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The Victorian House ManualSnagging.org In association with Amazon.co.ukOnline Shop | Property Guides | Kitchen & Home | Garden Tools | Power Tools | Consumer Electronics Get the Snagging Checklist Here!  List Price: £19.99 Amazon.co.uk's Price: £13.99 You Save: £6.00 (30%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverEAN: 9781844252138 ISBN: 1844252132 Label: J H Haynes & Co Ltd Manufacturer: J H Haynes & Co Ltd Number Of Pages: 224 Publication Date: September 15, 2005 Publisher: J H Haynes & Co Ltd Studio: J H Haynes & Co Ltd Related Items:
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Enjoyable to read and usefulAs a victorian house owner I like to improve my understanding of property construction and history whenever possible. I found this book most informative and I enjoyed the relaxed style of writing. A lot of property books rely on diagrams to illustrate problems but this one has some excellent photos of real life defects balanced with the more conventional 'glamour' photos showing time-capsule Victorian house original features. Each chpater has suggested solutions to all common problems in a specific part of the house, and the book seems to stress the need to approach old buildings with respect and not to unnecessarily impose modern solutions. Well worth buying in my opinion. Rating: - Great stuff !It is very well written and also quite amusing! The author has put together a great mix of useful facts, history and humour to make it very readable. The detail is excellent and it is technically spot on. It takes you though each part of the house in turn explaining what goes wrong and how to fix and restore it all in keeping with the age. It is a very interesting read. The text is clear and informative and the pictures are lovely (except the ones of dry rot and woodworm!). Rating: - A thorough 'no nonsense' guideAs a Building Conservation Officer with many years' experience inspecting the renovation and extendion of older properties, I thought this Haynes manual gets the balance about right between conservation of older buildings, restoration of original features and sympathetic repair to make them into 'liveable' modern dwellings. I particularly like the very detailed lists at the end of each chapter showing the probable causes of defects found in each part of the house and how to solve them. I disagree with your earlier reviewer as the book does seem to clearly stress an important point, namely that true rising damp and active woodworm are extremely rare, indeed it lists all the other likely causes, suggesting that injected dpc's should be a last resort. It also advises the sympathetic use of lime mortar, and the importance of good ventilation to floors and roofs etc. The photos and reproduction are of a 'coffee table book' quality. The book does cover the history of construction but dispenses with the usual stuff about social & economic history, wallpapers,ceramics and fabrics of the era that are found in other books. A pretty detailed 'no nonsense' guide that my colleagues keep borrowing! Rating:  - How to turn your Victorian house into a modern house by default!I have read the book after seeing it in Halfords and buying it! I would add I am always looking to improve my knowledge about houses. However this book was a big disappointment. The are many errors in the book which have come about by comparing a Victorian book to a new or more modern house. One of the most significant defect one can find in a house is damp. Now Victorian houses generally had either no damp proof course or a slate damp proof course. However, as long as substructures are ventilated, "rising damp" evaporates so the lack of a damp proof course is not generally a problem. As such damp within a Victorian building is generally not rising but from another source. ie defective pipes, build up of earth to elevations. This is commonsense. However in this case the author suggests a chemical injected DPC may be the answer! If you want to turn a beautiful Victorian house into a modern one go ahead, but I am sure most people wouldn't wish to do that. The book also does not cover in any depth such areas as lime render or mortar and lacks real detail of how these houses were constructed. Incorrect mortar mix in repointing brickwork or inappropriate render to areas can cause more damage then good. A good attempt but lacking the right answers to the problems which can arise in these houses over their life. Rating: - useful and enjoyableThe roof on my 1880s house recently started leaking and I've got several quotes for repairing it. So I was pleased to find this house manual that shows the causes and remedies to typical problems found in victorian/edwardian houses. The manual has quite a lot of detail and helped us get to grips with the work required and the resulting dampness to some ceilings and walls etc. But whats surpsrising is how enjhoyable this book is to read / browse with interesting historical stuff about how they were built and loads of nice colour photos! a massive improvemnt on the old black and white haynes motorbike manuals I used to buy years ago. highly recommended.  Try searching the Internet for "The Victorian House Manual" or Ebay for "The Victorian House Manual". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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