Description: A Late Victorian. lodge, the current owner, an architect with a passion for low carbon building, has moved back in from a neighbouring home.
Construction: Corbelled brick foundations, suspended timber floors, early brick cavity construction with bitumen dipped cavity ties, timbered, lath & render to gable ends, clay tiled roof with ridge finials. The last major re-fit to the property was 30 years ago.
Works previously undertaken to the property:
- Gifted strip of land to from a complete corner pavement & re-built the brick pier & railing wall to match the original continually knocked by commercial traffic.
- Ancient oil boiler finally packed up Summer 2022 …so moved out for this Christmas for start of mainly “fabric-first” refurbishment (including minimising future maintenance).
Recent Phase One:
- Erect scaffolding for full assessment of condition & high level.
- Re-roof entire main house pitches, rebuilt rear chimney, lined 3no. ground floor flues to take future wood-burning stoves, new pots & cowls to suit.
- Replaced the lead on high valley gutters. Anti-pigeon measures (ongoing)!
- Replaced white pvc guttering with largest ogee metal sections in grey.
- Installed weather vane – (wedding present 28 years ago)!
- Timber framing was rotten (19th C softwood it transpired).
- Timbered gables were replaced with darkened Oak Frames, the main West Gable which is in front of a habitable room was insulated with 300mm of Hempcrete, blown up two storeys by a specialist team from East Anglia.
- Rest of roof was insulated with: Flat areas – 300mm sheep’s wool or mineral wool. Sloping areas – Celotex. 2nd floor from sloping roof to floor: Timber framing & sheep’s wool infill. Idea being = well insulated “top hat”.
- Wonderful replacement double glazed windows locally made, factory painted – (old ones were too rotten to refurbish).
- Complete re-wire of house. Ethernet network distribution. 3-phase supply.
- Ground bored-source heat pump was abandoned due to cost compared to new oil tank & boiler – 8/9 times the price. (Had wanted to go fossil-fuel-free, but whole house has low temperature wet heat distribution system – so can take ground source heat pump in say 15 years time).
- Timber areas of ground floor removed (some rotten / insect attack). Replaced with recycled glass insulation (Ty Mawr), under floor pipe heating, limecrete slab & porcelain floor tiling – (all good for dogs)!
- New soakaways installed in both lawns to take surface water drainage.
- Moved back Feb/March 2025, so have yet to assess winter performance.
Comments on moving back to date:
- There is only one shower & bath at present for quite a large house. Not quite enough when hoards of visitors descend. It is intended to add another reasonably accessible shower downstairs (infirmed future-proofing), and a shower/bath on the 2nd floor.
- New timber windows (completely formed to match the sections of those removed) are wonderful! Flies used to breed in the old ones. No condensation so clear views (requiring net curtains for privacy!), easy purge ventilation with top hung windows, easier to clean – no flaking paint. Payback in terms of energy saving for new is usually estimated to be 60years, but one must counter this with the pure enjoyment of the new products!
- The house feels much “snugger” – but we have yet to live thro’ a winter!
Gosh – has been a hot dry year! How to avoid over-heating?
- Delayed pollarding North facing limes to help shade during height of summer when sunlight penetrates further north both to East & West.
- Existing East-facing conservatory has been unusable during most of the day from March to end August - it is like a sauna. Birds ingress if the doors are left open, or through the open perimeter eaves. The glass has none of the properties of more recent “solar-control” type. Its construction is unsuitable for installing “eco-blinds” etc.
- Without the shade of the lean-to roof, East facing larder was just too hot. Reflective window film has drastically reduced its internal temperature.
Planned further works, (some subject to planning):
- Re-roof the South Wing & replace these windows.
- Make good the South Wing fire-escape external stairs.
- Replace the rear lean-to roof that collapsed, after scaffolding comes down.
- Form a simple external BBQ kitchen under rear lean-to - (to remove cooking heat from inside during possibly ever hot summers, following the Australian exemplar)? Include a repaired “dog blanket” washing machine separate from the human one inside.
- Re-open up the original front door to the North Elevation on Crane Street (permitted development).
- Existing South entrance to become “lower key / tradesman” entrance with addition of traditional Victorian verandah, and solar-controlled rooflight.
- Replace the 30yr+ conservatory with an “Orangery” (solid flat roof with central rooflight), slightly lower & with far more elegant proportions.
- More in-roof photovoltaic panels, connected to external battery/inverter in an outside store.
- With no garage, somewhere to locate additional freezer storage for home-grown produce.
- Further internal “Plantation” shutters to most windows when these can be afforded.