WOW.
What month in 2023 do you expect to finish and be able to utilize the man cave?
Seriously, a tip of the hat to you for your dedication and far reaching skill set utilized in this project. I am looking forward to the next progress report and, ultimately, completion.
Time to go help the missus with some mulch.(About the extent of my skill set)

Mike, thanks for following progress, 2023, that's being hopeful :D

I guess the reasons for not taking the more common route of just buying in professionals to have it all done in a few months aren't so obvious

It's not a money thing but a combination of sense of satisfaction/achievement, enjoyment and learning thing

Getting some sort of halfway adequate foundation under the new lower wall extension is going to be quite the trick. Hell, just putting additional stones under there is going to be a challenge. She’s going to get really sick of the tuck-pointing tools before that’s all finished.

I could say the same thing about the front wall of the house but...

Your build becomes more epic everyday.

Wish I could work alongside the good Cap'n Ahab for a week on his project.

Looks like good work.

I'll supervise

^^^
d'oh!!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat5.gif

What a build.
 

Subscribed - can't wait to see where this journey goes.

Good luck.

Rod, thanks, hope you like my next update, I've gone a all bit retro restoring the stonework on the front of the original house

Don, you're more than welcome to come and help, I'll even buy the beers, Sooner or later can keep us refreshed while pointing out what we should do next :D

gtvr6, wow :eek:, 1st post, I'm honored, thanks for following, the cool stuff will be fitting out the man cave but that stage is a long way off

Little ahead of schedule so thought I'd post an update on my latest infill job before man cave work resumes ......

Social distancing for me this week was mostly vertical distancing :cool: as I've spent the whole week up and down a ladder chatting to all sorts of friendly folk while blocking the sidewalk outside my house.

The excellent craftsmanship of our builder really showed up the state of the original house so only thing for it I needed to restore the stonework on the front of the house to try and match the new man cave build as I'd like the extension and old house to look like one building built in the same century.

This is the style of 'pointing' (mortar joints between the stone) on the new man cave build, it's under flush to the stone and has a smooth, softer look

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587759674.jpg

The pointing on the original house was a real mish mash of quality and style, This is the 70's style of pointing, it's proud of the stone and cut back to expose a harder edge to it

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587760040.jpg

There is no quick and easy way to do the first step of stripping the wall back to bare stone. Using a small hand chisel and hammer I gentle chiseled out the old mortar trying not to damage the stone. Then hand scratching out using the chisel and a paint scraper to remove about an inch deep of the old mortar. Finally all the loose dirt/debris brushed out of each joint to clean everything up ready for new mortar

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587760393.jpg

Not done this before but these are the tools I used for this job. The 4.5" grinder with a diamond blade and diamond covered rotary file was used only on the more stubborn cement/sand mix mortar joint just below the stone window sills

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587761116.jpg

After removing all the old pointing I then went round and chiseled out any crumbly stones, quite impressed after 250-300yrs how few there were and most flaking/crumbling was mostly surface deep so removal was only really required cosmetically.

After day 2 the house looked like this

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587763592.jpg

After 5 long days of chiseling and scraping the house looks like this. The lower section of the wall is beyond just redoing the pointing so there will be some serious action going on down there later.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587762137.jpg

Full respect to the original builders as they really knew how to build something that stands the test of time. I'd bet the original house will be standing a longtime after our new build.

April rain showers hampered progress of what is a slow job. I can only remove a small section at a time so I started working from each end. Hoping I meet myself in the middle before it all falls down :eek:

Really pleased with how the new old stone blends in with the original old stone, should be hard to tell once it's all done pointed up with fresh mortar

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588445790.jpg

Did the RH section first, then the below LH end which looked much more professional as I refined my method of attack so I had to redo part of the RH to make it look less amateur

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588445934.jpg

House footings are just slabs of stone so the concrete is only there to give me a flat, level base to build up from. This pic shows the mud and rubble middle too

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588446018.jpg

Beautiful !! And a job for somebody definitely younger than I.

Fell a bit short on my build targets this week :( but I'm still very pleased with the progress :)

Yesterday the weather was 73F with 73% humidity, perfect day for just taking it easy in the garden

As I'd booked (long overdue) a farm trailer for a driveway clear up 'easy' wasn't going to be the order of the day. We had a lot to move so Mrs Ahab and I needed help and we employed our children on child slave rates!

After a very long, hard 10hr day we shoveled, wheel barrowed and hand bucketed 25,000lbs or 11,300kgs up into the trailer

Mountain to move

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589104610.jpg

We ran out of steam, we're on our knee's and just couldn't shift the last bit but with most of the mountain gone it has made a big difference

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589104719.jpg

As for my mini restoration project on the front of the house I made a few more holes to speed up progress :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589104833.jpg

Was aiming to finish replacing the weathered stone this week but one more day should have it done. I also decided to wire brush down the whole front so everything weathers up at the same rate. Sill got the top section to finish brushing down before I can redo the mortar joints

Really, really pleased with how the new stone (lower 2ft of the house) blends in with the old stone.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589105714.jpg

Awesome job you're doing.
Labor intensive would be an understatement.

Lordy, that’s remarkable. The stone matching task turned out amazing.

I am continually impressed by your attention to detail, Captain.

Very nice work!!!!

Awesome efforts and fantastic results as usual Capt.

I'm wondering if you can build a small curbside wall, maybe 2'or 2.5' high in front of the house and new building right on the curb to deflect the splashes in the future?

It must feel great to be getting the drive cleared up.

Really stretches the imagination that you are about to start digging out the drive to lower its elevation. Would be mind blowing if we hadn't been following all that has been done to date.
Have you looked into drainage of the new lower drive? Are you and the Mrs planing to tunnel to a nearby river? ��

Cheers Richard

thanks Pete, working on the house is good work out, like having my own outdoor gym

thanks Paul, I bought the stone rear wall of a dis-used barn from a local estate https://greattewestate.com/ years and years ago. Chances are it came from the same quarry as the stone used on my house.

thanks, IS300,

thanks Richard, good suggestions/questions as always!

Sidewalk is council property so I have no ownership rights to build on it. I'm thinking for some extra protection I may spray the lower section of the walls with a clear water repel-ant coating but I've not done any research into this yet.

We'll need quite a bit of driveway drainage as this area will also be used for the roof rain water soak away.

About tunneling to a nearby river, let me take some pictures before answering this ;) :cool:

An unexpected bonus post here......courtesy of a neighbor giving me an old photo :cool:

Picture of my street, taken by me yesterday

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589318652.jpg

Picture of my street, circa 100 yrs ago, my man cave is just behind the little girl and lady in the right of the picture.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589318706.jpg

The guy in my photo is busy unloading straw as another neighbor is having their thatched roof replaced. Really fascinating watching craftsmen building a roof using centuries old methods and traditional materials

Not man cave stuff but I'll do a 'replacing a thatched roof' post next week when it's done as I think it would be a 1st for PPOT but for now here is a snapshot view from my man cave.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589319138.jpg

Got some professional help in this week with Mrs Ahab and we completed the pointing (new joint mortar) in 3 days to finish the front of the house.

Phew, am I glad this fill in job is done!

With a bit of trail and error we achieved a close enough match to the smooth, curvy style of pointing on the man cave extension build, just needs a few rainy days and it will weather up nicely

Had a visit from a local stonemason who complained people were ruining the Cotswold's because they aren't using lime mortar 🙄 I bid him a good evening, then to his dismay revealed I use the same 5 sand/1 cement mix every local builder uses on nearly every house in the village before setting the dog and both cats on him!

Considering I replaced the full lower 2ft of stone in around 14 different sections the courses all came out pretty level which was a pleasing surprise to me

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1589583192.jpg

Back to my desk job next week 😩 but I'm hoping the next update will contain some 'Shed' action and a progress report on Mrs Ahab's amazing floating garden wall

Interesting - a thatched roof. Definitely looking forward to seeing that.

Excellent work their Captain. Where in England is it? I remember seeing roofs being re-thatched in South Africa and thought it looked pretty cool. Water proof and insulating all in one go...

Thanks Bill, we're in the Cotswolds, quite a few thatch roofs in the village, some new houses still use it, the largest thatched roof in Europe has just been built in the next village and it's a big house!

No man cave update but here is a limited edition one time only thatch roof neighbor edition update!

While I restored the front of my house I was very privileged to watch this work. Was last done 30 yrs ago and the ridge replaced 12yrs ago. It's lasted very well.

A gang of 3-4 guys (unfortunately no hot roofer chicks turned up :() worked on it for 2.5 weeks and I think they did an amazing job. Not my house so I get all the pleasure of looking at their finished job without the expense of maintenance :cool:

First job was stripping off the old thatch and it's even recycled, The guys were saying the old thatch can be up to 6ft thick as sometimes new thatch was just put on top of old

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590254364.jpg

They did one half at a time, just in case it rained. Straw is used and is specially grown in the UK for thatching as it needs to be long

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590254461.jpg

Ridge is done last, then the lower edge was given a trim, to stop the birds stealing it for nests it's completely covered in chicken wire mesh and then finally a small bit of mortar around the chimney to keep everything water tight

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590254834.jpg

Wish I'd taken pictures of their tools as they were all home made or past down through the family and called cool names like a 'wibbler' :D

Thank goodness - this thread was getting stale!:D

The pictures of the thatch roof repair are terrific, thanks for posting them...your neighbors place looks great.

All the best, Captain and Mrs...look forward to your updates!

Paul, this thread is well past it's sell by date :D so thought it would be of interest, can't be too many 300yr old thatched homes in the USA.

Sorry, no man cave update this week, Mrs Ahab is busy lowering here garden wall which is looking great :cool: and I'm back to only 2 days a week man cave time :(

Nice job on that roof. That cutout for the window on the right looks a little toooo perfect for that style of roof though.
I enjoy your updates too.

Thanks Scott, as soon as I saw the window detail I thought it looked like Wendolene Ramsbottom who is Wallace's girlfriend in the animation the 'Close Shave' :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590273079.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1590273225.jpg

Good one!
So, do they weave the thatch or ?
And is it that deep, like what we're seeing at the window cutout?

That thatched roof is beautiful.

Is there any treatment to prevent it from catching on fire?

No weaving, straw is held in place with bent green sticks, like a natural U-nail, hammered into the old thatch and yes it's about that deep

As they go along they tap the ends of each straw bundle with a big square ping pong bat type tool to make it all smooth, no trimming other than at the bottom

Astrochex I asked this question, no fire resistant treatment done but they do on some houses

That's pretty amazing, it looks like it's covered in some sort of 'mud' for lack of a better term, and yet it's so smooth.

Windolene Ramsbottom, ha, too funny!

That thatching process is so cool to see. It does seem to largely be a family business going down the generations.

I recently saw a bit about the trade on a new favorite TV show.

It's an English show called " Escape to the Country ".
Basically a realestate show about urbanites looking to move into the county.
The episodes take place all over the UK. And they do a good job of orienting the viewer to the area in each episode, with lots of scenic shots of each area.
The clients are mostly looking for charicter properties. So all sorts of buildings from the 1500s thru the late 1800s show up. From converted stone barns to large brick Georgian manor houses. They find really fascinating places, such as a fog horn keepers house on a seaside bluff etc. which to the American viewer are ancient and interestingly updated.

Also in each show they do a segment on local history and special local crafts.
That's where the segment on thatching came in.

That old picture of your neighborhood looks so like some of the old small villages they feature in their shows.
It's a very worthwhile watch.

Let me add Capt. That your stone matching and installation work on the lower front of your house are impeccable, well done.

Cheers Richard

That street scene is very, very common in the Cotswolds. Also, it seems like everything there is built with that same stone.

We have 3-400 year old buildings here (NM) built by the Spaniards, but not thatched roofs.

Really enjoying this thread.

Thanks John, I'm enjoying posting the updates

This update is all about Mrs Ahab's project which has kept her busy for a few weeks :D

As we intend to lower the driveway down to make all the various levels work together better than the original plans her curvy garden stone wall she built needs about 20" or 0.5m adding to the bottom of it.

First job was dig out and lower the ground, then put down a shallow concrete base. The ground is mostly stone so it was a pick axe and demolition hammer job instead of an easy dig with a spade. The stone in the pic was her just practicing

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591373766.jpg

I helped a little by cutting and chiseling back the original footings which was made from very dense concrete blocks. Dusty, horrible job but much easier than digging ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591374341.jpg

Then Mrs Ahab laid 5 courses of fresh stone with a bit of concrete behind to join up to the bottom of the original wall

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591374677.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591374776.jpg

Mrs Ahab quite often doubts she has the skills for building work but in reality she is better than very good. I just let her get on with it and try to keep out of her way so as not to slow her up

As we would like to add some lighting around the driveway I bought a 50W halogen up lighter to see how it would look. Think a few of these all around will work well but we'll probably dim down the bulb brightness a notch

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591375031.jpg

In other news our builder should (fingers crossed) be back on site next week to work on the man cave entrance pillars :cool:

truly amazing and beautiful work - you and the Ms.

As everyone keeps saying, just an amazing quality of work you and the wife are doing. Such a cool looking place.

I am curious, obviously the thatch roof holds up well to rainy GB weather but what keeps insects from setting up a home in the straw?

There are no 300 year old structures in Oklahoma for sure. Oklahoma City did not exist until Monday, April 22, 1889. There are very few structures from that century remaining.

I suspect a thatch roof would not do well with our winds. We had 50 MPH winds last night from a collapsing thunderstorm. Some areas had 60+ MPH winds.

Keep up the good work, and please keep updating the thread.

Wonderful work--the rock wall is beautiful. We spent a week in the Cotswolds back in 2016, and it was a truly beautiful area.

Fantastic work and an all over beautiful setting. I am almost expecting to see Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby walking by.

Truly amazing! Definitely a type of construction not so common here in the states. Capt., I must ask, by Mrs Ahab building, do you mean she stands over and directs the guys doing the work? For this is my wife's definition of building. I cannot see my wife out there lifting and digging out rocks....May I send her to help your wife? For training purposes?
:)