Sorting out the drainage in the lower field and other gubbins. An apprentice digger driver writes.

[6feetdown]

This year I have been restoring the two most exposed faces of the house. Cement pointing might be the wrong thing for this house, but it was certainly put on well, it's like bloody granite!


View attachment 40385

Some French lime turned up:

View attachment 40386

I went round the local builders merchants and a quarry to get the sand colours right before buying a couple of tons:

View attachment 40389

The basic tools needed are:

View attachment 40392
Bucket trowel for measuring out and mixing, two converted mastic trowels will do to put it on and a churn brush finishes off.

View attachment 40393

The front is done here, new gutter and downpipe too. Gable done up to eaves level.

We get a lot of wind driven rain here, it blows hard and for so long it drives the rain into the porous stone. It comes in in various places, mainly where those cheap extensions have been put on. I took the flashings off, got the stihlsaw out and cut them in deeper. Then I found something called 'Stormdry cream'. It's obscenely expensive, but quite advanced. It stops rain from going in, but lets water vapour out so allows the building to breathe. I bought some and slapped it on and initially it seems to have done the job. It's early days and we'll get far worse rain, but so far we're leak free

Stormdry is good for stone use it reasonably often

 

[charlie2]

This year I have been restoring the two most exposed faces of the house. Cement pointing might be the wrong thing for this house, but it was certainly put on well, it's like bloody granite!


View attachment 40385

Some French lime turned up:

View attachment 40386

I went round the local builders merchants and a quarry to get the sand colours right before buying a couple of tons:

View attachment 40389

The basic tools needed are:

View attachment 40392
Bucket trowel for measuring out and mixing, two converted mastic trowels will do to put it on and a churn brush finishes off.

View attachment 40393

The front is done here, new gutter and downpipe too. Gable done up to eaves level.

We get a lot of wind driven rain here, it blows hard and for so long it drives the rain into the porous stone. It comes in in various places, mainly where those cheap extensions have been put on. I took the flashings off, got the stihlsaw out and cut them in deeper. Then I found something called 'Stormdry cream'. It's obscenely expensive, but quite advanced. It stops rain from going in, but lets water vapour out so allows the building to breathe. I bought some and slapped it on and initially it seems to have done the job. It's early days and we'll get far worse rain, but so far we're leak free

House looks so much better now, found your thread on piston heads and making my way through it, my fave thing on ph. I think you had a good deal on the setts myself.

 

[fred]

Stormdry is good for stone use it reasonably often

have to be careful replacing lime morter (breathable) with cement(non breathable) especially if its a solid wall you will get damp issues.

 

[LKSF]

All the pics are links and this forum is set to allow two links per post only so i'll have to do it in multiple posts.

You'll notice the picture quality get much better as a pro takes over with his camera:

Our yearly hunt and social event with the falconry club



Steve is a great photographer, but that bloody old bath steals the shot for me, you can tell it came from round here (probably out of the house) with the brown staining in it

The long term forecast was bad and in the previous week we'd had about 6" of rain, but as hunting day neared the forecast changed. Although it was very windy (who'd have thought it?

) it was mild and dry.
I'd secured us some neighbouring fields too so we had plenty to go at. Birds were Red tail, Gos and Harris hawks this year.

It starts at 9 with a bacon butty, a cuppa and an hour or two of socialising. We have a lot of rabbits here and they can be very destructive, flower beds are regularly dug up, plants and bulbs taken, vegetable plots completely flattened. They even chew holes through plastic fencing put there to keep them out.
This is just a way of keeping the population in check by using natural hunters, the odds very much favour the rabbits who win overall as they're often too quick and know the land very well, only one was caught all day long. Only one bird is used at once.
The rabbits are flushed out of the holes by ferrets and the dogs were just there for the ride, none are used.
Pictures courtesy of Steve Bradley Photography:

 

[LKSF]

Matey, today of all days you do not want to be there.

 

[LKSF]

 

[LKSF]

Mutual respect.




I think I'll stay this side of the glass today.

 

[LKSF]

That's Sunday lunch done, whose loading the dishwasher?

 

[LKSF]

 

[LKSF]

It's in here somewhere.

 

[LKSF]

Well it was over here.


Where?

 

[LKSF]

Here? Ooops, no not that!


A herd of very friendly cows, all they want to do is lick everything and everybody. No dairy up here, all for beef.

 

[LKSF]

Even the sheep are friendly on this farm, not all as much as this one though, it was hand reared and will wander into the farmhouse if the door is left open.

 

[LKSF]

One bird decided to fly away, the owner set off in hot pursuit on foot and ended up 2 miles away by a res! They've all got trackers on them.





A great day was had by all.
The end

 

[LKSF]

have to be careful replacing lime mortar (breathable) with cement(non breathable) especially if its a solid wall you will get damp issues.

You might and you do have to be very careful, but it's not the rule. It's dependent on a lot of things and many roads lead to Rome.
Stormdry is breathable and it's the only way around here you'll keep your house dry in Winter.

 

[Furniss]

I had a mate with red tail we spent a bit of time out with that and one of my lurchers ..always entertaining....unless you were trying to coax it out of a tree

 

[LKSF]

I had a mate with red tail we spent a bit of time out with that and one of my lurchers ..always entertaining....unless you were trying to coax it out of a tree

Yeah they are a bit naughty sometimes, I think it's a fine balance between it being wild and a pet.
I think this a Pointer isn't it?
The owner said it would quarter my field, I said it can mow it too if you like

 

[LKSF]

While we're on a roll with Steve's fantastic pics here are a few more of his. These are of some barn owls just a few miles from here:

Apparently the owner of the old farm won't sell, the owls need somewhere to live

 

[LKSF]

Soft rush blights the Pennine fields all the way up to Scotland. It takes over the land, sheep and cows won't touch it. It likes the acidic damp ground so thrives here. Back in the day you could get a grant to lime your field, but those days are gone now so it's rampant. The renting farmer has worked hard to bring some of our fields back to useable grass after they'd been neglected for many years, but for some reason always skirted around this bit. I don't know why, but I asked one of our neighbours to put his topper through it.
He said his topper was broken.
I said I'll fix your topper.
He said then i'll fix your field
Sorry, no pics. But he dropped it off, I picked it up with the digger then bashed, coaxed and welded it back into position.
Back in action:

I finished the other bits off with the brushcutter. Then raked the stuff up by hand and loaded it into Benford to take away.

We have upset some wildlife, you can't farm or change the landscape without doing this. Any frogs or toads found were moved down to the bottom corner there. That bit will stay wild and i'm hoping to dig a pond too to help. There is lots of surrounding land for wildlife, but nevertheless on ours there will be a bit for everything and everybody.

 

[fred]

great photo's, birds of prey are amazing creatures. I always remember watching a documentary many years ago about the Mongols, they hunted wolves with eagles. Wolves are not small creatures!