Since Christmas, and with few opportunities for anything else to do we decided on a blitzkrieg approach to the upstairs in ye olde part of the house. Four hundred years of west Welsh rain has taken its toll and the stone walls were in a parlous state. The clay mortar long since washed away, and many of the walls have caved in on themselves. This has required us to either rebuild from floor level to wall-plate or fill the huge wonky voids with a mass of lime mortar equivalent to 71 William Shatners (or 322 Kylie Minogues)
Anyway, here’re some pics. The best two photos courtesy of my neighbour and friend, Samuel Ashfield. We make three mixers full per day and then quietly force feed it into the centre of the wall and straightening up where possible as we go along. We have now restored three out of four sides such that they’re ready for a scratch render coat. Where original plaster is still intact, this will remain untouched and preserved. Click an image to see in full.
Oh by the way, while we’re doing all this we’re living in one room with just a cold tap for ablutions. The fourth world.
Looking N to S. © Samuel Ashfield 
Opposite view © Samuel Ashfield 
A mess of largely rotted timbers. 
Stainless helix ties two precarious bits together. 
Wall rebuilt, now awaiting temperatures greater than 5 deg C and we can add lime render coats x 3 
Awaiting first scratch coat (5:2 sand/lime) and some horsehair.
