OMG what have I done??!!??

[Leanne]

Had the brilliant idea of stripping the plasterboard off and having bare stone wall on the chimney wall!!!!

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/l34nn3_k4ut/Photo1601.jpg

[upolian]

made a good job :roll:

[joxville]

Typical woman. I bet you never listened to your partner?? Oh no, you wanted it and got it, so now you have to live with it. :roll:








;)

[cherokee]

I'm trying to see which way is up ?

Looks like you made a very good job o' stripping it, but I'm sorry, I'm not able to help you from here !!

Well done on tackling a job like that and I hope some kind Orger, on here, can help or direct you to someone who can !!!! ;)

[dogman]

Looks great!

[shazzap]

Is this the desired effect you wanted to achieve.

[roadbowler]

struggling to see that properly but, looks no too bad. However, i'd be slapping a clay plaster on that!

[Alice in Blunderland]

Plenty space for Santa to fit through then ! ;)

Whats he bringing you..............a DIY manual. :lol:

[unicorn]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....................... ...:eek:
you are gonna be dusting until doomsday [lol]

[Leanne]

I didn't technically do it... OH said he thought it would look good and I gave the go ahead :roll: We've spent the past few days chipping away. He's just completely stripped and remortared a house so he can blinking sort it out lol.

When it's all remortared and treated it should look nice??? We have the orginal floorboards too and the hall has the original slate. Loving the traditional feel. But also loving the built in coffee machine in the kitchen ;) He gets the credit for that too :)

[Leanne]

Just to give an idea of the dimensions of that slab - the room is 14foot wide!

[Phill]

Me thinks whoever is in charge of that shovel needs a kick up the backside, never seen a shovel looking so shiny. Not pulling his weight I'd say!

Other than that it looks grand. What's yer problem?

Nothing a bit o' shot blasting
Repointing
Bonding
Sealing
Wouldn't sort out.

[Vistravi]

Looks like a bomb site atm leanne but it will look good once its finished. ;)

[Kevin Milkins]

I must admit, I am a big fan of the traditional look, but I had to stand on my head and look left to see what you had been up too.:eek::lol:

If you can achieve the original finish that will look well smart, however, it might look a bit odd with a 42inch flat screen TV stuck on the wall.

[M R]

Took it upon myself to show folk exactly what you have done to your poor house :)

Re-plastering ? or strap and plasterboard ?

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a214/godskronos/Photo1601.jpg

[squidge]

Will it be finished by christmas?:lol:

[floyed]

Looks not too bad. You will be hoping its done before christmas tho:D

[Kodiak]

And here is the Photo Desaturated so you can see it a bit more clearly :-

http://i45.tinypic.com/140mf5w.jpg

[Dog-eared]

If you decide to sandblast and point it, bear in mind that the lime bedding will be very thin. So that'll be very thin pointing to do.
You could clean the stone and paint it with masonry paint.

I'd also have a good look up the chimney at this stage. If there are no liners there might be erosion in the lum, so liners might be necessary.

Personally, I would fit a cheap stove from Machinemart with a flexy liner and throat plate. Much warmer than an open fire and a lot less draughty but you can still see the fire or open the stove doors. :)

[Dog-eared]

Stove with back boiler -cheap. If boiler not needed, fill with fine dry sand.

http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=90416

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Looks structurally sound though Leanne.Always think it looks worse,then when its finished looks smashin.Oot of curiousity,wi Kodiak turning the picture black and white,is that writing on the stone slab on top of the fire.:)

[joxville]

And here's the same image badly Microsoft Painted. :)




http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7053/photo1601.jpg

[Leanne]

Chimneys as all good from what we can see. All cleared now of all the twigs!!

We're going to repoint and leave it bare stone. Craig's words are "It's going to take ages to repoint all that. We could always do it roughly and have less stone showing". My words were "Over my dead body!". It may not be done by Christmas but it will be nice :)

Must get a picture with the "proper" camera in the light.

[manloveswife]

Looks like our sitting room a couple of weeks ago when I knocked the fire and back boiler out, even the slab above the fire place is identical. Don't envy you the dust though:lol: Ours was bad enough and I left most of the plasterboard in place.

Will look great when its done though so keep smiling.

Put a stove in and leave the builders opening nice and rough, if the chimney is sound with no leaks etc you might not need a liner just a regulator plate but a flue liner is good practice.

With our old open fire and backboiler, bearly any radiators on, 18 degree max and 80% of heat up lum, New stove with back boiler (12KW) means 80% of heat to house, 20% up lum. Lots of radiators on and 25 degree in sitting room the other night, Had to open the window:cool:. Its well worth putting a stove in now whilst youre on with it, three times more efficient.

[Leanne]

Update...

The walls have been stripped but we're not going to remortar until after christmas now (or we wont be able to have a tree and decs) as we need to do the whole scrubbing the stones with a wire brush. Floor has been sanded and revarnished also now :) And we have a 3m by 1.5m slate coming (somehow?) for the hearth.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/l34nn3_k4ut/Photo1656.jpg

And this is the firebox we have coming before Christmas

http://www.hughesmarble.com/gmp/firefox_1a.jpg

[lister]

I agree with kevin,the traditional look adds character to you're room.
And dinnae worry yer OH will sort and ye'll sit back admire the whole effect soon.
Looks good to me.

[Dog-eared]

Lovely. It'll be nice and cosy ! :)

When you point it, use pointing keys, not "pointing trowels " - theyr'e for brickwork. Pointing keys are long thin (1/4 to 1/2" ) trowel things that make it a lot easier. Use a thin metal float to hold the mortar while pushing the mortar in with the key. Don't make the mix too wet. Have the pointing slightly recessed from the stones.
Lime mortar is best, and traditional -not the white builders lime !! Traditional lime is buttery in colour and looks great, as well as being the right mortar for the job.
Nice to work with, too - just get rid of all the dust on the stones first and mist it with a spray bottle. You can mix it by hand in a bucket, but it gets thin if overmixed.

Keyline in Inverness do traditional lime, as do Masons Mortar, their suppliers. You won't need many bags ( 3 ? ) but it will look traditional.
Masons mortar.com in Edinburgh have a good informative website.

Cimpor NHL5 is cheapest and is OK for your stone. About £7 a bag.
If you need any advice, PM me !
Happy pointing !!

Ps if any bits of old lime are left on the stones it will match the new traditional lime pointing. Character !!!

Don't use cement, please !!!

[Leanne]

Thanks :) The pictures don't do the room justice! It's so "in-keeping" with the house now. We have tried to renovate sympathetically (still have mod cons like built in coffee machine) but we have tried to keep a lot of the original features. We still have all the original doors and even have kept the coat hooks that are about 8 foot high! We gave up on the flags in the bathroom but we have kept the hallways as slate. The slate has been recycled to paths around the property.

[Vistravi]

It looks really good Leanne :) It looks really cosy.

[teenybash]

Clear away the rubble, do a bit of pointing. A nice big grate, couple of fire dogs and logs..................where's the matches??? Get a good blaze going and it will be heaven.;)

[Dog-eared]

All the best with your project.:)
DE

[Leanne]

Clear away the rubble, do a bit of pointing. A nice big grate, couple of fire dogs and logs..................where's the matches??? Get a good blaze going and it will be heaven.

We tried that! Got an old tesco's basket and a few logs and got a fire going to see if the chimney would draw. It didn't :(

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/l34nn3_k4ut/Photo1615.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/l34nn3_k4ut/Photo1608.jpg

[weeboyagee]

Had the brilliant idea of stripping the plasterboard off and having bare stone wall on the chimney wall!!!!
Did my sister and her kids move in with you recently?

WBG :cool:

[katarina]

send us another photo when it's finished.