This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!
The rest of the house can be done using a two metre ladder.

Matty F wrote:

This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!
The rest of the house can be done using a two metre ladder.

Another impressive piece of work Matty.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 02/03/2012 06:01, Matty F wrote:
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!
The rest of the house can be done using a two metre ladder.

You certainly don't lack ambition :-)

BTW, if you scaffold the house and fix tarpaulins over the scaffolding,
you can take the roof of without worrying about rain.

Colin Bignell

In article
,
Matty F writes
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

Looks great!
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

fred wrote:
In article
,
Matty F writes
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

Looks great!
where is that? west country? foreign parts?


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

On Mar 2, 11:02 pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
fred wrote:
In article
,
Matty F writes
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

Looks great!

where is that? west country? foreign parts?

It's possibly the oldest house in NZ still being lived in.

Matty F wrote:
On Mar 2, 11:02 pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
fred wrote:
In article
,
Matty F writes
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.
I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.
http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg
Looks great!
where is that? west country? foreign parts?

It's possibly the oldest house in NZ still being lived in.


Excellent!

Of course that introduces the metaphysical question of how much of it is
actually still the oldest house, and whether it can be considered to be
that house..

...a discussion that flops over into classic cars, where, by the rules,
you can take one old car, and use half a dozen parts from it to
'restore' half a dozen 'original cars'...:-)

--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Matty F wrote:

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg
Looks great!
where is that? west country? foreign parts?

It's possibly the oldest house in NZ still being lived in.


Excellent!

Of course that introduces the metaphysical question of how much of it is
actually still the oldest house, and whether it can be considered to be
that house..

..a discussion that flops over into classic cars, where, by the rules,
you can take one old car, and use half a dozen parts from it to
'restore' half a dozen 'original cars'...:-)

The four main rooms downstairs are original, including floors,
ceilings, walls, doors and windows. The roof used to be shingles but
was replaced with galvanised steel maybe 100 years ago. The upper
lounge and kitchen and bathroom are new but the windows are from very
old houses. So I guess the house is about 50% original.

"Matty F" wrote in message
...
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!
The rest of the house can be done using a two metre ladder.

What do you do in your spare time?

"brass monkey" wrote in message
eb.com...

"Matty F" wrote in message
...
This 160 year old cottage was in a very sad state. The lounge was tiny
so I got some builders to take the roof off and build the framing for
a top story lounge, 6 metres square.
When a roof is taken off, it needs some fast work done otherwise the
rest of the house gets flooded when it rains.

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!
The rest of the house can be done using a two metre ladder.

What do you do in your spare time?

He plays with trams.

On Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:01:23 -0800, Matty F wrote:
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

I'm surprised it's not more than that - in part because the end result
looks so good, and in part because what you started with looks like a bit
of a shed ;-)

Do you have in-progress shots of the framing work? Did someone have to
strengthen foundations and lower-floor walls to take all that additional
weight? (I've got a flat-roofed office at one end of our house, and keep
thinking I'll put a top floor over it one day, so I'd have those kinds of
challenges to investigate)

And 160 years? The entire state where I live didn't even officially
exist when that was new. :-)

cheers

Jules

On Fri, 2 Mar 2012 21:42:28 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson wrote:

And 160 years? The entire state where I live didn't even officially
exist when that was new. :-)

Meh. This place was most likely the best part of 160 years old
then... Though how much of the building from that time remains is
anyones guess.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mar 3, 10:42 am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:01:23 -0800, Matty F wrote:
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

I'm surprised it's not more than that - in part because the end result
looks so good, and in part because what you started with looks like a bit
of a shed ;-)

Do you have in-progress shots of the framing work? Did someone have to
strengthen foundations and lower-floor walls to take all that additional
weight? (I've got a flat-roofed office at one end of our house, and keep
thinking I'll put a top floor over it one day, so I'd have those kinds of
challenges to investigate)

And 160 years? The entire state where I live didn't even officially
exist when that was new. :-)

The foundations were rotten timber and were replaced with concrete
foundation blocks.

Here's the house when I bought it, and with a gable removed and the
floor being built:
http://i44.tinypic.com/jhauro.jpg

The studs in the walls were a full 2"x4" and the span was only 10 feet
for each of the two rooms under the new floor.

Here's the top floor being built:
http://i39.tinypic.com/esj595.jpg

I finished the house from this stage after the roof went on.

Here's the house before and after the new floor went on:
http://i42.tinypic.com/5v9h4x.jpg

On Thu, 1 Mar 2012 22:01:23 -0800 (PST), Matty F
wrote:

I've done all the finishing work, weatherboards, windows and doors.
It's now valued at 40 times what it cost me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfqcjr.jpg

admiration

Jeez, you are a productive *******.

On Thu, 1 Mar 2012 22:01:23 -0800 (PST), Matty F
wrote:

I've just repainted everything that you can see, using a ladder
extended to 4 metres high that I discussed here once, to most people's
horror!

Most people think they are doing well building a shed on the side of
their house - never mind a house on the side of their shed!