Yet another day of chipping out the old cement pointing. The building starting to look like it might fall down! lol. The stone masons assure me it won’t. Just though I would give a mention to the guys who are actually doing the restoration. The work is being carried out by Team Force, who are a local contractor who specialise in the restoration of historic buildings. Some of their previous projects include Seaton Delaval Hall  Lindisfarne Priory (Holy Island) and Tynemouth Priory. So I consider myself very lucky to have such a great team restoring my humble piece of history.

Have a look at their website for more information on what they do. Team Force.

Well it is just more of the same I’m afraid. I did have the joiners here today measuring up for the custom made rear doors. Looks like the stone masons have finished the first elevation! cool.

OK so we are at the end of day one. Not much to see at the moment. The first job is to remove all the old cement render. This is probably going to take quite a few days. If you look at the close ups you can really start to see the shape of the stones.

I will post tomorrow evening with next update.

Good news, After 12 months of talks and negotiations I am about to embark on a massive renovation project on my studio premises.

When I first bought the building back in 2006 I knew it was an old building but hadn’t realised how old. In fact English Heritage have told me they think it dates back to  early to mid 1700′s.

Over the years the building has been “modernized by previous custodians and unfortunately very un-sympathetically. Modern UPVC windows, plastic guttering An un-sightly metal security shutters have turned this old stone smithy into a shabby looking property, in desperate need of love! The worst offense though not strikingly obvious is the use of cement render between the stone work. This is a cost cutting way to “repair” the stone render. Unfortunately although it may not look too bad, it is killing the stonework. originally the stone would be rendered with a lime mortar, which not only looks better it allows moisture to flow naturally through the building where as cement mortar locks it into the stone and eventually erodes it.

With A lot of help and guidance from the THI (townscape heritage initiative) And Richard Schofield from Northumberland council I have Secured a grant to help with the cost of the restoration.

I have decided to to a day by day blog for those of you who would like to follow the restoration and also as a way for me to log the progress as we go.

Here is the studio as it looks today before as work starts.