Looking forward to seeing more videos to come! We’re just in the process of buying a similar property from a similar period and stumbled across your page searching for damp concrete render advice. Love your journey so far !
Hello Pete, just wanted to say thank you for these videos. Having started my first renovation (a woman alone and without experience!) and wanting to at least try some things myself (😅) I've found most videos about doing restoration predominantly not designed for people in my situation. But your videos are more accessible in the way you explain things and that you come across as relatable and approachable. I have a similar damp concrete floor issue and render to remove from my period home so watching your videos gives me confidence. Keep up the good work!
Hi Laura, thanks very much for your comment. Trying to get more videos made and uploaded but it’s tricky being busy with the actual work and limited internet connection! Good on you for having a go yourself. It’s the best way to learn and satisfying overcoming the many challenges. Like many things, much of the hard work is in the prep and it’s tough reverse engineering a solution from a finished idea in your mind, when you’re stood looking at a crumbling brick wall! Good luck with yours!
Aloha Pete, I love what you’re doing. What a lovely house indeed and I can’t wait to see you make it into a true period home. I can never understand why anyone would block up a fireplace, they’re incredibly charming, functional and gorgeous. You can find some beautiful period mantles. How exciting. Best wishes and congratulations, she’s a beauty 🕌.
These videos are great. I'm currently removing pebbledash from the walls of my house. Going very carefully at the moment but it's interesting to see somebody doing similar work. Please keep the videos coming, particularly of the render removal as I'd love to see how it turns out. I'll be subscribing. Best of luck with everything and can't wait to see more. Cheers, Neil...
Thanks Neil. More videos to come including the cement render. I’m in between about 10 different jobs currently! Thanks for subscribing it’s appreciated.
Cement render, what a joy it is 🙄 I'd love to work on a project like this, I repointed a similar sort of place a couple of years ago, it was cement rendered in the sixties and cement pointing was on about 80 percent of the cottage, major damp issues!!! Arbortech all saw definitely earned its keep, and lime definitely saved the day 🤗
Isn’t it just.. ! It’s definitely a lot of effort. Budget doesn’t currently stretch to an arbortech unfortunately but I’m sure it would help greatly. Once it’s all re-pointed with lime the house and I will be a lot happier!
Excellent - look forward to the series. Looks a lot bigger than a 2 up 2 down - lovely house - pity that drive access was compromised - you forgot to explain how you dealt with the church side access/ right of way.
Thanks Terry. The front part of the the cottage is two up two down but the rest of the building extends behind - It is L shaped. I have plans for improving the drive situation but it’s no bad thing to have rear car access, too!
Great video. Well presented. I recently purchased a similarly aged farm and it's interesting to see the similarities and differences that we have. I hope all is going will with the project. Looking forward to some updates!
lime lime lime! Everything you use make sure its lime based. internal plastering and pointing I would use lime putty and chimneys and floors either 3.5 or 5 NHL. I would also invested in an all saw arboteck. Not cheap but you will use it so much on this project and will make sure you can turn all those spalled bricks.
Hi Tom. Don’t worry it’s all going to be Lime, inside and out. No cement to see here! General pointing and construction work will be nhl 3.5 and sharp sand. (Even on copings / exposed areas) and internal will be insulated lime plaster made with nhl2. Yeah an Arboteck saw would be useful but will see how I get on with existing tools before splashing out
@@therestorationstation5475 I would absolutely use lime putty internally. Joy is its all pre mixed so you save so much time not mixing. Much nicer to use than the NHls as well. Even the pointing externally could be lime putty, the 3.5 is pretty bloody hard.
Such a great layout from this New Englander's perspective. Lovely garden and yard. Maybe more pavers all the way to the gate would help tidy up the access area. Do you normally have to park the car in the yard like this?
Love the house! so looking forward to your renovation. I have an old 150 years limestone house in Australia, the previous owners put that hard cement along the ground up to a yard high along the house with some signs of salt damp now. Please advise a solution.
Lovely house, but layout doesn't make much sense lol.. Jaw hit floor when I saw the ground floor and that staircase! Dunno what's gone on there! I'll be following cos I'm nosy.. And because I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy it.. 😊
I'm in the process of buying a similar aged house. Used to be a victorian stable block - dated to 1860-1890 ish. Bloody cement render on two walls - lower half only and the wall was dripping wet when i went back to look at it this week. You could curse the person who did it! Thoughts on just a really good quality external paint on the outside and then removing plaster and letting it dry out on the inside before replastering??? I havent got time til next summer to even contemplate removing the render as the entire place needs renovating and im renting until I have a bedroom and bathroom sorted. Anyway, my thoughts are....centralise that front door for sure! I do like a symmetrical house :-) Keep up the good work! Love the channel.
Hi Dean - Good luck with the purchase! Lucky that it’s lower half only but unfortunate that the lower half is always the worse affected 😜 My thoughts are paint nothing externally until cement render is removed. Reason being that it makes no difference to breathability whilst the cement render is present, so a waste of money until the render is off (The paint I’d recommend however would be either Limewash or Silicate paint… e.g. earthborn or seciltek) If the plaster internally is cement / gypsum (with lime mortar joints underneath) then definitely remove as that will aid drying inwardly. However, if plaster is already lime then removing won’t really help as it’s probably drying inwardly as fast as it can anyway. If it is lime plaster internally and it’s knackered and falling off then no harm removing it unless it’s helping consolidate bricks underneath, which will likely re-harden somewhat as the wall dries once the external render is removed. I’d be cautious of re-plastering internally until the walls have dried out if it’s as wet as you say… but if you must then I’d use an nhl2 plaster as a pure lime putty plaster might never set if the walls are continually damp. That’s the original door location so staying where it is I’m afraid! Besides, I like quirky and, couldn’t have it central, without a massive headache, since staircase is in the middle! Hope some of that helps…?!
@@therestorationstation5475 thanks buddy...yeah my thoughts were to paint the external walls, which are hairline cracked causing water ingress, with bedec flexible external paint. It fills the gaps and has elastic properties. If I can stop the water coming in that would help. Fortunately the mortar appears to be the original lime and so it's just the damp from the cement render. The plaster is lime so valid point in terms of leaving it on to dry out from the inside. Some very good advice though buddy on the re-plasterimg with the NHL 2. I'll be doing all that myself. I can plaster with gypsum, but never lime before so steep learning curve ahead! Yeah I see the quirkiness of the door! I'm far too square though! Haha 😄 it's a lovely house...Good luck with it. I may well be picking your brains again. I have a fair bit of knowledge myself from reading the historic England documents on maintaining older properties. If you haven't read those....they are an excellent source if info!
@@diyny2809 Tbh I’d personally steer well clear of the bedec paint. It’s a modified acrylic which is plastic. It would be like wrapping clingfilm around already inappropriate cement render. I realise the render is cracked and you want to stop more water ingress but my gut feeling, and it’s purely a personal opinion, that the bedec paint will only trap even more moisture in the walls. It’s a tough call and I’m afraid I’m staying impartial. Make certain no water is getting in anywhere else e.g. too high ground levels causing penetrating damp, leaky gutters (especially above where any cracks above the cement render are) and perhaps just wait out the winter. If possibly, take a strip of the lowest render off to at least let some of the water in the walls escape at the bottom. Then get all that render off as soon as possible and let the walls dry during next spring / summer before repointing with a lime mix suitable for your brickwork. The walls take on average 1 month per inch of brickwork to dry out so 9months if solid walls. Realistically you can probably re-point a bit sooner, especially on the drier walls e.g. south facing depending on your location but with consideration to what state the walls are in at the time and how the pointing mix will cope. I am pretty au fait with historic england documents and there is some good and interesting reading elsewhere online as you dive deeper into the subject. There’s also a fair bit of dross! This will definitely be a gorgeous house once done, thanks v much for saying so, but (I’m sure you’ll discover) it can be a bit of a rabbit hole of hard graft trying to solve some of the issues. I’m also quite lucky in that I get to gut the house to a blank canvas and solve all the issues as part of a full restoration. I’m happy to squat in my own building site but I appreciate it’s much harder trying to perform major surgery on a house you’re trying to keep vaguely habitable! I’d put money on your enjoying lime work more than gypsum!
@@therestorationstation5475 thanks for the advice. Yeah I'm finding there are two schools of thought. I'll take your advice on the bedec stuff and stick with a lime wash/natural breathable paint for now, with a view to taking off the render at the earliest opportunity!! That didn't take much persuading did it! Haha!! I'll be following your channel and I'm looking forward to see it come together. Thanks again for the replies and good luck with it!
Hi Sam, yes it is. In theory, I’d prefer it to not be there of course and I may have to request it be removed, at least temporarily, in order to be able to properly restore that section of the building. The side of my house does form the boundary between myself and the Church next door, but it was installed without permission. When I bought the house, I did say I have no objection to it staying there provided it causes no issues to the house. I need to work with the church as I’ve seen evidence of their being less than helpful in certain situations so I need to keep them as sweet as possible, since I need access to do all manor of work from their side. It’s a case of choosing my battles to win the war, so to speak!
Thats a great house, lovely potential garden. Really looking forward to coming along with your renovation journey. Keep up the vids 👍
Thanks very much. The whole place has a lot of potential and I have more videos coming.
Looking forward to seeing more videos to come! We’re just in the process of buying a similar property from a similar period and stumbled across your page searching for damp concrete render advice. Love your journey so far !
Thanks Abi. Lots more to come and good luck with your purchase too, especially if you’re faced with a similar issue!
Hello Pete, just wanted to say thank you for these videos. Having started my first renovation (a woman alone and without experience!) and wanting to at least try some things myself (😅) I've found most videos about doing restoration predominantly not designed for people in my situation. But your videos are more accessible in the way you explain things and that you come across as relatable and approachable. I have a similar damp concrete floor issue and render to remove from my period home so watching your videos gives me confidence. Keep up the good work!
Hi Laura, thanks very much for your comment. Trying to get more videos made and uploaded but it’s tricky being busy with the actual work and limited internet connection! Good on you for having a go yourself. It’s the best way to learn and satisfying overcoming the many challenges. Like many things, much of the hard work is in the prep and it’s tough reverse engineering a solution from a finished idea in your mind, when you’re stood looking at a crumbling brick wall! Good luck with yours!
Found your channel after buying a property from a similar era, look forward to seeing how it goes
Thanks Smiddey. Definitely a labour of love and good luck with yours!
Aloha Pete, I love what you’re doing. What a lovely house indeed and I can’t wait to see you make it into a true period home. I can never understand why anyone would block up a fireplace, they’re incredibly charming, functional and gorgeous. You can find some beautiful period mantles. How exciting. Best wishes and congratulations, she’s a beauty 🕌.
I would move the kitchen to the old garage and nice dining area where the damp room is and basically open everything up 🙈
These videos are great. I'm currently removing pebbledash from the walls of my house. Going very carefully at the moment but it's interesting to see somebody doing similar work. Please keep the videos coming, particularly of the render removal as I'd love to see how it turns out. I'll be subscribing. Best of luck with everything and can't wait to see more. Cheers, Neil...
Thanks Neil. More videos to come including the cement render. I’m in between about 10 different jobs currently! Thanks for subscribing it’s appreciated.
@@therestorationstation5475, my pleasure. You must be very busy. Best of luck with everything...
Cement render, what a joy it is 🙄 I'd love to work on a project like this, I repointed a similar sort of place a couple of years ago, it was cement rendered in the sixties and cement pointing was on about 80 percent of the cottage, major damp issues!!! Arbortech all saw definitely earned its keep, and lime definitely saved the day 🤗
Isn’t it just.. ! It’s definitely a lot of effort. Budget doesn’t currently stretch to an arbortech unfortunately but I’m sure it would help greatly. Once it’s all re-pointed with lime the house and I will be a lot happier!
You are amazing! Thank you fir filming. Have a similar project on my hands here in Iowa…
Excellent - look forward to the series. Looks a lot bigger than a 2 up 2 down - lovely house - pity that drive access was compromised - you forgot to explain how you dealt with the church side access/ right of way.
Thanks Terry. The front part of the the cottage is two up two down but the rest of the building extends behind - It is L shaped.
I have plans for improving the drive situation but it’s no bad thing to have rear car access, too!
Nice old house .... thanks for walk around .... good luck
Thanks Andy!
Great video. Well presented. I recently purchased a similarly aged farm and it's interesting to see the similarities and differences that we have. I hope all is going will with the project. Looking forward to some updates!
lime lime lime! Everything you use make sure its lime based. internal plastering and pointing I would use lime putty and chimneys and floors either 3.5 or 5 NHL. I would also invested in an all saw arboteck. Not cheap but you will use it so much on this project and will make sure you can turn all those spalled bricks.
Hi Tom. Don’t worry it’s all going to be Lime, inside and out. No cement to see here!
General pointing and construction work will be nhl 3.5 and sharp sand. (Even on copings / exposed areas) and internal will be insulated lime plaster made with nhl2.
Yeah an Arboteck saw would be useful but will see how I get on with existing tools before splashing out
@@therestorationstation5475 I would absolutely use lime putty internally. Joy is its all pre mixed so you save so much time not mixing. Much nicer to use than the NHls as well. Even the pointing externally could be lime putty, the 3.5 is pretty bloody hard.
Such a great layout from this New Englander's perspective. Lovely garden and yard. Maybe more pavers all the way to the gate would help tidy up the access area. Do you normally have to park the car in the yard like this?
I've just come across this channel, and I love it! Are there going to be anymore videos?? You can't leave us in suspense!!
Love the house! so looking forward to your renovation.
I have an old 150 years limestone house in Australia, the previous owners put that hard cement along the ground up to a yard high along the house with some signs of salt damp now. Please advise a solution.
Lovely house, but layout doesn't make much sense lol.. Jaw hit floor when I saw the ground floor and that staircase! Dunno what's gone on there! I'll be following cos I'm nosy.. And because I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy it.. 😊
I'm in the process of buying a similar aged house. Used to be a victorian stable block - dated to 1860-1890 ish. Bloody cement render on two walls - lower half only and the wall was dripping wet when i went back to look at it this week. You could curse the person who did it! Thoughts on just a really good quality external paint on the outside and then removing plaster and letting it dry out on the inside before replastering??? I havent got time til next summer to even contemplate removing the render as the entire place needs renovating and im renting until I have a bedroom and bathroom sorted. Anyway, my thoughts are....centralise that front door for sure! I do like a symmetrical house :-) Keep up the good work! Love the channel.
Hi Dean - Good luck with the purchase! Lucky that it’s lower half only but unfortunate that the lower half is always the worse affected 😜 My thoughts are paint nothing externally until cement render is removed. Reason being that it makes no difference to breathability whilst the cement render is present, so a waste of money until the render is off (The paint I’d recommend however would be either Limewash or Silicate paint… e.g. earthborn or seciltek)
If the plaster internally is cement / gypsum (with lime mortar joints underneath) then definitely remove as that will aid drying inwardly. However, if plaster is already lime then removing won’t really help as it’s probably drying inwardly as fast as it can anyway. If it is lime plaster internally and it’s knackered and falling off then no harm removing it unless it’s helping consolidate bricks underneath, which will likely re-harden somewhat as the wall dries once the external render is removed.
I’d be cautious of re-plastering internally until the walls have dried out if it’s as wet as you say… but if you must then I’d use an nhl2 plaster as a pure lime putty plaster might never set if the walls are continually damp.
That’s the original door location so staying where it is I’m afraid! Besides, I like quirky and, couldn’t have it central, without a massive headache, since staircase is in the middle! Hope some of that helps…?!
@@therestorationstation5475 thanks buddy...yeah my thoughts were to paint the external walls, which are hairline cracked causing water ingress, with bedec flexible external paint. It fills the gaps and has elastic properties. If I can stop the water coming in that would help. Fortunately the mortar appears to be the original lime and so it's just the damp from the cement render. The plaster is lime so valid point in terms of leaving it on to dry out from the inside. Some very good advice though buddy on the re-plasterimg with the NHL 2. I'll be doing all that myself. I can plaster with gypsum, but never lime before so steep learning curve ahead! Yeah I see the quirkiness of the door! I'm far too square though! Haha 😄 it's a lovely house...Good luck with it. I may well be picking your brains again. I have a fair bit of knowledge myself from reading the historic England documents on maintaining older properties. If you haven't read those....they are an excellent source if info!
@@diyny2809 Tbh I’d personally steer well clear of the bedec paint. It’s a modified acrylic which is plastic. It would be like wrapping clingfilm around already inappropriate cement render. I realise the render is cracked and you want to stop more water ingress but my gut feeling, and it’s purely a personal opinion, that the bedec paint will only trap even more moisture in the walls. It’s a tough call and I’m afraid I’m staying impartial. Make certain no water is getting in anywhere else e.g. too high ground levels causing penetrating damp, leaky gutters (especially above where any cracks above the cement render are) and perhaps just wait out the winter. If possibly, take a strip of the lowest render off to at least let some of the water in the walls escape at the bottom. Then get all that render off as soon as possible and let the walls dry during next spring / summer before repointing with a lime mix suitable for your brickwork. The walls take on average 1 month per inch of brickwork to dry out so 9months if solid walls. Realistically you can probably re-point a bit sooner, especially on the drier walls e.g. south facing depending on your location but with consideration to what state the walls are in at the time and how the pointing mix will cope.
I am pretty au fait with historic england documents and there is some good and interesting reading elsewhere online as you dive deeper into the subject. There’s also a fair bit of dross!
This will definitely be a gorgeous house once done, thanks v much for saying so, but (I’m sure you’ll discover) it can be a bit of a rabbit hole of hard graft trying to solve some of the issues. I’m also quite lucky in that I get to gut the house to a blank canvas and solve all the issues as part of a full restoration. I’m happy
to squat in my own building site but I appreciate it’s much harder trying to perform major surgery on a house you’re trying to keep vaguely habitable! I’d put money on your enjoying lime work more than gypsum!
@@therestorationstation5475 thanks for the advice. Yeah I'm finding there are two schools of thought. I'll take your advice on the bedec stuff and stick with a lime wash/natural breathable paint for now, with a view to taking off the render at the earliest opportunity!! That didn't take much persuading did it! Haha!! I'll be following your channel and I'm looking forward to see it come together. Thanks again for the replies and good luck with it!
Please turn up the volume it's coming in very quiet.
Obviously!
And the channel is on holiday?
Is the churches gate attached to your house?
Hi Sam, yes it is. In theory, I’d prefer it to not be there of course and I may have to request it be removed, at least temporarily, in order to be able to properly restore that section of the building. The side of my house does form the boundary between myself and the Church next door, but it was installed without permission. When I bought the house, I did say I have no objection to it staying there provided it causes no issues to the house. I need to work with the church as I’ve seen evidence of their being less than helpful in certain situations so I need to keep them as sweet as possible, since I need access to do all manor of work from their side. It’s a case of choosing my battles to win the war, so to speak!
Any updates?
100k minimum to fix that up