Renovation of old cottage in Devon.

[Jensenmike]

Hi Guys, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

We have recently bought a large derelict cottage in Devon, which needs complete restoration. It dates from the 1700's, but fortunately is NOT listed. The wall construction is a mixture of cob and stone. It has had loads of dodgey 1970's bodges done, including replacement ceilings in plasterboard, most of which are damp and falling down.

The walls need major repair work in cob and lime plaster, but the question is what would be best for ceiling replacement ?. We don't really want the new ceilings 'as flat a a pancake', as this wouldn't be in keeping with the walls. The traditionalist in me would like lath and plaster, as the original ceilings would have been, but this probably wouldn't comply with fire regs. that Building Control would no doubt require and could be prohibitive on a cost basis, as there are ten rooms to do. Perhaps properly fixed plasterboard finished with Universal One Coat, would be a good compromise? and at least give some texture/unevenness to the finish. Also as the cottage is quite dark, it light need a good lighting system - we have thought about down lighters, which would work better with plasterboard.

Regards to you all
Mike

 

[Olican]

Hi Guys, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

We have recently bought a large derelict cottage in Devon, which needs complete restoration. It dates from the 1700's, but fortunately is NOT listed. The wall construction is a mixture of cob and stone. It has had loads of dodgey 1970's bodges done, including replacement ceilings in plasterboard, most of which are damp and falling down.

The walls need major repair work in cob and lime plaster, but the question is what would be best for ceiling replacement ?. We don't really want the new ceilings 'as flat a a pancake', as this wouldn't be in keeping with the walls. The traditionalist in me would like lath and plaster, as the original ceilings would have been, but this probably wouldn't comply with fire regs. that Building Control would no doubt require and could be prohibitive on a cost basis, as there are ten rooms to do. Perhaps properly fixed plasterboard finished with Universal One Coat, would be a good compromise? and at least give some texture/unevenness to the finish. Also as the cottage is quite dark, it light need a good lighting system - we have thought about down lighters, which would work better with plasterboard.

Regards to you all
Mike

Hi mike , we have recently renovated a 1600s cottage in Slapton. The ceilings were boarded with fire line board then finished with one coat for the cottage effect finish, universal one coat is ideal for the job. Whereabouts in Devon are you? We are based in Paignton

 

[Deleted member 23452]

The building regs can be a pain with this sort of job. If you remove plaster/finish from 25% or greater of an external wall it has to be insulated. So you may want to consider 'patching' the external walls before BC see it.

For the ceilings you can treat the beams and timber with fire retardant as an alternative to boarding ceilings.

 

[Deleted member 23452]

Hi mike , we have recently renovated a 1600s cottage in Slapton. The ceilings were boarded with fire line board then finished with one coat for the cottage effect finish, universal one coat is ideal for the job. Whereabouts in Devon are you? We are based in Paignton

I did the same for that cottage in Wales. Well, I say similar but what actually happened was it was all boarded out in fire line then the plasterer did a Lord Lucan so I skimmed the ceilings. From now on I shall refer to it as 'cottage effect finish'

 

[Danny]

Hi mike , we have recently renovated a 1600s cottage in Slapton. The ceilings were boarded with fire line board then finished with one coat for the cottage effect finish, universal one coat is ideal for the job. Whereabouts in Devon are you? We are based in Paignton

is that all you do now cottage cheese effect?

 

[Jurek]

use bonding. that will leave a finish with some nice rough texture showing.

 

[Jensenmike]

Hi mike , we have recently renovated a 1600s cottage in Slapton. The ceilings were boarded with fire line board then finished with one coat for the cottage effect finish, universal one coat is ideal for the job. Whereabouts in Devon are you? We are based in Paignton

The cottage is near a Winkleigh. Fireline sounds like good idea and will no doubt meet fire regs.

 

[Jensenmike]

The building regs can be a pain with this sort of job. If you remove plaster/finish from 25% or greater of an external wall it has to be insulated. So you may want to consider 'patching' the external walls before BC see it.

For the ceilings you can treat the beams and timber with fire retardant as an alternative to boarding ceilings.

Crikey, I hadn't realised that 25% or more on an external wall would mean insulating. The walls are 18-20" thick and I don't really want to lose the original good lime plaster if I can get away with it. I have a feeling I read an article a while back, that said if you fell below the necessary U value on one part i.e. walls or doors/windows, you could beef up the insulation in the roof to compensate and Building Control may allow that. I guess it depends on which local authority you are dealing with and how tolerant the inspector is. We are going to have to get a full set of drawings and specs. done in any case.

 

[User___removed]

Winkleigh not far from me
That 25% rule is a load of s**t.
Does anyone actually follow it?

 

[Deleted member 23452]

Winkleigh not far from me
That 25% rule is a load of s**t.
Does anyone actually follow it?

As @Jensenmike said, it's all down to building control but if you have plans drawn up that's when they're most likely to pick it up. It can also show up as an issue on pre sale surveys as it affects the EPC rating.

I believe limecoat or warmcoat type products can be used along with beefing up other insulation and energy saving aspects.

Hopefully whoever is doing the plans will have experience with it and the quote takes it into account


It can be a pain but only if you don't know what you're doing, try to do it on the cheap or shout "yee hah!" instead of doing a proper quote.