Renovation Diary: December 2022

1st December, 2022

As the painters put a new lick of paint on the side pub doors, the brickies were in repointing the next parts of the side and rear walls of the building. The roofer will be back in early next week to finish the next portion of the roof allowing for the next section of the scaffold to come down.

Pointing work on the first floor.
More pointing work on the first floor.
Door re-painted looking spick and span.
Window on first floor repainted with surrounding brickwork repointed.

9th December, 2022

Despite the cold weather progress has continued with the building work this week. The last area of roof work on the top of the building is now finished meaning that the next layer of scaffold can come down which will make a noticeable difference to the look of the exterior.

New slates in place on one section of the roof. Up on the roof there is still a lot of scaffolding in place, soon to go.
Nice but cold day for working outside,lovely blue sky.

The brickies have been working hard on the lower walls with more work to continue next week. This work is required as the main building is over 200 years old, and the back building over 150 years. It has done not so bad when you consider it like that.

Pointing work down at the cellar entrance.
Areas of The Kitchen wall have been repointed Repointing behind a down pipe, necessary after over 150 years.

Next week will also see Coach House upgrades with new internal French double doors fitted and new Karndean flooring put in making the room a much more inviting space.

16th December, 2022

It's been a busy building week at The Swan this week. If you've stopped in you will have seen the beautiful new doors installed by “Grand Opening” on Monday.

The door frame ready for installation.
The door frame is in and the doors are being added.
Right hand side in with panes of glass installed.
Both doors now installed and the bits at the sides filled in.
One of the commissioning team sealing the door frame.
One of our Weekday Warriors - John - taking a chance to touch things up inside The Coach House.

The doors make a dramatic impact to the appearance of The Coach House. Not only they make the place look really good, it will keep in the heat and also any noise. A great addition to this old 19th century building.

The Coach House at night with the inside lights on - quite stunning.
Inside The Coach House looks that more inviting.
The full Coach House from the front at night.
Inside at night looking out into The Courtyard.
The front of The Coach House in the daylight; all the black trim looks great.

“Cutting Edge Flooring” have been hard at work levelling the very uneven surface as much as possible before laying the Karndean flooring.

The floor in The Coach House has been swept and readied for the first stage.
A resin has been applied to the floor to help bonding.
A heap of empty sacks that had the floor levelling materials.
After filling in the gaps, another coat of red resin was applied.
The floor of The Coach House is an orangey red colour.
Laying the final floor levelling material.
The fllor has been levelled, the material glistening as it is still wet.
The floor is levelled and receiving a buff to help with the adhesion of the floor.
The team are part the way through installing the final wood flooring.

This has transformed the space into a warm, inviting room for future events and bookings.

Looking into The Coach House with its new level wooden floor.
Special carpeting has been installed just inside the doors so that people can clean their feet.
Looking from the inside out, the new floor and doors look stunning.

Meanwhile Warren has braved the cold where he can to remove more of the scaffold. The top rear portion is now completely removed and we are starting to see the building! “JM & Co.” have continued to repair more of the brickwork to the exterior walls of the building.

Up on the roof scaffolding ready to be taken down.
The roof slates all sorted out now on the main roof that is visible from The Courtyard.
One of the areas repaired showing the new slates that have replaced the old broken ones.
Scaffolding ready to come down, The School House is on the right hand side.
Warren up on the roof disassembling the scaffolding.

“It's a Steel” came in to add a safety rail to the steel staircase in preparation for when the scaffold is removed and that area is exposed.

Specialist with lit welding torch.
Additional piece of hand rail has been welded on at the top of the iron stairs.
The landing outside The School House and the IT Suite.
The new additional handrail increases the height to make sure our students are safe.
Renovation Diary for November 2022 Renovation Diary for 2022