Malcolm Smith's Family History Archive

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Dwellings of

Malcolm  Archbald  SMITH

[Ref. S.1]

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Biography

Purchase

Decoration & furnishing

Garden

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The bedroom floors dropped about 15" from front to back which meant that you had to lean backwards when crossing the floor to not fall foreward. Malcolm had planned to take the boards up, level the joists with firring pieces then replace the boards. The Building Society survey had revealed that the joists were undersized so would have to be replaced or new joists put in alongside the existing. The survey had also identified rot in the ground floor that would have to be replaced. Malcolm had to sign an agreement that he would complete this work within six months. He drew up a plan of the floor layout as it was before he started work.

As soon as the purchase had been completed, Malcolm and Brenda started to travel down each weekend to start work. Malcolm did not have a car so relied on Brenda and her Triumph Herald. They would stay overnight at Brenda's sisters house in Mudeford. Towards the end of 1965, Malcolm lodged with Brenda's sister and family as he had been given a temporary transfer with his employer to work in Broadstone. He bought himself on old van to get to and from the cottage also to carry building materials.

Initially, the work comprised removal of the rotted flooring which was burned to destroy the rot spores. The boarding upstairs was partially affected by woodworm and some dry rot. However, downstairs was nearly all subject to wet rot. Some of the floor joists fell apart in Malcolm's hands as he tried to lift them. It soon became clear that just replacing the floors was not sufficient. The upstairs floor joists were found to be only half the necessary depth so would have to be replaced. As the staircase was supported by the joists, that also had to come down. Finally, the internal walls each side of the staircase were matchboard fixed onto timber studwork, so that meant they would have been left unsupported. Work started by removing the floorboards from upstairs and the ceings underneth. As Malcolm removed each floorboard, he carefully knocked down each nail so as to avoid hazards when walking over the exposed joists. However, when working one evening, he trod on a nail that he had accidentally left sticking up, and it went right through his shoe and into his foot. He had to pull his foot off the nail whilst maintaining his balance on the joists, then close up the house and drive himself to Poole hospital A&E where he laft a trail of bloody footprints acrtoss the floor. The wound became infected and he had to stay off work for a few days and was unable to do anything in the cottage. Once he was mobile again, Malcolm continued by removing the internal timber walls and finally the staircase.

Removal of the first floor joists proved to be not quite so easy as expected. When the cottage had been built, the floor had been constructed and built into the walls as they were raised. A plate had been laid along the end of the joists then nailed through to hold them in place then the cab laid all around as the walls progressed upwards. Because of this, the joists had to be cut down then the stubs pulled off the nails holding the ends, leaving the plate buried in the wall.

All the timber from the ground floor was removed, revealing the fact that the joists were laid flat side down directly onto the earth. When Malcolm was working late one night, he lit a fire to keep warm. He noticed that small puddles of water were apprearing in various places where the floor had been removed. The warm air was drawing ground water up to the surface. On inspection in daylight the next day, Malcolm could see where the water had formed a shallow channel under the floor and discharged through an air brick at the front of the cottage. Further investigation found that the water table was very close to the surface at the front half of the cottage. If the cottage had been built three yards further back in the plot, the ground water would not have been a problem.

As it was evident that there was no form of damp-proofing anywhere in the cottage, Malcolm also took up the quarry tile flooring so the eventually the entire ground floor was back to bare earth. The walls were constructed of cob which had been built off a bed of ironstones laid on the ground after the grass had been stripped back. Being porous, the cob allowed ground water to creep upwards thus making the lower part of the walls damp. The dado panelling had been put into the cottage to protect against the damp, however the wood just rotted in due course. Consequently, Malcolm had to remove all of that as well.

 
Refurbishmant

Malcolm moved back home to Camberley in January 1966 so resorted again to travelling down each weekend to progress the building work. In rebuilding, it was Malcolm's intention to maintain the original character of the cottage. He intended to undertake all the work himself despite having only theoretical knowledge of building construction. Although the extent of the work required had escalated as more problems were discovered, at no point was he daunted. Building Construction had been his best subject whilst at college and he had kept his text books which would be useful to him, especially as they featured traditinal methods.

The first job was to install the new upper floor joists. Malcolm considered placing these on joist hangers but thought these would not be strong enough as the walls did not provide enough strength. The alternative was to cut pockets into the front wall and a channel in the back wall. The pockets at the front woiuld have to be deep enough to push the joist in whilst it was slid sideways into position at the back. The hoists were placed on quarry tile pads bedded on mortar. At the back, the channel was reinstated with bricks and mortar. The joists were separated with traditional herringbone strutting. When installing the new floor, consideration had to be given to levelling it. Making it level from front to back was easy, but as the whole cottage sloped from end to end, a medium line was struck between the ground and ceiling lines. He had drawn up a plan of the intended work before starting. Once the joists had been finished the floor planking could be put down.

The ground floor was the next job to be undertaken before any other work could continue. The ground was dug down a bit and hardcore packed down then blinded with sand and covered with a layer of thick polythene. The polythene joints were rolled to prevent water coming through and the edges turned up the bottom of the walls to keep the damp behind it. A lorryload of readymixed concrete was delivered one Saturday and dumped in front of the garage. It took all day to barrow it in, then spread and level it. In fact, for the last couple of barrowloads, the concrete was starting to set.

Now the internal walls could be put up. Malcolm made a drawing to be sure he cut the materials to the correct size to fit the irregular shape of the cottage. The studwork comprised 2" x 2" timber that would be clad later with plasterboard.

Probably the most complex job that Malcolm faced was the staircase. A standard ready made staircase would not have to right dimensions to fit into the cottage so one would have to be made. Malcolm and Brenda could not afford to have one made so Malcolm decided to make it himself, despite knowing that he was not particularly good at woodwork. He decided to draw up full size working plans and use those as templates to cut the wood. He purchased some specially selected Parana pine timber that displayed nice colouring and would show on the exposed parts. He also intended to make the handrail and balustrade from plain timber which would be cheaper that moulded sections. He bought a combination plane to enable him to shape the necessary timbers. He cut and assembled the staircase in the garage of his parents house. He also cut and prepared the components of the balustrade including newel posts and handrail. When ready, he loaded it all onto the roofrack of his fianceé's car and took it to Verwood. Brenda helped him unload and carry the parts into the cottage then they installed the staircase with the aid of the car jack. It fitted perfectly and the treads never creaked when the stairs were used. During the following weeks, Malcolm assembled the balustrade.

The last of the basic and heavy work was to finish the internal walls by putting up the plasterboard, at the same time installing the electric light and power points. The electrical installation went fine except that Malcolm had difficulty working out the wiring for the two-way switches on the staircase. Doors were needed but these were a problem due to the ceilings being so low, and sloping upstairs so that the doors had to have a spandril. Malcolm concluded that the only satisfactory way was to make them himself, so that he did, using the living room floor as a workshop.

Malcolm had been living in the cottage for over a year prior to his marriage, thus being on hand to get on with the restoration work. That meant that he had then to start paying rates on the property. The rateable value was £38 for which he had to pay £7 0s 3d for the remaining half-year. His fiancée would then come down at weekends to assist him and make sure he was eating properly. She became particularly worried when he told her that one eveing he had eaten only potatoes. This was because all his money was being used to buy materials for the building work on the cottage.

In order to get the cottage ready for his bride, Malcolm had to get the place habitable. By the time of the wedding, the basics were in place although the ground floor was still bare concrete. The bathroom and kitchen were already servicable when the cottage was purchased. The bedrooms were without carpets. Their bedroom was furnished from several sources: Brenda's father gave the wardrobe as a wedding present and Brenda saved up for and bought the dressing table and bedside cupboards. These were whitewood so Malcolm painted them and embellished them with anaglypta. Brenda's nother gave the double bed as a wedding present. A secondhand three piece suite was bought locally and new covers made up to order.

The couple were married on 11 November 1967, and after a honeymoon in Paris, started their life in the cottage where work continued in decorating and furnishing it..