Hagg Leys Farm

Author: stephen (Page 55 of 61)

Temporary farmyard gates

March 5, 2013 /

Now the building work has started, we have decided to put up a gate across the front of the farmyard.  Since this is only really going to be a temporary arrangement, there is little point in purchasing an expensive new gate.  However, we were lucky enough to have a gate in the back field together with a side gate.  These two gates together are enough to stretch across the farmyard entrance.  With the gates padlocked together, the only issue is that the postman can’t get to the letter boxes to deliver the mail.  The solutions? A letter box on the side of the wall next to the gate.

This gate was originally on the entrance to the field at the back of the property, but we have now moved it to the front for added security.

This gate was originally on the entrance to the field at the back of the property, but we have now moved it to the front for added security.

The problem with putting a gate at the front of the farmyard is that the postman cannot get to the letter boxes. This seemed like the simplest solution.

The problem with putting a gate at the front of the farmyard is that the postman cannot get to the letter boxes. This seemed like the simplest solution.

Re-roofing the old outbuilding

March 5, 2013 /

At the front of the property, there is an old outbuilding.  It is split into three separate rooms.  The end room is being used as a log store.  The middle room is being used as a store-room.  The other end is the original toilet for the property when it was built-in the 1700’s. 

The "waves" in the roof indicate where the internal walls are inside. There have been multiple attempts at repairing this roof, but none of them have been done correctly. We are going to remove the slates, replacing the underlying woodwork and then reslate it with the original slates (plus a few off the lean to to replace broken slates).

The “waves” in the roof indicate where the internal walls are inside. There have been multiple attempts at repairing this roof, but none of them have been done correctly. We are going to remove the slates, replacing the underlying woodwork and then reslate it with the original slates (plus a few off the lean to to replace broken slates).

The main problem with the outbuilding is the roof.  This consists of stone slates (known as Yorkshire Greys) and although the outbuilding is small (8m x 3m) with a monopitch roof, there is probably something in the order of 4 tonnes of stone slates on the roof.  The sheer weight of the slates over the years has taken its toll and some of the wooden rafters had broken under the weight.  The only solution is to remove the slates and replace the woodwork.

When we removed the slates a number of them had delaminated due to the frost penetrating the stone slates.  Fortunately, the lean-to to the side of the house is going to be demolished and it has similar slates on the roof.  So, hopefully, we should be able to salvage enough slates to be able to re-roof the outbuilding.

Nipper inspecting the top part of the roof. The chimney has been dismantled and is piled up by the bottom of the ladder.

Nipper inspecting the top part of the roof. The chimney has been dismantled and is piled up by the bottom of the ladder.

Nipper and Richard inspecting what is left of the woodwork with the slates removed.

Nipper and Richard inspecting what is left of the woodwork with the slates removed.

Stone slates removed from the roof and stack according to courses.

Stone slates removed from the roof and stack according to courses.

It only took around 3 hours to remove all the slates off the two outbuildings.  The slates were stacked neatly according to the courses on the roof.  Smaller slates are used at the top of the roof and then the slates get bigger further down the slope. 

Over the weekend the existing rafters were removed.  More wood for the bonfire.  Two lengths of wood were placed on the top and bottom walls.  These make up the “wall plates” that the rafter are attached to.  By making sure that the wall plates are level and parallel, each of the rafters should be exactly the same when installed.  This makes redoing the woodwork that much quicker and easier.  The general building work here was done by Paddy and John.

The woodwork has now been removed and the top two courses of the front wall rebuilt.

The woodwork has now been removed and the top two courses of the front wall rebuilt.

The two wall plates (the timbers that the spars are going to sit on) have been installed and double checked to ensure that they are both level and parallel to each other. A template spar was cut and used to check that it fitted all along the wall plates.

The two wall plates (the timbers that the spars are going to sit on) have been installed and double checked to ensure that they are both level and parallel to each other. A template spar was cut and used to check that it fitted all along the wall plates.

The top two courses on the front wall had to be rebuilt as the stonework was loose.  We also took the opportunity to remove the old chimney that is no longer in use.  Once the outbuilding is re-roofed it will need to be re-pointed.  With the roof removed, the structure is very fragile and needs to be treated with care.

 

Removing the base of the last shed

February 27, 2013 /

Shed #3 was removed a couple of weeks ago.  It was a big shed – twice the size of the others – and it took all day to remove all but the base. This base is just behind the outbuilding and tomorrow the plan is to strip the roof therefore it needs to go.  The plan was to remove the base in the morning and then spend the rest of the day dry stone walling.  The weather was lovely today, particularly in the afternoon.  Even sunshine!  However, it took all day to remove the shed base.   I can’t believe that it took so long.  However, when you look at the bonfire (remember this was only burnt down yesterday), you realise exactly how much wood there was left in the base.

I didn’t get time to set the bonfire, so that will have to wait until another day.

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More stripping out

February 27, 2013 /

After all the progress made previously, yesterday was a frustratingly slow day.  It was really a day full of “tidying up loose ends”.

With no power to the gas boiler, it was time to drain the heating so that we can remove the radiators and associated pipework.  There is a gas fake log fire in the kitchen and this still works so at least there is some heat.  It does take long to drain the heating and, not surprisingly, the fluid is amazingly black.

Now the job is to remove the pipework from upstairs.  The floor here is proper floorboards rather than chipboard like next door.  It takes a bit longer to take the boards up and cut out the pipework.  Some of this will be easier to remove when we take the ceiling down in underneath.

As we have removed all of the partitions upstairs, there is a lot timber that needs to got rid of.  We tend to burn the wood frequently, otherwise the bonfire is just too big.  While the fire is burning, I do some odd jobs around the place: removing one of the satellite dishes, taking down some of the old plastic waste pipes and removing disused wiring from the front of the building.  All jobs that need to be done, but nothing that you can really look at at the end of the day and think “Wow, that is a job well done”.  Ho hum.  Maybe tomorrow will be different.

Stripping out the larger cottage

February 26, 2013 /

I am off work this week which means more time to spend on the renovation

Day 2 of stripping out the larger cottage.  I was going to work on the dry stone wall, but rain soon put an end to that idea. So inside working is the order of the day.

Today it was all about removing the bathroom and partitions upstairs.  We are getting quite good at this now.  By the end of the day, the upstairs are cleared out.

This cottage is much nearer to the skip and this makes life a lot easier (not to mention much quicker).

Temporary sockets in the cottages

February 26, 2013 /

With work now starting on the larger of the two cottages, we simply can’t turn the electricity off as we did in the other cottage.  Otherwise, we would have now electricity on site at all.  The solution is to fix a single temporary socket in each of the cottages.  The socket is right next to the meter so that there is no danger that you can accidentally cut through the cable as it is only 20cms long.  This will provide us with the opportunity to power lights, kettles, or the occasional cement mixer.

This is definitely a job for a qualified electrician and we were lucky enough to find someone locally that was available same day! It only took an hour or so!  Thank you Dave!

Stripping out – starting on the larger cottage

February 25, 2013 /

With the smaller cottage all but bare, it is time to start turning our attention to the larger of the two cottages.  As we are still using the kitchen for making cups of tea, we will leave this til last.  First things to go are to remove all of the doors.  These are solid pine and our initial thoughts were to put them on eBay, but frankly they are all odd sizes and unlikely to fit anyone else’s house.  I removed all the brass fittings (for scrap) but unfortunately, the doors are destined for the bonfire.

Next came the carpets up the staircase and on the landing.  Then the bathroom.  Shower cubicle was quickly removed and then onto the other fixings.  The water is turned off here, but the electric is still on.  To be able to proceed with the stripping out much further will require the electric to be turned off, but then this will mean no electric on site.  Therefore the next job is to get a temporary spur set up off the meter, so that we have one live socket in each house, but the rest of the electric is turned off.  This is a job for a proper electrician!

With the carpet and the underlay removed, you can see the original stone staircase. The edges have been painted (many times) as there would have be a narrow "stair carpet" that would have run up the middle.

With the carpet and the underlay removed, you can see the original stone staircase. The edges have been painted (many times) as there would have be a narrow “stair carpet” that would have run up the middle.

The only thing left of the shower cubicle is the shower tray. The wall behind the sink is a partition wall, however the electrics need to be sorted out (i.e. turned off) before we do too much stripping out here.

The only thing left of the shower cubicle is the shower tray. The wall behind the sink is a partition wall, however the electrics need to be sorted out (i.e. turned off) before we do too much stripping out here.

Dry stone walling – day 18

February 25, 2013 /

Well, the weather has improved enough for us to be outdoors.  It was hovering just above freezing, but it didn’t notice too much as long as you kept moving!

We are still working on the wall in the orchard and are now using some of the stone that has been removed during the renovation.  Since the one side of the wall is higher than the other, the first five courses on the orchard side are actually underground.  This means that there is an opportunity to use any old stone in these courses as they won’t be seen.  This provides the opportunity to get rid of some of the stone that has been removed while renovating the smaller cottage.  This consists of concrete blocks, old bricks and the occasional patio slab. This is quicker to lay as the material is more uniform and has flatter edges.  This feels like a bit of a “cheat”, but since the material can’t been seen and it saves the stone for the rest of the wall, I can’t see why not.

We did remove some stone that made up the rather awful 1970’s fireplace in the smaller cottage.  This roughly matches some of the stone in the wall, so we have decide to use this.  It will be seen, but as long as none of the machined edges face out on the wall, I think they will blend in OK, particularly once they have weathered a bit.

Now we have removed the shed in the corner and some of the undergrowth, people who drive by can see us working on the wall.  This has led to numerous cryptic comments in the local pub.

Still working in the orchard. You can just some a couple of pale grey bricks hidden at the bottom of the right hand side of the wall. The first 5 courses on this side are hidden underground since this provides an opportunity to get rid of some of the material that we have removed.

Still working in the orchard. You can just some a couple of pale grey bricks hidden at the bottom of the right hand side of the wall. The first 5 courses on this side are hidden underground since this provides an opportunity to get rid of some of the material that we have removed.

Clearing out the orchard – Day 5

February 24, 2013 /

With the last of the sheds gone from the orchard, we can now start to clear out the last patch of the orchard.  This is the triangular piece of land furthest away from the house.  It had become overgrown with holly as was as a very old (and largely rotten) alder tree.  The chainsaw and a set of croppers soon had this area cleared out.  The brambles that had grown throughout the dry stone wall were particularly time-consuming to remove.

The larger pieces of timber were cut into logs, the rest was put onto a bonfire on the site of the old shed.

It took most of the day to clear out this area, but now we can start to see the state of the dry stone.  Despite it’s condition, you can see that the it was never really straight!  We will rectify this as it gets rebuilt.  With all of the undergrowth gone, it will be much easier to mark out the position of the new wall.

With all the undergrowth gone, you can see the true state of the dry stone wall,

With all the undergrowth gone, you can see the true state of the dry stone wall,

With the shed now gone, it is time to finally clear out the last part of the orchard

With the shed now gone, it is time to finally clear out the last part of the orchard

Scrap metal

February 24, 2013 /

With all the work on the smaller cottage, we removed quite a bit of old wire and copper pipe.  All in all, there were 3 rubble bags of copper and 2 bags of wire.  I took these to the scrap merchant today, along with a kitchen sink and a mixer tap.  Total value £117.  Much more than I thought.  Looking at the receipt, it looks like I got around £30 for each of the rubble sacks of copper and £10 for each sack of electrical wire (with the plastic casing still left on, but any plugs or junction boxes removed).

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