Passing by.

[Tarmacsurfer]

Afternoon. Don't come by here too much any more, not that many will have noticed

Just thought I'd say hello after noticing the thread about Chickenstrip, something HT said gave me pause for thought. While I don't know most of the regulars now, BCF was a haunt of mine for a long time and I've met a few people off here - even sold my old house to someone I knew from the forum.

Well, this is what's been keeping me busy. LINK TO PICTURES

Still an ongoing work, nowhere near finished but my wife and I are living in the Scottish Borders and renovating the place as we want it to be. There's a few before pics, we've basically taken the roof off and put on a second floor. So far the only work we've paid for is to have the roof stripped and rebuilt with the flat rear elevation, everything else I've done myself. Mostly as the slate dates back to around 1750 and it would be impossible to replace, skilled labour was worth it. Plus one guy on his own is very, very slow. Interior demolition is easy, fitting windows and making a door aperture in a three foot thick wall, not so much.

About to get the electrics in on the second floor, then move upstairs while I dig out the ground floor in preparation to leveling, insulating and screeding.

All good fun.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Easy-X]

[hellkat]

I knew you were there, I've seen you lurking
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Howling Terror]

It looks fantastic...I'm currently fapping...the girth of those walls. Not to mention the fapping area you are creating in the roof space.

Top job mister, nice to hear from you again and good to know you're building up some callouses.
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[MCN]

Passing by, as like

the Ladies of the Harem of the court of King Caracticus?
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[MarJay]

Good to see you Wolf.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Polarbear]

How the effing hell did you get planning permission to put a second storey into that row of cottages? And how haven't you been raped by maurading Celts?

Questions, questions.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Tarmacsurfer]

I knew Rolf, not well but enough to be very, very sceptical that he did the shit he was sent down for.

As to the second story, ours is the oldest in the row. This one (well, it's two knocked together) was built in the 1500s, apparently a Reivers cottage so in essence a lightly fortified house designed to be easily defended and repaired. Would have been harled and thatched. When the big house (16th century hunting lodge) was built down by the river this became the estate managers house and the row was added on, last house (number 5) was built around 1850. The later houses all had two floors, second floor in the roof. When we bought this the roof needed work as it hadn't been touched since someone slated it sometime in the early 1700s. We approached the local council about adding space and once they worked out we intended to keep the original slate on the front elevation they were pretty amenable, had a bit of a discussion about the balcony window in the bedroom but it passed eventually. We also made a point of letting them know we were keeping the same window designs, used a little window manufacturer I had previous dealings with, got them to make copies of all the front glazing, it all still looks like an assortment of victorian/edwardian sashes but it's double glazed upvc to the front (south) and modern triple glazed picture windows to the north (rear). It's all being done on a tiny budget so everything is slow going and constantly evolving. Just trying to keep the spirit of the place intact, we want comfortable and cheap to run but it's an old stone cottage, why buy one only to gut it and take all the character away?

Sorry, this is turning into an essay

All in all the hardest bit of planning was getting the staircase signed off, I need a straight run as I walk with crutches and the council insisted we had a winder so we could fit a stair lift in case of spackers. Pointed out that the place is rural, has steps all around and between levels on the ground floor and in essence told them to stop being so bloody stupid. Took a while but we won the argument. As to the rape and pillage, like I said, the house was built to be easily defensible

@Polarbear - are you still messing around on the water?
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.