November

The house is cross-built construction. Meaning the cross walls running front to back (the gable end, and the partition wall with next door) are the main, load bearing walls.  In this case they’re twin brick or block walls with a cavity between.  The front and rear walls are more lightweight construction – windows & panel, or clad with tiles and timber.

After the 2nd World War various new construction methods were tried in order to save on materials.  There are some houses of rather unconventional construction around Manchester, including a couple we didn’t buy that turned out to be rare examples of a steel frame construction, and most wierdly, diatomite.  Cross-built is fairly common though.

So, I had assumed the front and rear walls would be timber frame, with the cladding attached on the outside, and plaster board on the inside.

But we (myself and a couple of surveyors) were pretty surprised to discover masonory in the front and rear walls, even upstairs.

We’ll add insulation to all the walls.  Front & rear I’m going insulate internally with woodfibre boards.

In preparation for internal wall insulation, we’re removing the existing plaster, taking the walls back to brick or block.

Also related to construction, we’re planning new windows, including the very wide front upstairs windows.  In the case of some neighbours the window fitters have simply removed the centre mullion.

But when I checked, I discovered this post continues above the window, so may well be providing structural support to a long lintel above, and possibly part of the roof.  I ran it past a mate who is rather conveniently a structural engineer.  He does not advocate its removal.

So on reflection, I think I might leave it in place.  We’ll have new windows fitted either side of it, and I’ll insulate the post.

November

With floorboards lifted, holes and channels all over the walls, and wires sticking out all over the place, the place looks like a proper building site now.

It’s all fine.  It’s OK.   We just have to break it down a bit before we can build it back up, better.  In this case, with lights where we actually want them, more than one socket in a room, and circuits for new efficient appliances and renewables kit.  Oh, and an electrics board with trip switches, rather than a fuse box with actual fuses.

October

In preparing to install a new floor over the existing concrete we must ensure protection from rising damp with a damp proof membrane. I tried Black Jack DMP paint, a couple of coats.  A great idea, to make a neat and thin, sealed surface and edging.

It did not dry.  Even after a couple of weeks, well ventilated, and the weather wasn’t that cold.

Put anything down on it (i.e. anywhere on the entire ground floor of the house) and it gets tar like rubber paint stuck to it, which will not clean off, even with clean spirit.  When you pick the thing up, the painted floor surface is left marked, damaging the damp proof seal.

When you walk on it, same thing.  Paint stuck to your boots, which then sticks to whatever floor you walk on next, staining that.

Nightmare.

In the end I had to put down a plastic sheet dpm anyway to cover the sticky paint, and some very large wooden boards, to cover the floor, so we could crack on with a rewire.

No, I would not recommend this product.

October

Major shelf upgrade in the garage, with the help of my brother, so we can stop falling over things, get sorted, and find things.

Before & After

1963

Our first Title Deeds from 1961 are for the plot, before the house was constructed, in ’63. Some of the neighbours have lived here since the estate was built and remember when beyond our terrace was a farm, where the primary school is now.

We’ve learnt that the estate was “designed by Keith Ingham of the Building Design Partnership, who is slightly more famous for the Brutalist masterpiece that is Preston Bus Station!”

Granada TV had close ties with the estate, so Michael Palin lived across the road, Joan Bakewell round the corner and, this neighbour told us, she’d regularly pass “that bloke who’d played Taggart”.

Our House & Terrace, 1964

Also Designed By…

Photo credits – Royal Institute of British Architects
https://www.ribapix.com/Norris-Hill-Park-Stockport_RIBA75281
https://www.ribapix.com/Norris-Hill-Park-Stockport_RIBA75276
https://www.ribapix.com/Preston-Bus-Station-Lancashire_RIBA51110