Product Description

Here, for the first time, is a completely authoritative guide on how to look after your old house - whether it's a timber framed medieval cottage, an eighteenth century urban terrace or an example of Victorian or Edwardian speculative development. Taking their lead from the conservation approach of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (who have approved and authorised this volume), the approach is one of respect, restraint and repair rather than 'restoration' which can so easily and permanently destroy the rich historical legacy of any old building. From the foundations to the roof, from the need for modern services to the maintenance of traditional paintwork and finishes, from windows and doors to breathability and damp in walls and floors, this book provides richly and deeply informed practical guidance. It will be essential reading for anyone with an old house in need of any kind of repair or maintenance. For any of us working on or living in old buildings, this brilliant and properly illustrated volume is the manual we ve been waiting for. Thank you SPAB. Kevin McCloud, Presenter of Grand Designs, Channel 4

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5523 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Review
Provides richly and deeply informed practical guidance to preserve the rich legacy of any old building. --Scottish Sunday Mail

This no nonsense guide is essential for any period-home owner. --Homebuilding and Renovating

Thorough, careful and orthodox account of the various processes involved in repair and refurbishment. A useful handmaid for someone setting out to do work on an old building. --Victorian

About the Author
Roger Hunt studied stage management at drama school and has worked n film, television and photography. A major turning point in his life was attending a weekend homeowners' course run by the SPAB. Loving history and having been intrigued by building techniques and materials since childhood, he then started writing about old buildings and their construction. He now contributes to magazines on old and new buildings, history and, more recently, sustainability issues. He is the author of Rural Britain: Then & Now, Villages of England and Hidden Depths: an archaeological exploration of Surrey's past. Marianne Suhr, MRICS, SPAB Lethaby Scholar, is a Chartered Building Surveyor specialising in the repair of historic buildings. After completing a scholarship with the SPAB she worked for seven years in architectural practice, then concentrated on hands-on repair projects including three very different old houses. She was a co-presenter of three series of BBC2's Restoration and has also fronted the Discovery series, Project Restoration. She works part-time for the SPAB, running workshops around the country, teaching builders, home-owners and architects how to repair old buildings properly.

Customer Reviews

This is a fab book & can save you thousands!
This is a fab book. It shows you how to maintain an old house and cope with any problems without damaging the patina that builds up over the ages, or being ripped off by one of the many building firms that sell unnecessary treatment products or services that can not only damage old houses, but cost thousands. That's not always because we're being exploited, but because most people don't understand the way old houses are made. Once you get a grasp of that (and this book is an excellent introduction) it's not too difficult, you're in a better position to understand what you really need. When I bought my old house it had a damp cellar. I got a chap in who said he could install a drain system & make the cellar dry for £10,000. A conservation surveyor suggested ways to fix it - for £2,000. 3 years after the cheaper option it's fine. Another builder said I should put a layer of gypsum plaster over my old bumpy lime plaster to make it even - for £1,000. The conservation surveyor said keep with the bumpy lime, it adds to the character of an old building. The same with glass, old is better and easier on the eye because it is slightly irregular. The estate agent said so many old houses are ruined on the inside as people make them look like new builds.
People pay more for all original features and this book shows how to work with an old house and enhance it's originality. It's also beautiful to look at and easy to read, and I have no building experience,I'm just an owner who has never read a book on building before. It's an excellent book and totally recommended. Real eye candy for old house enthusiasts plus sensible advice too!

Old House Handbook
The Old House Handbook
A practical guide to Care and Repair
Roger Hunt and Marianne Suhr

When first I looked at this book I wondered. Is it really "a practical guide" or is it for the coffee table? The photographs are brilliant, ancient houses in various stages of wonder and decrepitude - so, good for the coffee table. Then I started to read.

Back in 1977 our house showed many signs of decrepitude. Old leaded lights replaced by modern casements, hardboard tacked over failing plaster, a nailed together replacement staircase, not to mention what we found on the back room floor. We searched for books. Some were very good - I know more about scarf joints than most. But nothing told us the essential problems of old houses. Building Societies demanded injected damp proof courses, and underpinning. This book suggests that these rarely help, and sometimes exacerbate, the problems.

It starts by being very practical to potential purchasers. Are you sure you're up to this? Then it talks about how to get the work done? Choosing builders who know about conservation, how to deal with listing agencies. Then in chapter 3 it goes into top gear. How to deal with that damp? How to make a building breathe? Thereafter there are details of the different uses of lime in preserving and repairing walls and floors (hydraulic, non-hydraulic, hydrated, lime putty, and lime mortars). Then, what to do about structural movement - less than you might think. Underpin only as a last resort. Just about everything is covered - roofs, timber frames, doors, floors, walls, windows, plaster renders, paints and finishes, guttering, drainpipes and drains. If only we'd had it in 1977!

Throughout, the message is, do the minimum to the structure of the house - repair don't restore. The book is sponsored by SPAB (the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) and this has been its theme since William Morris founded it in 1877.

It is also very good at warning about dark interests, timber treatment and damp proofing companies working on commission, builders quoting cheaply for the minimum and then charging heavily for the extras. Every bit of advice it gives gets better and better. It is brilliant in its detail, and the photographs and diagrams add counterpoint to the words. It is definitely a "practical guide", and if you have a period home you should have it by your side and consult it frequently.

One final liberating thought - the daub applied to wattle doesn't require cow dung to be added - but plaster over soot stains does!


Derek Wagon

A Must Have For Anyone With An Old House
If you only want one reference source for pretty much every aspect of manitaining old buildings, then this has to be the one.Both practical and very informative, it's the first book I've come across that has managed to convey much of the "technical" side of old house maintenance and repair in plain English. It's written for house owners rather than experts.
It's also got great photography alongside the narrative which brings much of the advice to life.