DB Building Conservation | Gallery

The lower part of the frame of this house had badly decayed as a result of water being trapped behind cracked cement render over many years. The photo shows the façade with the old render partly removed, revealing the frame and clay infill.

Rebuilding the frame and reinstating supports for clay infill. New oak framing by carpenter Jack Wheeler

Daub for the infill

Clay infill reinstated between the new studs

A clay render applied over the face of the new timbers, with the original render above

After the application of lime render and limewash

Interior of what was probably the original parlour of the house, where much of the lower frame has been repaired using new oak and the flint plinth wall has been rebuilt. The daub infill was applied to new hazel staves, following the pattern originally used in the house.

Plastering the panels with a lime mix

Close-up of a panel with lime mix

The completed wall

This house had been badly neglected and was being given a thorough programme of refurbishment. Here a lath and plaster ceiling had failed. The old laths were retained where sound and new laths introduced as needed. A lime and chalk plaster was applied in two coats.

Initial stages of the scratch coat. The new lath wall to the right was plastered in the same way.

The completed scratch coat

The ceiling after its finishing coat

Plastering the adjacent wall

Another room in the same building. The contours of the historic ceiling have been retained in the repair.

Detail of internal gable in Tudor Barn, Belstead, which was being converted into a wedding venue

Internal gable after repair

Historically important daisywheel symbols scratched into plaster on the ceiling of the barn. The laths supporting the plaster had failed and whole area was in danger of further detachment and collapse.

The same area of plaster after consolidation and repair

The missing elements of the pattern were then reinstated

A second internal gable with old plaster in need of local repairs and patching

Detail: new laths introduced in failed area of the gable

The after effect

The after effect (detail)

This 17th century timber framed house was re-fronted in brick in the 18th century and then rendered in the 20th century using an inappropriate cement render. The initial plan was to re-render in lime, but when it was discovered that the brickwork, which matches the adjoining property, was in reasonable condition, the decision was made to make local repairs and then finish with a breathable paint. A case of minimal intervention.

Peeling back the cement render and metal lath

The finished elevation

As part of a major refurbishment of this mid-Victorian House the opening between the two downstairs rooms was reduced while the original Victorian cornice was shored up and saved. The whole downstairs was then re-plastered, as the following pictures show.

The arch was created above the inglenook using oak laths on a timber framework.

Three coats of lime plaster create an even sweeping curve.

The arch after the finishing coat of lime-chalk plaster, ready for its final decorative finish.

When failed cement render was removed from the plinth, damage to the brick plinth was revealed. It was decided to repair the brickwork before re-rendering and then setting the lower courses of weatherboarding away from the wall so that they would oversail the plinth and throw rainwater away from the base of the wall.

The plinth repair and rendering complete and wedges cut to kick out the bottom of the weatherboarding.

The finished state with the weatherboard back in place and plinth awaiting limewashing.

Springmead is a Grade II* 16th/17th house with later changes, including in this bedroom which had been reshaped in the 18th and then in the 20th century, when the last re-modelling added studwork, plasterboard and skim but very little in the way of effective insulation. As a result the room was cold and draughty, with large voids behind the plasterboard.

We stripped the plasterboard, repaired some areas of the frame and then fitted wood fibre insulation batts before boarding with wood wool and replastering in lime. All of the materials used are vapour permeable and work to regulate moisture in the building.

Insulating: Friction fitting Steicotherm semi-flexible wood fibre insulation.

TThe whole room was boarded with Savolit wood wool board and the joints scrimmed prior to plastering.

The finished room, now warm, comfortable, and ready to be lived in again.