Repairing the old house – Page 4 – saving The Old Brewhouse

Wattle and daub

We learnt the basics of wattle and daub on an Essex County Council course at Onchors Farm near Braintree. The course tutors were Lydia Bucknell and Peter Roe of Traditionally Plastered. This was a prelude to a long term programme of repairs to the daub, inside and outside.

The first thing to think about is a supply of clay daub. On the course, we learnt to make it ourselves. The basic ingredient in that part of Essex was a pale yellow clay, containing small chalk pebbles, from a pit on the farm, which was quite similar in texture to the material in the walls of our cottage.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — This was was the kind of repair we had to tackle – deep damage to the clay panels.

At Onchors farm, the clay was mixed with sand, chopped straw and cow manure and then trodden (literally) until the texture changed to plastic and doughy, not unlike plasticine. It took 3 people 30-40 minutes to tread one large wheelbarrow load into the right condition. Traditional builders used to short circuit this laborious process by leaving cows tethered in the clay pits to tread the mixture. Modern machinery can be used to make daub in quantity, but do not use cement mixers, because the material is too glutinous. Onchors farm has a machine very like a large bread doughmaker, with rotating arms. Given our experience of DIY daub making, we decided to buy ready made daub from the farm in tubs. Continue reading “Wattle and daub”

Archaeologists don’t get along with builders

The floor was also of special interest to the archaeologists who investigated the building, which was a condition of planning permission. Once the concrete had been removed, they meticulously worked down through the old floor layers using trowels and logging every piece of broken pottery and other material they found. They were on site for nearly a week, so there was constant tension with the builders, whose timetable was at risk because of need to investigate each layer under the floor. The archaeologists tried hard to be helpful, and did shift quite a lot of spoil for the builders. The main find was the base of the old brewing hearth (see ‘A house unlived in for centuries’). Bricks were taken away for dating. We are still waiting for the results.

Repairing brick footings and oak sole plates

Because the floor was due to be replaced and lowered 8 inches, it was imperative to deepen and strengthen the footings, which were mostly only two or three bricks deep. They were built down a metre by digging a trench in sections around the house. New bricks were laid almost direct onto the clay, on a thin layer of limecrete.

Most of the oak sole plates supporting the walls, laid onto the old brick footings, were rotten. They were replaced with the same wood, oak. Continue reading “Repairing brick footings and oak sole plates”

Limecrete floor

The ground floor – removing cement and replacing it with limecrete

The cement floor was the biggest single problem. It had to be removed to make the building habitable, because headroom on the ground floor was well under 6 feet. The plan was to drop the floor 8 inches. The architects advised, and indeed the conservation officer insisted, on a limecrete floor, using expanded glass balls from power station waste as a lightweight filler instead of gravel. Underneath was a thick layer of a similar expanded glass, for insulation, and also to allow water to drain away quickly from beneath the building. The winter water table, as measured by the well outside, is less than half a metre below the floor.

The cement floor, which was removed and replaced with limecrete

Limecrete, bought from Ty-Mawr, is a modern variant on the old materials, and its use has been a resounding success. Continue reading “Limecrete floor”

First stage repairs

BASIC WORK ON THE OLD BUILDING

2007-9

We gained planning permission and listed building consent for structural repairs to the building, installation of services, a new vehicle entrance and construction of a cart-lodge style garage and also a small extension – essentially, a porch, though with a shower room squeezed in. We decided we would split this into several phases, leaving the porch extension, some of the repair work and the garage until later.

The repairs under Phase I were undertaken by Robert Norman Construction of Framlingham. The main items were: Continue reading “First stage repairs”

Repairs before we bought

The front door, hidden by flowers - how we first saw it. — The front door, hidden by flowers – how we first saw it.

Considerable work was done in the 1980s by Paul and Ginny Broomhead, the previous owners, to preserve and adapt the building, but it was not finished. The building had been roughly repaired when it was owned by Rush Green Farm, whose farmhouse they bought in 1983 (now renamed Holm Oak House) along with what is now The Old Brewhouse. Continue reading “Repairs before we bought”