The Traditional House Under Threat?

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The guide below is by no means comprehensive, it will hopefully serve as  ideas /suggestions:

1. Always attempt to repair original house features, only replace as a last resort.

2. If you have to replace an original feature, try to get a replica made of the original, by doing this you are creating work for some craftsperson? - resort to demolition yards only as a last resort - (it is a point of conjecture, but demolition yards can be seen to fuel the destruction of old houses?).

3. If you want to cut down heat loss through windows,  use secondary glazing panels (removable ones are better) over existing original windows - it can far cheaper and almost as effective as full double glazing. There are now many companies that offer upgrades to existing period windows - see links.

4. Always allow natural materials like stone, brick, clay etc to age gracefully and allow it  to breath, by not painting it. Besides this only stores up potential trouble, and certainly creates future maintenance. Why is it that many people seem happy to unnecessarily paint walls and tiles but not wooden windows?

5. If you insist on changing some feature of your home try to make it reversible e.g. For a storm porch on an original open porch, make it so that the original framework is left, and that the new glazed parts could be removed if required.

6. By all means don't live in a time warp - upgrade your house, but do it as sympathetically as possible, you can combine original house features in a modern setting. There is nothing wrong with painting an original front door in bold modern colours - some purists would frown, but why not.

7. Always check with local authorities as to what is and what isn't allowable to change for your house within a conservation area, further restrictions known as 'article 4's' complicate things. If your house is of  listed status even more stringent conditions will apply. Most authorities should be helpful.

8. When you come to sell your house try to use a sympathetic local estate agent - get him to help you find the 'right' new owner for your house - someone who wants it for what it is, not what they can make it into. Difficult  yes, but surely worth a try.

Little House I Used To Live In

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