Shippon/Barn Conversion

March 2009

Worsley Farm, Darwen

In January, we started a project in Darwen, Nr Blackburn to convert a old disused shippon into a lounge & store area. The wall of the shippon measure around 18" in thickness, comprising of solid sand stone masonry, this comprises of an inner and outer skin masonary set in lime based mortar with rubble infill between the two skins. The roof is constructed from stone slates, layed in deminishing courses. We carefully removed the original shippon floor, this consisted of bricks layed on edge, with channels and drains for animal waste. The floor was then reduce dug using a excavator and dumper, this is to allow for the 100mm of floor insulation & 125mm of concrete.

 

A internal timber stud wall had to be erected, as the building inspector would not allow us to lime plaster the internal walls, because the lime plaster did not have a "U value". We placed 50mm of insulation in the stud work and boarded it with a 12.5mm plaster board. A breather membrain was stapled to the wall side of the stud, this is to stop moisture travelling through to the internal.

 

 

We managed to do some lime works on this project. The external elevation of the shippon had been pointed with a hard cement based mortar, we removed the mortar and re-pointed with a lime based mortar. The newly built porch is constructed from cement mortar and over pointed with lime mortar, this is so all the elevation match.

 

 

 

 

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Exhibition at Holker Hall

Holker Garden Festival

Demostration Lime Plastering, Lime Pointing & Stone Carving

May 2009

 

 

Holker Hall is the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish who welcome visitors of all ages to one of the best-loved stately homes in Britain. Magnificently situated only a short distance from Grange-over-Sands and the expanse of Morecambe Bay, Holker Hall is set in exceptionally beautiful countryside with gardens that merge into Parkland framed by the Lakeland Hills.

The 17th annual Holker Garden Festival was a great success with people of all ages enjoying a wonderful day out in glorious weather.

Great horticultural displays, wonderful show gardens, fabulous food and TV personality, Monty Don, attracted approximately 23,000 visitors over the three days.

We attended the festival to give demonstration on lime mortar pointing & lime plastering, also to demonstrate the new tungsten carbide stone mason carving chisels we sell through Braith Heritage Supplies. Other item there included: Cast Iron Guttering, Antique Ironmongery, Pottery Companion Sets, Coal Hods, Lime Mortars.

 

 

Picture (left) shows one of our stonemason dressing a newly quarried peice of stone, from Sweetwell Quarry in Lancashire. The stonemason is dressing the stone with a droved finish.

 

Picture (right) one of the many visitors to Holker Garden Festivel, carving a small floral pattern. The gentleman was American, and spent 2 hours that day carving the pattern.

 

 

 

 

Picture (left) children carving there intials into a small sandstone slab.

 

Picture (right) this is a house number plate, carved by our stonemason at the festival.

 

 

 

Lime Rendering Rimington, Clitheroe June 2009 We are back at Rimington, Clitheroe to lime render a farm house we lime pointed early last year. The picture (below) shows the lime render being spray applied to the limestone built farm house. The lime render is quicker to apply and overall a better job if it is sprayed. The lime render was quickly worked and sheeted with hessian and plastic sheets to slow the drying time. The lime based render has been sponged finished to give a textured look, this also gives a good key for the lime wash coat.

Listed Wall Rebuild with Lime Mortar Rochdale, Manchester June 2009 This small listed wall is part of Heybrook House in Rochdale, Manchester. As you can see from the picture below, the (left) side has subsided and is leaning 6" off centre. We use a traditional lime based mortar to rebuild the wall, and the centre of the wall is soild filled with rubble. You can see from the picture above the subsidence to the left side. The lime mortar joints had to be kept to a minimum to match the existing, and to keep the same corping height. The wall was then pointed with lime mortar, and brush finished with a churn brush. The finished stone wall