Marianne Suhr: Halfway House

The project: Honey Cottage, a 17th-century Grade II listed, four-bedroom cottage in need of extensive repair and modernisation.
This month's challenge: To rewire and repair the interior finishes.

My father was addicted to DIY house building. His greatest triumph was a five-bedroom house he built in the garden after taking early retirement. He always said that when the house is wind and watertight, then the project is halfway there. I could never believe him. Surely once the shell is complete then it just needs a lick of paint, a few kitchen and bathroom appliances, and job done?

Time management
Having now tackled three major projects of my own, I have to confess I am in total agreement with my father. Most of us underestimate how long it takes to do all those incidental things.

An old house interior requires hours of intense scrubbing, scraping, sanding and filling just to bring it to the point where it can be decorated. And there are a million awkward areas that need resolving before the scrubbing can even start.

I think this is why so many seasoned builders have given up on the gentle approach in favour of ripping out the whole interior – ceilings, floors, the lot – and starting from scratch. It is much easier and cheaper, but it is also the reason why so many old buildings lose their soul when they are renovated.

Make do and mend
Luckily, when homeowners Harriet and Brian bought Honey Cottage, they knew that the property was special and needed to be treated with tender loving care. That’s why they employed experienced building surveyor, Richard Cain, to head up the project. Being Grade II listed, the house also has legal protection against inappropriate alteration.

Accordingly, Harriet has given her builders strict instructions to save whatever they can. Old plaster is being patched where it is missing, rotten timbers are being repaired rather than replaced and nothing is being thrown away. Harriet understands fully that the joy of the finished house will be in its imperfections, its wobbly surfaces and out-of-plumb walls.

When I visited last I found a very frustrated electrician on the verge of a nervous breakdown! Harriet had made it clear that there was to be no surface mounted wiring, and minimum damage to historic fabric. But the solid wattle and daub walls and ancient oak frame left him no sneaky little cavities to run his wiring through.

After much head scratching and a couple of negotiated socket positions later, he finally settled on his wiring routes. Of course no rewiring is ever achieved without doing some damage, but I’m glad to say that the electrician tried his best.

Good groundwork
Once the plumbing and wiring was in, the floorboards could be refixed. Harriet took the opportunity to lay insulation under the floorboards and between the joists. She also fixed reed mat to the external walls to boost their insulation value and provide a base for the new lime plaster.

With the floors back down and the plaster on the walls, suddenly the house has started to come together. The kitchen fitters are ready for action and Harriet is agonising over colour swatches. But there is still a long way to go. Maybe a little over halfway, but I don’t think Harriet should be planning any dinner parties for at least three months…

ABOVE (L-R): The new lime plaster goes on; Preparing the walls for decorating; Building surveyor, Richard Cain examines a section of wattle and daub internal walling.
BELOW (L-R): Refixing the old floorboards after insulating the void beneath; Old paint has been removed from the doors using a hot air gun; Reed board is fixed to the external walls to improve insulation.

Marianne's Checklist: Rewiring an old house

• Plan carefully: Start with a plan of the house and sketch in where all your furniture will go and use this as the starting point for planning sockets, switches and lighting positions.
• Direct positioning: Mark the final positions on the wall with a pencil.
• Schedule realistically: Rewiring is done in two phases. The ‘first fix’ – getting the wires in – precedes the plastering. The ‘second fix’ is then carried out, the socket covers go on and the lights are fitted.
• Consider routes: Talk the wiring routes through with your electrician – make it clear that you want minimum damage. You may have to accept the odd surfacemounted wire, or compromise on the position of a socket.
• Avoid unnecessary damage: If you have good floorboards, get a carpenter to lift them before the electrician starts.
• Decide early on the look: If you can, choose wall lights before the ‘first fix’ starts and decide exactly how high it needs to be. Recessed downlighters are inappropriate for old buildings because the gap between the ceiling and the floor above isn’t deep enough, posing a fire risk. Check with your electrician first.

TOP TIP: Lamplight is attractive in an old house. If you fit 5amp round pin sockets that are connected to the lighting circuit, and compatible plugs to your lamps, they will come on at the flick of a wall switch.

Expertise: Repairing old plaster
Save sound old plaster wherever you can but make sure that it hasn’t become detached from the wall or ceiling. Plaster should go back in lime, both to match the existing plaster and to allow the wall to breathe.

1 Dampen the wall to control the ‘suction’ then apply a first coat of haired lime plaster. This can be bought ready-mixed either in small bags or 1 tonne sacks – ask for a haired, putty based lime plaster.
2 Once the backing coat has hardened but before it is completely dry, ‘devil’ the surface, ie scratch it to provide a key for the next coat. Use a wooden float with the tips of three screws just poking through and scour the surface.
3 Once the backing coat has completely dried, dampen it once again before applying a ‘setting’ coat. This is a finer mix based on lime and fine sand, and can also be purchased ready prepared. Never apply the setting coat more than a couple of millimetres thick.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE SUHR
Featured in the August 2009 issue of Period Living