dry lined. front pebble dashed gabels and back look like plaster painted but some bulging and flaking. Only damp in main part of house seems to be below a window sill. It also looks like the house needs re plastered at the gables and the back. Roof looks fline but well worn site is flat can you advise what we should look for. We want to do minimal work enough to let us live in the house. Floors and ceilings look fine all floors boards. Mad I know but any advice greatfully received cabelfreejunkie seems to know what he is talking about.

[Grizz]

welcome to DK Red rose
not mad at all. i think the best money you could spend would be to get an engineer to have a look at the house.
i bought a cottage myself and gutted it, but yours sounds in fairly good nick. will be money well spent if you are serious about buying