They say a plan never survives its first touch with reality. It’s true!

[Mrs McG]

Day 1 of works on the cottage and this photo is taken standing in front of the old airing cupboard which is meant to become an access for the main bedroom to get to the bathroom (without walking through the second bedroom). Removing the plaster from the back of the airing cupboard has revealed a brace right across the opening …. Sigh.

 

[a twig]

Nooooo!

Hope you can find a solution

 

[a twig]

How is it all going @Mrs McG ? Progress?

 

[LadyArowana]

There’s always a fix, but it depends on £ and if you are listed then the whims and fancies of a CO will apply.

 

[Kearn]

Day 1 of works on the cottage and this photo is taken standing in front of the old airing cupboard which is meant to become an access for the main bedroom to get to the bathroom (without walking through the second bedroom). Removing the plaster from the back of the airing cupboard has revealed a brace right across the opening …. Sigh.

View attachment 13063

That is but a hop, skip and a jump after a glass or three of vino…!

 

[Mrs McG]

Happily the structural surveyor said it can come out, and the beam on the left is very loose so that can come out too. The plan is to create a corridor along the back of the second bedroom so I am hoping to find some sympathetic way to embed both the brace and the vertical beam into that so I don’t lose them.

Of course having to wait for the surveyor meant the build work got pushed back but it’s all go again from next Monday. In the meantime the windows are being replaced so perhaps no bad thing that I don’t have two crews on site! The windows work has been an education - one sill was soaking wet and flaky as Mary Berry pastry but even more interesting was getting a peek at the cement render on the front of the cottage. In some areas there appears to be a sort of netting between the original external wall and the render, in others the render is just a clear layer in front of the original wall.

 

[Kearn]

Intriguing to hear that a post and brace can simply be removed…

The ‘net’ is a stainless mesh, much trickier to get the nasty muck off and it bites back. Hopefully it will just be on the corners…

 

[Mrs McG]

Intriguing to hear that a post and brace can simply be removed…

The surveyor said the timber stud can be moved a bit to create more space and the brace might once have been structural but now isn’t necessary. The wall on the right hand side of the photo used to be an outside wall but is now an internal one because there is a kitchen extension with a lean-to roof that goes right up to the thatch. Apparently this acts as a brace.

Bad news about the ‘net’ as I’d like one day to remove the cement render. I could only see where it met the windows but I was pleased that all the exposed wood around the windows (apart from one window sill) looked absolutely solid and dry.