Stripping back the years
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:51 pm
Having got the keys to our new home (1880s Galloway cottage) a week before Chrismas, we decided 3 weeks of Lockdown was the ideal opportunity to make a start on our planned renovations. So on Boxing day we set about removing the modern fires surround, in readiness for installing a woodburning stove.
We hoped to find the original fireplace behind - which we were delighted to find had merely been hidden, but not blocked
In the process we spotted some interesting exposed stonework above the lintel, and decided to explore, uncovering an original Victorain cupboard in the alcove along the way
A couple of days later, we have ended up removing all the (1970s) plasterboard, and are well on to chipping away the (1950s) plaster beneath. Slightly more daunting is the original lime plaster behind that... we've pretty much cleaned up a small patch on the chimney breast, but the rest seems more resistant (I'm guessing the heat of 150 years of open fires had started it crumbling over the fireplace!).
Does anyone have any tips for loosening the hold of the old plaster, or is it just a case of painstaking work with a chisel and wire brush???
Also, any good tips for reducing the soot staining on the stone lintel over the fire? (Thinking we'll probably leave the actual chamber pretty much as is to add authenticity). I've tried a paste of washing up liquid plus Bicarb of Soda (found on Google), which has lifted some of the grime, but wondering if there is something which might prove a bit more effective?
We hoped to find the original fireplace behind - which we were delighted to find had merely been hidden, but not blocked
In the process we spotted some interesting exposed stonework above the lintel, and decided to explore, uncovering an original Victorain cupboard in the alcove along the way
A couple of days later, we have ended up removing all the (1970s) plasterboard, and are well on to chipping away the (1950s) plaster beneath. Slightly more daunting is the original lime plaster behind that... we've pretty much cleaned up a small patch on the chimney breast, but the rest seems more resistant (I'm guessing the heat of 150 years of open fires had started it crumbling over the fireplace!).
Does anyone have any tips for loosening the hold of the old plaster, or is it just a case of painstaking work with a chisel and wire brush???
Also, any good tips for reducing the soot staining on the stone lintel over the fire? (Thinking we'll probably leave the actual chamber pretty much as is to add authenticity). I've tried a paste of washing up liquid plus Bicarb of Soda (found on Google), which has lifted some of the grime, but wondering if there is something which might prove a bit more effective?