When John Wilkinson took the decision to buy a run down former blacksmith’s cottage just outside York, he wasn’t quite prepared for the renovation journey that lay in front of him

TEXT HEATHER DIXON IMAGES DAVE BURTON

John Wilkinson felt an odd mixture of elation and “that sinking feeling” when he got the phone call to let him know his sealed bid to buy a dilapidated old cottage near York had been successful.

“One half of me was really excited at the prospect of doing it up, the other half was wondering what on earth I’d landed myself with,” says John. “I knew it was in a bad way, but I wasn’t worried about that. I bought it to renovate as a long-term project with the aim of either renting it out or living there myself one day. I just didn’t realise how dilapidated it was.”

John remained in blissful ignorance for a year while he ‘sat’ on the project until he had time to give it the attention it clearly needed. It also gave him a chance to work out how he was going to transform the dark,
old-fashioned property into somewhere light, open and welcoming.

“I decided to renovate the cottage in two phases to spread the costs,” says John. “The first phase would be the renovation of the main cottage followed by the conversion of a single-storey extension at the front of the house at a later date.”

The biggest challenge was its location. Situated in a village, this former blacksmith’s cottage is hidden away from the main road and is only accessible through a narrow stone archway linking other buildings. “It’s wide enough to get a car through but not a truck, so getting materials on and offsite was always going to be a major consideration,” said John. “If I decided to knock down the cottage and start again, there was no way I could get lorry loads of bricks, stone or trusses onsite. A renovation was the only logical and practical route.”

Unfortunately, poor access was just the tip of the iceberg.

A horror show survey

A survey of the detached, two-storey building took no prisoners. The original property was a single-storey stone building, which had been raised to include a second storey using clay bricks. Over time the building had moved considerably, causing huge cracks in the walls and a certain amount of bowing. The stone and brick sections were not bonded and the mortar in both sections was disintegrating badly. There were timber lintels where there should have been concrete ones, and the whole property was damp as a result of blocked drains. At some point the cottage had been extended sideways and the roof trusses were consequently under-sized, resulting in roof spread.

It didn’t end there. The kitchen was dark and grimy, with a very low beamed ceiling and chipped lino floor, and although the cottage had three bedrooms, one of them was tiny and the space was seriously compromised by a badly positioned boiler.

The plan

“I decided to do whatever work was necessary to make the cottage structurally sound and then open up the rooms in every direction,” said John. “The original external stone wall, which runs through the middle of the property, was too thick and solid to move, but I knew I could take out the wall between the kitchen and downstairs bathroom and remove the ceiling in the main bedroom to create loads of light and space.”

As part of the scheme to open up the property, John wanted to take out the staircase wall and create a mezzanine style glass balcony which would divert “borrowed” light down into the sitting room. The tiny bedroom would become a “Jack and Jill” wet room with linking doors into both bedrooms.

“I employed a friend who was a joiner and builder to help with the renovation,” says John. “I had known him for a long time and have always liked his approach to work. I knew he would do a great job and I would be there evenings, weekends and holidays to do everything I could to support him.”

The first task was to strip out the old kitchen units, ground floor bathroom fittings and stud walls, then stabilise the cottage by rebuilding one corner of the house where the movement had caused cracks higher up the wall.

More pitfalls

“It wasn’t long before we discovered just how badly it had been built,” said John. “The walls were thick but filled with loose rubble and dirt, so as soon as we started to knock into them the stone just crumbled away. It was almost impossible to get a clean edge.”

With skill and perseverance they managed to lace reclaimed stone and new breezeblocks into the original walls to strengthen the corner. They followed the same process when taking out the kitchen wall at the back of the house – where the kitchen window had been – to create the opening for bi-fold doors.

John wanted to keep a conservatory, which had been added by the previous owner, but reduce its length to allow more room for the bi-fold doors.

“The conservatory was in reasonable condition and created more living space, but it was too big and needed linking more effectively to the main house,” said John.

Lack of light was a major issue on the first floor where the main bedroom – running the full width of the cottage – only had one window and a low ceiling.

An opportunity arises

“I looked through the loft hatch and realised there was a huge roof space which was completely unused,” said John. “Although it would incur extra cost, I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to create more space and light. I knew that if I didn’t take out the bedroom ceiling and create a vaulted roof I would always regret it.”

But as they started to pull down the ceiling it soon became apparent that the roof timbers had been modified at some point and no longer had the strength or structure to prevent spread. “If we were going to go to the trouble and expense of vaulting the ceiling, we would have been mad not to replace the roof at the same time,” comments John.

The change of plan cost around £10,000 more than John had originally budgeted, but it was, he says, an over-spend worth making. “It completely transformed the house from a small, dark, unexciting cottage into an exciting modern living space,” he says. “As well as vaulting the ceiling, we also replaced the stair wall with a glass mezzanine, which makes the house even lighter.”

Velux windows were installed on both sides of the house, the upstairs windows were replaced, and a small window in the kitchen was turned into a full length vertical picture window. The original bathroom became part of the new kitchen and a new bathroom was created in the third bedroom. To achieve the wet room, a plywood floor was packed to create sufficient fall for the water to drain away and the shower head was fixed to an overhead beam in the centre of the room. A bath was fitted under the sloping ceiling to maximise the space, and the toilet was positioned behind double doors leading into the guest bedroom.

The joiner built a new open tread staircase, took out a Seventies style stone fire surround in the sitting room and enlarged the fireplace itself ready for plastering. He also tanked the kitchen walls to prevent rising damp before the property was plastered out.

“By the time the new-look cottage was plastered and the bi-fold doors put in the kitchen, it was a completely different house,” says John.

The first phase of the renovation was finally completed in 2018 after five years of slow evolvement, but the work didn’t end there.

One step forward, two steps back

Last year the tiles on the wet room floor started to lift to the point that they were stopping the double doors from opening.

“I discovered the floor had cracked and water was getting underneath the tiles,” says John. “I tried to patch it up but that didn’t work and I realised I would have to go the whole hog, which was quite disheartening.”

The tiles had been laid to falls created by the thickness of the adhesive so the challenge was to lift the tiles without damaging the plywood substructure. After trying to do it manually, John realised it was too big a job and he hired a jackhammer to get the floor back to a smooth plywood base. He then used a tile backer board system with in-built falls, which was laid using an adhesive over the top of the plywood, before re-tanking with a liquid system and finally laying the new tiles.

Around the same time, John upgraded all the interior fittings with LEDs, using ‘doughnut trim’ discs for a neat finish.

“The problem with older properties is that one job can quickly lead to another,” said John. “In taking out the old lights I was damaging the plasterwork so, rather than replaster, I found metal discs which neatly covered the rough edges.”

The exterior render also started to blow in places, so John hired a local builder to take it back to the tight render, patch the blown areas and repaint the rear elevation.

Earlier this year scaffolding was put into place to access the roof so the chimney stack could be repointed – with all the scaffolding carried by hand from a trailer parked on the street.

“With the access being so narrow a lot of deliveries were wheelbarrowed in or carried by hand, but with just a little bit of practice and confidence I found it was very easy to get a car and trailer down the shared drive and to the back of the cottage,” said John. “I did a lot of trips to the local builders’ merchants and the tip!”

This was the case when John started working on the garden, trimming back an overgrown tree and laying a thick covering of gravel down the access drive, along the side of the cottage and round to the back where there is a spacious turning area for cars.

Earlier this year he also commissioned bespoke softwood gates which were manhandled down the drive and fitted to new concrete posts, adding to the privacy of the house and garden.

Onwards and upwards

John is now in a position to begin the second phase, which will involve the conversion of part – or all – of the garage into living accommodation and the building of a detached garage at the back of the house. He secured planning permission for this at the beginning of the first phase and started the work to preserve the permission until he has the time and funds to take it further.

His ultimate aim is to convert the lean-to at the back of the cottage into a more substantial living space, add a third bedroom with an ensuite bathroom upstairs, and perhaps another living room downstairs.

“That’s the long-term plan,” says John. “There is still huge potential to develop the cottage further and that’s what makes it so exciting. It’s a project which will continue to evolve. In the beginning there were definitely times when I wondered what I had taken on, and there was a point in the middle of the renovation when we seemed to be taking one step forwards and two back. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight. But I didn’t take it on board to then sell it and make a quick profit. I was always in it for the long term because I really enjoy the process of taking a dilapidated old property and giving it a new lease of life. If I hadn’t bought it, the cottage was in danger of falling down and another little piece of village history would have disappeared with it.”

HIGH POINT

“Fitting the gates earlier this year. It just rounded everything off”

LOW POINT

“Finally realising the full extent of the work to be done and knowing I would go beyond my initial budget of around £50,000. In the end I probably spent twice that amount”