Problems with pigeons

The two giant plasterwork figures on one of my gables have been sporting new hairdos lately, thanks to the messy deposits from pigeons that have taken to roosting beneath the barge boards. We’ve therefore resorted to blocking the points where the birds were perching with compressed wire mesh. If this works – and so far it seems to have done the trick, touch wood – we’ll use the same technique for the other gable.

My neighbours, the Reeds, kindly loaned us their ladder but due to the fragility of the decorative plasterwork (pargeting) I’m going to play safe in the future and use a mobile tower scaffold. As the front of the house abuts the pavement, though, I can only erect this outside normal working hours if I’m to avoid obtaining a scaffolding licence from the county council. I’m now looking into buying my own scaffolding, which will also be useful when I redecorate.

Guided tours

Thirty members of the Stansted Mountfitchet Local History Society descended on my house the other day (pictured, right). 

Once again, I’ve leapt at the chance to be a tour guide, having already hosted visits by several SPAB parties (pictured, below).

It’s a good time for people to see the property whilst it is still in a fairly untouched state and I believe that the visits will help increase the awareness of old buildings and the heritage of the town generally. The more that people appreciate the historic environment, the more likely they are to care about it.

There’s much concern locally at the moment about the need to protect the area and its unique character from over-development.

My visitors from Stansted were particularly anxious about the possibility of a second runway at the nearby airport, which is opposed by 89% of people in the district and would involve the callous destruction of at least 35 historic buildings (www.stopstanstedexpansion.com).

As elsewhere, there’s also unease about the impact of hundreds of centrally-imposed new houses and more out-of-town supermarket provision. A campaign has recently been launched to save Saffron Walden Town Centre (www.savewaldentowncentre.org).

Step by step

It’s very tempting to get stuck straight into work on site after taking on an old building but I am taking time to understand my property’s history and construction first. My house has survived for 500 years remarkably unscathed and I’m acutely aware that by acting in haste I could inadvertently cause serious damage in literally just a few minutes.

The more you know about an old building, the more successful a project is likely to be. For example, a good understanding of my house’s history will, I hope, help me to make sensible changes that respect its historic fabric. And an appreciation of the way it is built should assist me in seeing why any deterioration has set in and how it might successfully be put right.

I must emphasise that the knowledge I gain about my house won’t be used to restore it back to some former point in time, which would be anathema to the principles of the SPAB and could create an unsatisfactory fake. I’ll also use non-destructive survey techniques in addition to documentary research to avoid harming the building.

Essential maintenance will, of course, still be required pending the start of major work. One of my immediate jobs has been to reinstate the odd slipped slate on the Victorian extension (pictured) to keep out the rain.

Friends and family

I’m keen for my building project to be good fun and not become overly onerous. This means taking the occasional short break to keep up with friends, family and other interests.

Last Friday evening I attended an intriguing lecture on ‘The Origins and Use of Mediaeval Cloisters’, held to raise funds for repairs to Strethall Church in Essex. This tiny, enchanting flint building is one of the oldest in our county – parts date back to Saxon times and this year the church celebrates its 1,000th anniversary. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

I was away for most of the weekend in Suffolk with friends, two of whom, Mark and Mags, put us up. Mark is also passionate about old buildings so I’m planning to enlist his help with the work to my house once the action hots up. Our excursions took us to Snape Maltings (pictured, above; www.snapemaltings.co.uk), as well as the ancient and picturesque village of Hoxne (pictured, left).

On Sunday evening, I travelled down to London for a family birthday celebration at La Cucina in Farringdon, one of my favourite Italian restaurants (020 7250 0035). Now I need to work off the excess!

Energy performance

It is important that we all strive to cut our carbon dioxide emissions but I am taking the recommendations in the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) that I received when purchasing my house (below) with a pinch of salt. Unfortunately, they are less than helpful and bear out concerns expressed by the SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) when EPCs were introduced as part of Home Information Packs (HIPs) in 2007.

No previous experience is necessary to train as a domestic energy assessor to produce EPCs and those who qualify frequently display a worrying lack of understanding when dealing with old buildings. This is compounded by the fact that the software used can discriminate against older, more complex properties. Consequently, the recommendations given in EPCs are too often for work that would not only be damaging to historic fabric but result in little, if any, environmental benefit.

Even so, I was aghast at the assessor’s recommendation that the thermal efficiency of one of my two cottages could be improved by applying external wall insulation and the claim that this “might improve the look of the house”. So much for the building’s grade I listing and the national significance of its pargeting! Fortunately, there are many other, more appropriate ways in which I could cut my energy use and I plan to incorporate a range of these into the forthcoming project.

Good advice on reducing energy consumption in old buildings can be found at www.climatechangeandyourhouse.org.uk and www.historic-scotland.gov.uk.

Coping with the cold

My town has suffered burst pipes and potholed roads after winter tightened its icy grip. Just around the corner from home, firefighters were called after the feed pipe to the water tank in the loft of an empty listed building split and caused extensive flood damage.

I’ve been more fortunate, though it’s been so cold that pieces of vitreous china have broken off the rim to one of my outside WCs! I took the precaution of closely inspecting the supply pipework in the nearby outbuilding and this revealed a fragile joint – a disaster waiting to happen. A quick easing of the stopcock with WD-40, then turning it open and shut a number of times, permitted a solder repair to be made.

The SPAB has some tips for protecting old buildings from cold weather at www.spab.org.uk.

Living history

I was leaving the house the other morning when I became aware of a passer-by waiting in the snow for me. It turned out to be an elderly lady, Mrs Selby, who had lived in part of my property from the 1920s right up until just before I took possession. I knew she was now in sheltered accommodation in the town but this was the first time we had met.

Our chance encounter was timely. As well as handing her a Christmas card that had arrived at her old address, I was also able to raise the possibility of us getting together over the next few months to talk about her memories of living in the house. In line with good building conservation practice, I’m hoping to investigate the building and its history thoroughly before commencing any significant work.

Mrs Selby evidently has much to tell me. She has already mentioned an occasion in the 1940s when a lorry collided with the oversailing first floor wall, narrowly missing her but breaking a cast iron window frame. Fortunately, the pavement has since been widened to keep traffic further away.

Mortgage matters

Having been successful against several other bidders, I was determined that my house purchase wouldn’t then flounder when mortgage lenders said they perceived it to be high-risk. The credit crunch, listed status, non-standard construction, outside toilets and my plan to put two cottages back into one house under a long lease all apparently counted against me.

Before I’d made the offer, my broker, Trevor Howard of MPI Services (www.mpiservices.co.uk), had confirmed that he should be able to arrange a mortgage on reasonable terms. Ultimately, though, only one lender was prepared to consider the proposition. “If this fails,” Trevor wrote, “I have nothing else to offer.”

Fortunately, Trevor and his colleagues more than earned their commission and I eventually received an offer of a renovation mortgage from Birmingham Midshires through BuildStore (www.buildstore.co.uk).

As well as providing financial services, BuildStore run the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon. I was invited along recently to give a talk on my project for visitors. You can attend courses there, view trade stands and demonstrations, and obtain advice and information from a range of specialists. I’d recommend a visit to anyone embarking on an old buildings project.

My new old house

After some years of advising others on how to handle work on old buildings through my role at the SPAB, I’m thrilled to be taking on a major project of my own – updating, altering and repairing a 15th-century, grade-I-listed house, later part of an inn, at Saffron Walden in Essex.

The property is remarkable for the decorative render, or ‘pargeting’, that adorns its front walls, especially two large, folkish figures over the carriageway. There are also reputed links with Oliver Cromwell to investigate.

I spotted an advert by chance in a local newspaper. The agent, Cheffins (www.cheffins.co.uk), received great interest so the sale went to ‘best and final offer’, with the suspense of seeing how my sealed bid fared against others. Apparently, a friend’s tip to include a one-sided resume justifying my interest in the building helped greatly.

Now my challenge is to sympathetically return what are presently two cottages back into a single dwelling to provide myself with a home fit for the 21st century. To give you an idea of the scale of my task, there are only outside toilets and one cottage even lacks electricity. It’s a project that will keep me busy for the foreseeable future.

About Douglas

My professional life is advising others on the care of old buildings at the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). Now my home life is to be absorbed through a major project on my grade-I-listed house. Follow my experiences.

My background is as a chartered building surveyor with a Masters degree in the conservation of buildings. Since 2000 I have been Technical Secretary at the SPAB, Britain’s oldest building conservation charity. I oversee the Society’s technical activities, including enquiries, publications and courses of a technical nature. This is a hugely varied and rewarding role that places me at the heart of building conservation.

Previously I’ve worked in the public and private sectors advising on historic buildings for a range of organisations, such as the Ministry of Defence and English Heritage.

I am a member of the technical panels of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and Property Care Association and the committees of the Traditional Paint Forum and Conservation of Historic Thatch group. I also write and lecture regularly on technical matters and have contributed to various radio and television programmes.

The SPAB was set up by the designer William Morris in 1877 to promote the principles of ‘conservative repair’. I’m relishing the challenge of putting these principles into practice with my work to sympathetically update, alter and repair my 15th-century, timber-framed house in Essex, which, by a remarkable coincidence, the SPAB saved from harm in the 1930s.

For more on the SPAB see www.spab.org.uk.