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S1 EP 11 | The Sympathetic Restoration with Rich "The Traditional Building Nerd"
55 Plays1 month ago
Rich has an insatiable appetite for restoring old buildings using science. This alongside his engineering background makes for some interesting projects, particularly “Moby Deck”, a fully retractable swimming pool deck!
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Transcript
Introduction to DIY Guys Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY guys the podcast where home renovations, power tools and mild panic go hand in hand. I'm Nick Morris. And I'm Dan Doher. Each week we'll be chatting with some property pros, some DIY diehards, hopefully help you with some tips and tricks along the way.
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome back to the DIY Guys podcast. Thank you for any new listeners who are joining us today. And thank you for existing listeners for coming back and listening to us
Nick's Holiday and Renovation Impact
00:00:27
Speaker
waffle on. We've got existing listeners alive. Thank you. We've got a lot of dead listeners tuning in at the moment. Numbers are numbers. Yeah.
00:00:37
Speaker
So Nick, how you been mate? Very well, I've been very well because ah as you know, as a close friend, I've been on holiday all week. So not so good for the renovation, ah but very good for just, yeah, mental health. The chillers. Langsies. And I did a 12 hour flight with a four year old and I actually didn't want to like kill everyone on the flight. That's always a positive. That's a good sign. a good sign.
00:01:01
Speaker
Well, obviously, you've got some stuff to report back on.
Renovation Delays and Challenges
00:01:03
Speaker
The builders have still been like cracking on with bits and pieces. Sort of. One of the builders on holiday as well. Plus, I'm not with Melwood. We're not in a frapple. or some weird situation.
00:01:14
Speaker
um So Dave's been on holidays. It's actually been some cool thing with his son. He plays golf and try to play golf competitively, which is so awesome. Everyone's dream. um we should We play football instead golf. We should have played golf. shows yeah but you as it um But yeah, so he went out to Spain and played Portugal. So he just left Toby, so the one builder there by himself. So it's been fairly slow, but all the oversight was completed at the end of last week.
00:01:38
Speaker
And then they're just doing the Brock work and the brick work. Okay, cool. um So it's a little bit slow, and still we still have a little bit of rain, aren't we? Yeah. They're like, this is where you're you're thinking, oh, it's costing me so much money, but they're taking the blocks into the house where they, bit like our creepy podcast room we're in now, they've like curtained off one of the rooms, the doors, and we've got two heaters blasting them. They're taking the blocks inside to dry off because they've all been sitting outside in the yard or something and they've been shipped over because he said they literally were too wet to lay at one point. So as he like... It's like, I've got to say, we're always like, how these heaters cost? This room is boiling when you go in there. I'm like, whatever. I'm not there. I can't moan. like i was exactlying on It's the job done. It's the job done. So, yeah, they're like progressing well. Then, ah like I've said previously, not as fast as I'd like because they started on my job early and they are maintained. They're just going off again. They're just doing like one or two days rather than, oh, but Toby apparently is going to be here like all week at mine this week. So that's all good. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, so it should get some progress. And it's starting to look like an actual extension. Actual extension, yeah.
00:02:46
Speaker
And what's quite cool about it is that I hate when people do extensions and it's brickwork and it doesn't match the existing. Yeah. um I was worried about that. and He said, oh, it's a really, really easy brick to find. Oh, man. Oh, that's cool. Because even but the other bricks, however many years old, i thought they might not look good.
00:03:02
Speaker
But straight away, it just looks like the actual bricks. Yeah, I think as a finish, you'll know it's new. Yeah. um But it sort of it looks like a good match, I'm pleased about that. Stuff like that I think, a bit low, but I don't think I'd buy a house if it looks really mismatched. It's easy to make all the pointing and everything old, don't you? It's like a bit of a trick.
00:03:23
Speaker
But you think after it's weathered for like a year or whatever, it will then look like the other stuff. Yeah, exactly. Which is always good. yeah So that's great, you don't have to do rendering. Yes. Yeah, because I don't actually like rendered houses and I live in one.
00:03:38
Speaker
it was just like we couldn't find a magic brick and the brick was quite unattractive. Whereas Gran's brick isn't like lovely. Yeah, like a Victorian one or 30s house or whatever. Yeah, it's always nice. It's like medium. It's not offensive. No. Yeah,
Window Installation Issues
00:03:52
Speaker
so... made good progress and whilst I've been away sunbathing on the beach I don't know even saying that because I've got a four yard there's relaxing there's no two outdoors with one child it's basically like you get 45 minutes while the other one goes in the pool and you switch but very very few time Andy my window guy has put in the windows as well Oh, man, is it? Yeah. So I need to start putting some more snaps online. Yeah. Yes. We've got the nice grey front windows. Really pleased them. was worried about it's going to look. Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
So the two front bedrooms are in and the back patio door. Although he never communicates with me. He's like old school. And I got there and the back. So the inside's grey and the outside's white. And when were I went around the outside, which is obviously all I'd say the wrong way around. yeah artist The outside's grey and the inside white.
00:04:40
Speaker
When I went around the outside to look at the grey front, it was obviously all grey, but clearly they mucked up and sent the wrong handle because it was a big white handle. let's But obviously it was just politics. Yeah, change it down the line, but At first I was like, please don't, that'd be what I've ordered. Exactly, yeah. For weird style without being used to. I was like, is this cool or new? Or is this just mo air not working?
00:05:02
Speaker
So yeah, good pro vessel, I've been dusted. I feel now faulty like you. Well done. I didn't have a round start. But yeah, it's good. It's quite cool when you're not there working and doing whatever and there's actually progress still going on. so you send usa a but And you get to nose on your ring doorbell as well. And I really love my ring doorbell. So hush for the holidays. Such a fun thing to do. I was like, am I at a time? I was just laughing. I worked around the same.
00:05:31
Speaker
And cameras everywhere. Yeah. Most of me, that is a good tip for a renovation, especially if you're not living it right. Yeah. Extra light security you get with just having like a ring doorbell.
00:05:42
Speaker
And I also think it like puts people off. Oh, 100%. If someone was thinking of just having a nose round, as soon as they see that, they're like, oh, it's not worth it. Yeah, and even um if i if it was like my house, which i Grands is fine because now the block work and brick work is going up, it almost creates like a barrier. People could still get in this a bit more effort yeah to go around the back and break in and steal stuff. But my house was just exposed for like two years basically. Yeah. And I'd get a reading security camera as well because you can obviously just go back through the footage and I think you'd get a family account or whatever. But that's the negative to it though. I've had to pay the...
00:06:16
Speaker
50 quid yearly thing now you get free for like 30 days yeah and if you don't pay you can get it free just for just like re-answering and stuff but if you want to go back and look whereas someone breaks in there's no good if can't go back and look like that so yeah i've had to stomp out the 50 pound that is fine so anytime you're being a weird lawyer
00:06:36
Speaker
Well, it is good. at like and now I've got the alarm and everything, so it's all wrapped into one. is a lot cheaper than my parents have got like an old school lot alarm. yeah And the cost to have that installed, that is like extortionate. And then you still have to have what some maintenance done every year on it. So realistically, is quite a cheaper option. And if you just get the doorbell, it's not a big deal. It's not too much money either. No, exactly.
00:07:02
Speaker
But yeah, and we've got exciting guest again, haven't we? First person in person. In person, we can bring him into my creepy garage room. We went in and that's because I feel too overwhelmed to bring a guest in here. It's quite sniped.
00:07:16
Speaker
He's Rich from Sympathetic Restoration. likes specializing all buildings, doesn't he? Yeah. He got bought a really nice old house. um It's got like a swimming pool in it, which apparently they didn't even know about when they were going to view it. Yeah. um So we're going to go listen, and see what he's doing and see what he's renovating. Sounds like a big DIY, right? With lots of like fancy background as well. likeke Like, I feel disrespectful calling him a DIY because he's like a genie. We're like going, oh, you could strip a wall like this. And he's like, oh, I've just built a massive frame. yeah Like engineer back and forth.
00:07:49
Speaker
So yeah, we'll listen to that now and we'll talk about it in a bit afterwards. Let's go to Rich.
Rich's Grade II Home Renovation Journey
00:07:54
Speaker
Right, guys, we have Rich here this week from Sympathetic Restoration and our first ever in-house guest. how are you doing today? Lovely to be here. And it's just so happy enough to be about a mile away from what you were saying. We may get up to what there's still like.
00:08:07
Speaker
So just tell us a little bit about your house. We've been following you for a while now. I see you've been there for several years and renovating slowly. Is that kind to say? It's been such a part of it. It certainly slowed down, I think, and definitely not finished. it but So yeah, I bought the house eight years ago. And it was ah it certainly it wasn't a wreck, but it was basically um needed a huge amount of tea at sea.
00:08:31
Speaker
I think a a lady was living there with four kids and it was unfortunately a quite a messy divorce. And so no work had been done to the house basically since you're living there, it's just four kids and living on her own.
00:08:42
Speaker
So just needed a lot of TLC and maintenance. And it's a great two listed, a quite large house, another with Cotswolds. And this so therefore it needs, it just needed loads of, stuff doing that they just haven't done for a long time trance of course not that i wanted to change the layout things but need a lot of things doing to intent actually i'd like to do this to it to make it better family me home for us so yeah that's effectively how the story we started really that's it and being great to list it is that something you kind of were a little bit scared about to start with or is it something you're like i love that it's like a nice characteristic characteristic so
00:09:18
Speaker
ah I'm a big fan of listing in the sense that because I'm a huge fan of heritage properties and and buildings. And well, there's kind of two elements to this really, I suppose, in in how I see it. is ah Listing is is very good because it means it protects our built heritage. And I think that's a really good thing because you see some of the things that are for the non-listed buildings where, oh, I'm going to put my stamp on it. And you think, well, that's great. But then what about the next one? So I very much see myself as the current custodian of this house.
00:09:46
Speaker
And I never really met a history buff when I was at school. But i love history now because i've I've gone and researched who lived in the house before me. And it dates back to sort of fourteen hundreds in terms of what we've got in the days before. And it's like, that's fascinating to know here.
00:09:59
Speaker
Who's been in that house before? It was like the sheriff of this particular type of place. Fantastic rich history. So um i want to um I recognize it. It's my duty, if you like, to sort of keep that house to ready to pass on to the next custodian. then so So that's one thing so I enjoy about it.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yes, it can feel restrictive in terms of what you can can't do to it. And you want some sort of other body, if you like, or the the ah the local authority has got to say yes or no to what you do to it.
00:10:26
Speaker
So there are challenges there, but I personally think those challenges are down to just resources. So the local authorities don't have the resources to able to do what they ought to be doing, which is helping and advising homeowners like me.
00:10:39
Speaker
I'm incredibly fortunate with my place, because this is going back eight years ago. and The conservation officer, when I was looking at buying house, I invited around and said, can you do a viewing with me? Because I...
00:10:50
Speaker
never had list of them before so can you help and support me at the time when resources weren't so tall she was like yeah no problem i'll come out and get around with you and i'll never forget though turn over the drive um to this viewing and um and i said to it great thanks for coming here i want to talk to you about all the things i'd like to do to you i'll tell you what you can do jump and i went okay So straight away like, right, need to be subservient. deia so So my demeanor changed and tips. Oh, yes, please. Because I've never this. And before, let me know. So that's the but iro that's the role I turn. And actually, it's been a really fantastic relationship I've had with.
00:11:25
Speaker
So anything I've had to do to the house, so in the account of lots and lots of masonry parents from outside causing the dampness and everything else, strip that off. Technically, that's a character change. That would have this had to have listed building content.
00:11:38
Speaker
Because the conservation officer said, no, it's the right thing to do and doing all the right things, then yeah, I'm happy to do it. Exchange your emails. So said, this is what i want to do because of this. And then she said, yeah, no problem. cracked i' go a And other things like, you know, we've had some plaster issues and causing damp problems. And I've replaced it with a line class. It would have been originally. She said, yeah, no problem again. And so I've had a really good relationship with it.
00:11:58
Speaker
I know from many people that contact me, not have everyone has the same experience. Yeah. and And I've had ah she's a, she's really pragmatic conservation officer in terms of I'm doing things the right way and I'm still getting permission, if you like, ah from her, albeit some conservationists say, no, even though ah you're doing the right thing, you're still going to be building consent application process. And I don't want to still eight to 12 weeks. You've got all these scale drawings and stuff. It's just yeah mired in bureaucracy. you know be unnecessary So I tried a really good experience. And I recognize that's not the same as the last year.
00:12:33
Speaker
And also, I'm not living in a building that that is
Old vs New Building Maintenance
00:12:35
Speaker
that old. Because I've only ever lived in, I've lived in a Victorian flat in Brixton. And i was up wow, this is cool. It's got some a history to it. But you're talking about 600 years old. Yeah. I assume in like Roots or what year.
00:12:46
Speaker
and like Obviously, they'll put no insulation, there's nothing going on in there. I find it quite fascinating. Even the borderline a bit like scary about just yeah undertaking it and the history that's going on there.
00:12:57
Speaker
So I think um ah I find modern buildings scary in the same way. The reason being, um you can get away with loads as a DIYer because it looks a bit tight.
00:13:11
Speaker
It blends in. It's hearing it. If you've not done everything, flowering all straight everything else, it's going to be like, stuff.
00:13:24
Speaker
The other thing that, and this is why I've become really geeky about this science. is that um there is a fundamental principle with old buildings, which is not the same as new as more modern buildings, which is just if you allow the building to get dry and stay dry you'll never have an issue.
00:13:41
Speaker
So all the materials that you use in old buildings are all about enabling it to stay dry. So first one, you've got the lime plaster, you've got the timber, you've got these various different materials, which all allows it. So it's designed to, if it gets wet, well, it doesn't really matter because it can still dry out.
00:13:55
Speaker
as soon as you put any layers that stop it from drying out, that's when you cause the issues and you get the decay and get the crumbling stuff. Whereas a modern building is all about layers of waterproofness. And so it's all about having layers waterproofness where it can drain away.
00:14:08
Speaker
So if an old building, gets so a new building gets gets water in bits of somewhere, then as long as that can sort of drain away and not get trapped in it. But it's just a really different kind of mindset. So long as you go with that mindset an old building, it of doesn't matter if it gets wet, as long as it can dry out, then actually you're good.
00:14:23
Speaker
yeah And that's the thing that I've always been fighting on about. Yeah. So yeah, was about say, and then you really are into the science kind of side of things. I suppose you have to be, right? If you're dealing with a property that's not similar to everyone else's and you're a DIYer, so you need to look for some sort of guidance.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think you do. and and I think, um and this is the bit where I get a bit saddened and depressed because there are many, many manufacturers out there that kind of slap a label on something because that's the kind of marketing label and it's worth breathable by the way.
00:14:56
Speaker
us I didn't want to bring it up because there so I mean it is don't get me wrong I think years ago it had its place because it because it was it was a good kind of way of understanding that kind of readability side of things and understanding how all buildings work my challenge with it now is because That has become so synonymous with old buildings that now any manufacturer is trying to build have a building product that they want to sell to this kind of market. They just wicked, slap that label on it. They're selling in hotback hot kids.
00:15:23
Speaker
you like But that's not not what we mean by breathable. and it's not That's going to be damaging to this particular building. wing yeah So that's of the first. So I think understanding this science planet, I mean, I loved it because engineer by background in terms of that's, you know, gup university degree that went into. So I really like...
00:15:38
Speaker
the evidence basis of things. You know, if a product comes along and says this is what it's claiming to do, then I'll go, okay, well, I see your claims here, but I understand the fundamental physics of how buildings work and how that is professing to work. So that doesn't work for me. and Like, explain why this is some sort of They had not some sort of snake oil type thing. And that's what I like drilling into just to sort of, so I can make the decision for myself in terms of not just believing what's written on the label, which, you know, and mine seems like 10. Unfortunately, all these things are like, science is just hoax posts. Yeah, exactly. You just get it suddenly.
00:16:13
Speaker
yeah Well, because the downside is, unfortunately, there's huge amounts of money to be made, of course, in the building industry and and to be made on Senate products. But the vast majority of products you want on your old building are really cheap.
00:16:24
Speaker
Like lime water and lime plastic is really cheap.
Developing DIY Skills
00:16:28
Speaker
The problem is the economy is a scale issue. It's cheaper than cement, effectively, to produce cement, theoretically. But it's just not producing the volume. It's an airport for 120.
00:16:38
Speaker
And to try to get a line plasterer, there are so few around, so therefore they charge a lot more. and But actually, the materials are really cheap, like the timber and the stone that sort thing, the buildings, vernacular materials, because they were built from the local materials around you.
00:16:52
Speaker
They weren't shipped in from Germany or from France or wherever else. It was kind of whatever you go within a walking distance or car and horse distance away. So that, you know, it were cheap materials. Oh, wow.
00:17:04
Speaker
So taking on a property like yours, have you always had a DIY background or have you sort grown with your DIY journey as you bought this house? I feel like you'd have to have some sort of DIY background to choose a house like that because like you say, hu on your audience Instagram, haven't seen many tradesmen. It's been you doing a lot the work as well.
00:17:22
Speaker
I know you must have people from time to time, but you'd have pretty hands-on. So definitely grown. Yeah. It's basically when you do any kind of DIY, you kind of like, I kind of do this. Oh, have to learn that. So as so my I made my kind of first DIY kind of ah project, if you like, was whilst as a university student, engineering degree of uni. And then I was very fortunate enough that I was lent some money to buy our student house.
00:17:48
Speaker
And it was on sort of student T road in Selleo in Birmingham. And it was a semi-detached place. A little old deer been living there for the last 30 years. So it needed huge amounts of updating.
00:18:01
Speaker
so I worked with a German national builder. who was just a friend of the family. He was probably in his 50s. And so he showed me all the roads kind of thing. And I was basically his lackey. We spent the summer between my first and second year at university.
00:18:14
Speaker
basically gutting the place, stripping all that hustle and plaster off, dobbing plasterboard, now going, why am I getting all this weird mould stuff and all these issues? yeah And that's really what started then peaking my interest in terms of going, oh, okay, maybe it's slightly a different type of building material to be using it, because none of these issues were before.
00:18:31
Speaker
And is it my grotty student lifestyle? I don't know.
00:18:36
Speaker
but that's And that's what started my sort of inquisitiveness in terms of, okay, there' is there something different going on with the building materials I'm using here compared what was used? I mean, this German National Builder, I was just a case like, crash it out, smash it out type of thing.
00:18:49
Speaker
But really fortunate, this is back in 2000, the property market at the time was starting to really balloon. And you could buy a property for quite cheap. It was $60,000 or $60,000. It's where bought this so at this house. And by the time I'd finished it, it took about three or four months to sort of get it finished. Retted at such as was by the student mates as well.
00:19:07
Speaker
was like, hang on second, like let's get a mortgage on this. got a mortgage on the house, paid back the person and let me the money and had some deposit on the house on their own. So I then did it's the same the following year and had another house at the end the budget. So i ended up with a tiny little portfolio of like two or three, buy to let's. I'd done this every year. So whilst my mates were off wakeboarding, doing everything else and stuff like I was crafting on the house. And each time I did the house, I used fewer and fewer trades.
00:19:29
Speaker
So it's kind of like, oh, that'd be one of those really annoying clients and customers. You know where had trades in, you're peering up, shorting it. So all the plumbing ended up right to do all the plumbing myself. And it actually got friendly with the plumbing. He showed me how to phrase, pop pipes and everything else. And so it actually ended up just doing more and more on itself and pulling the wires through floors, unless understanding how it remain works. That's what they meant getting sparky that you build a rapport with to say, yeah, come and check it and then sign it off. yeah Because I don't need to don need to spark it to pull points. So gradually just increasing my repertoire of
00:20:02
Speaker
doing different skills and trades. And that culminated sort of ah in 2017 when I left the army, left my job and and bought this house, sold the buy to thats that that had and put everything into this house and then, right, this is going to be our forever home.
Rich's DIY Approach
00:20:16
Speaker
And that that was then kind of like, now's the time.
00:20:19
Speaker
So they bring all that kind of learning, and if you like, into that one big house. So yes, everything in the house, done I've done everything apart from Cotswold's entire roof. It came off. That's through super special. Yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
kindly the cockna yeah And then, but other than that, it's pretty much been the odd trade where I need them, where it's been say, electrics to sign off or bits of work, but otherwise has been, yeah, myself doing it all.
00:20:46
Speaker
And think my approach to DIY doing a, um ah kind of do a bit of a, almost a dynamic risk assessment for each task yeah and going, how much is you going to cost me if I copy this up? yeah Am I likely to lose life or limb by trying it? And if I'm not, why not have a go?
00:21:03
Speaker
Because the alternative is paying a professional to do it anyway. And then in which case, if I can stomach the fact that if I really copy it up, I've got to call a professional anyway, and he go and he laughs at he's making a try, he's making a mess of it, then actually, well, that's the opposite.
00:21:17
Speaker
stop that But if I achieve it, then brilliant. That's just another confidence boost of just going. You then, as you guys have got to find yourselves, take on bigger and bigger projects. yeah Incrementally bigger projects. And if you go, awesome. You the culture that's saying, yeah, we'll take you on. I think something was super scary, like I was always scared of plumbing. And this house, i was like, ah we've got them really get along. So I was like,
00:21:41
Speaker
just spoke to the plumber's like can I just do a bit myself and he said yeah yeah I've got like six holes that need to be drilled from x to y can you run this pipe for me and then he'll just build the like properly difficult stuff like the underfloor heating manifold and things like that and so far it's been so good and you sort grow from it oh cool this is actually achievable We were just scared of it and we didn't know it. Yeah, that is exactly it. it's getting the advice. So it's understanding in terms of, okay, what's kind of left of arc in terms of what can I achieve? What's right arc in terms of that's way And then it's almost taking the advice and sort of saying, can I do this? Can I not do this? Because it's having that advice that empowers you to go, it's worth having It's worth having a go.
00:22:24
Speaker
um And that's what predicated in in why I've started the business side. We used to help people like that want to do it for themselves, to genuinely empower them to say, we're not here to do the job for you, but you want to have a crack, these the things for need to understand. So don't do this because, or yeah, you can have a go at that because it's not a big deal if you mess it up.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, having that knowledge is so helpful. And because otherwise you kind of, it's pretty lonely. see that You look on YouTube and everyone does on YouTube you're kind of like, but I've just watched that YouTube video and he's done a completely different way for that one. And like, which one is vital for my particular property?
00:22:57
Speaker
Which is... And there's always something different and something like comes up, you're like, yeah I've watched 10 videos and not one of them had this problem with it. Especially an older house is like, you that they must all be different almost. As in like, and like house like down this road, there's a lot, it was a thirty s or 50s house and they've been extended. and They're sort of all a bit similar, but those older properties, each room must be different, let alone each house.
00:23:20
Speaker
They definitely are, but I think it's more about your approach to problem solving. So I think that's that's what comes with experience. and that's what where our trades people are tradesmen have built up their repertoire of experience because they're doing it day and day out. So they come across a problem. There isn't a pamphlet or a manual for doing it even on new build. It's a case of, okay, well, I've seen a similar problem before. So how am I going to navigate this challenge and this issue?
00:23:44
Speaker
with the tools and the skills that I've already got. um And I think that's all that generally comes with doing lots and lots of stuff yourself is that you're building up that repertoire of going confidence of going, yeah, I reckon I can have a go at this. But also it's then understanding what's the worst it can happen.
00:24:01
Speaker
Like if it's catastrophic, if in terms of actually if this does leak and I won't be to get to it again anything else, then I don't want risk it. So I will get someone in to come and do it for. Or if actually it doesn't matter because it does leak or it has a little problem, I can still access it and I can still repair it and change it, then I'll have a go. And it's sort of making that sort of assessment, if you like, can you give it a go?
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah. What made you start recording it and going to the social side of things? Is that something you've always wanted to do or is it like, just give it a go? Primarily, like I think get a lot of people that start on social media, it's like their nosy neighbors and friends of me.
00:24:37
Speaker
And it wasn't in the case of, hey, check me out how awesome I am. For me, it was case of I wanted to catalogue what I was doing. And also, I really enjoyed the why I was doing it. For me, like the why is the most important. Well, yeah, well, how.
00:24:51
Speaker
I mean, i I don't do how to's because I'm not a professional. I don't profess to be. And I think it's a bit remiss of me to sort saying this is how to do something. that i want Don't listen to me.
00:25:01
Speaker
What I will do, this is why I'm doing it. So this is why I think I have this particular issue over here. And this is why I'm using this product do it ah in terms of going back the fundamentals of the physics, basics or checking or of thermodynamics in terms of why the moisture is moving in that particular way.
00:25:16
Speaker
So i think my reason for putting on social media was more in terms of like, um it was for me, it was a little bit cathartic because it was case of actually you've got engagement from loads of people from around the bloody world. You can all chip in and sort of say, guys, anyone seen this before? Can you help with this? What can I do? Actually, it got message saying, hey, such and such.
00:25:33
Speaker
It ended up turning into more into, oh, wow, this really is your week. Thank you, my son. Okay. I thought you were supposed to be a good one. I actually said your social media is really unique.
00:25:44
Speaker
because you actually go into the science, like Dan said earlier, this and I saw your experiment in like with the electricity wire and the old alarm. I'm like, I want to go search for cables. I was like, well I don't have an old alarm. I'm going file an email just so I can go around.
00:25:57
Speaker
I think that you actually have a really unique social media because of the way you delve into things. So I'm in the process of actually doubling down on that at the moment. So I'm speaking to quite a lot of actual buildings. I mean, Dr. Robin Pender, who worked for Historic England for a long time. mean, she's like a bit of a legend when it comes to physics. So I've had many conversations with her. going to do some more stuff on that just to kind of really drill down into exactly what say. My view is that If you and truly understand how your building works, you won't get conned by builders, tradespeople, product manufacturers, everything else. Because you go, hang on a minute.
00:26:35
Speaker
That's not how it works. And that's my aim. That's my my fundamental aim. It's like, if I can get across in terms of all the things that I've learned, and sort of say, here's the fundamentals and simplify, because some things can be deeply complicated, but they don't need to be, then, i mean, that is where you know I enjoy doing it in terms of that translation kind of like, um it's and it's not teaching. It's more this case of simplifying in terms of this is how the building works. So you can make your own mind up in terms of actually, if I do use that product, it's going to cause issues or it might cause such and such. So Yes, interesting interesting you said that because this house is quite a good example because basically behind this wall is the old house and where we are is the extension and we were made to put in this certain type of cavity insulation everywhere.
00:27:15
Speaker
And they're like, yeah, it keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And the warm in the winter, I'm like, oh, it is actually warm compared to like my parents' 30s house. But in the summer, it's just roasting absolutely everywhere. And to me, something's like, this isn't right. And then now we're like, oh,
00:27:31
Speaker
We might need air conditioning or something. And then we're like, that's a ridiculous modern thing I don't want on my wall, big plastic box. But again, it's like the science of it isn't quite right and what we've been told to do by the council, my opinion.
00:27:43
Speaker
Well, there's whole separate challenge we with building regulations, except how to do things. And we took it wrong. that The council government, they have a really difficult challenge. We've got the oldest housing stock in Europe.
00:27:58
Speaker
I mean, in roughly what a fifth, depending on which statute is, of our building stock is over 100 old. And if statistics are saying that that building stock is going to endure until 2050, so about 80% is going to endure. So we're stuck, if you like, with these old buildings. Great, because I love this. But but you know the way you need to manage and look after them, and certainly retrofit them, hate that word, ah the way we need to upgrade them in order to be energy efficient things is is fundamentally different to how you would on this particular body and and things like you mentioned about the counter-war organization there's lots of elements to it which um not many people are aware of there's a depriment delay I think it's called depriment delay that's the right term which is about essentially the the thermal mass of a particular building material
00:28:46
Speaker
will very much depend on then how it performs in both hot and cold. And so obviously you want to slow insulation a bit, the heat transfer moving through the building, but at the same time, but sober again, want to make sure that actually is also slow from it.
00:28:57
Speaker
The great thing about my house, yes, it's freezing cold in the winter, so we don't eat Yeah. But if you get that heat into it and that thermal mass by sort of gentle background heating all the time, but those great big thick stone walls will then continue to kind of radiate with it or get the mass into it.
00:29:14
Speaker
At the same time, when it's 40 degrees outside i'd like we had a couple of years ago, It was still about 70, well, it was about 20, 20, 24 degrees inside. Yeah, lovely, lovely. I mean, I really wanted to just, you know, you shut all the windows and throw the curtains and you go, this is fabulous. And everyone else, I don't even know how to see. So it's kind of swings and out.
00:29:31
Speaker
There was a big potential challenge in this factory with overheating. People think, well, i'd love to be overheating my house, but actually it's really serious issue when we are over-insulating all the properties. um that actually it is going to become a problem and we're just going to end up drawing more energy from the grid that we can least afford because we need things like air conditioning. We're actually doing it backwards, surely. yeah And that's it. And that's that's where I think it's interesting because you kind of want to take stuff from history rather than completely change it and try and move in a different direction. And it's not a fault to say, actually, the way we went is wrong. We should take more learnings from how buildings used to be. Like you say...
00:30:08
Speaker
And then you can have these cooler houses. Now the the temperature is getting hotter in the summers. It would make the most sense, right? Yeah, definitely. and And I mean, you're almost stealing my sandwiches from one of the videos. Sorry.
00:30:21
Speaker
It's because one of the videos that that Dr. Robin has been researching is mixing both physics and history.
Conservation and Building Physics
00:30:28
Speaker
And one of the things that and she talks about physiology of the human body and that we radiate huge amounts of heat.
00:30:35
Speaker
And there's a huge um thing that we've missed in all of our feelings of comfort within a building is that these walls um generally, or at least stone wall or a window, are massive heating. So in other words, they absorb and they suck in your radiated heat. But one of the reasons why we have, for example, in our history books, you see tapestries on walls, especially behind beds and where people are sitting,
00:31:00
Speaker
It's because it stops it sucking the heat out of your body. So you're not radiating. Like if you stood next to that window over there, you even if you blindfolded and you stood next to the wall, you would feel colder, your comfort level, because you'd feel the heat being radiated into the window because it's a really crap insulin.
00:31:15
Speaker
um Whereas if you put just a secondary glazing plastic film on top of it, it doesn't suck your heat as much. So there's lots of things that we are completely missing in our buildings because we're all on about measuring things, measuring air temperature. And it's like, well, it's 20 degrees. They will feel comfortable. Well, actually, 20 degrees, you may not feel comfortable cook because if you put all the walls suck your heat out, it's still feeling. So there's there's lots of things like we can learn, say, from the physics and the history of stuff.
00:31:41
Speaker
the The other side of the history is like how we design our buildings. I mean, skyscrapers in Dubai, it's a blimmin' desert. Why would you build a greenhouse to keep it in Dubai? And you look at old Dubai and you go in the old buildings, great big thick stone walls, really thick flats, roofs and everything else to, again, insulate that solar again and they're cool inside.
00:32:04
Speaker
We build skyscrapers. We build out of glass, which are big greenhouses. And the only way of being comfortable those is massive amounts of electricity to air conditioning. Yeah, that's insane. I'm sorry, but why would we do that? The same with how we design buildings now.
00:32:19
Speaker
The Shard in London, all these other things. They look fantastic in terms of our modern architecture, but they really don't consider what the energy performance is going to do with the environment. You're like, yeah, it's just fantastic.
00:32:30
Speaker
I think people do focus on the look sometimes just too well and even just like that all story open areas in the front of the house with like a landing I'm just like that it's just impossible to heat it for one and it's just like it looks nice and actually this is another different way but I think it completely opens up your house to people to pass you just seeing glass glass glass everywhere but my brain living is like a school tons of electricity and tons of waste basically in my opinion most of the things You're right. Fashion has become in terms of open plan living and everything else, but like saying for the kind of zone of heating, it's just incredibly difficult to do.
00:33:07
Speaker
But also, through his the Victorians were um had this fetishization of old stuff. So in the Victorian era is when they stripped off a lot of the render off our timber frame buildings and painted the timbers black so you could see the bones of it. And they stripped off um yeah lots of different things like you had a lath and plaster ceiling and they herald our way so you could see the structure of the beams and that sort of thing.
00:33:31
Speaker
I mean, that that's now become synonymous, that people think now with, um okay, it's it's old. Like peeling all the plaster off a stone wall, say, oh, I can see the stone. That's all traditional. it's come back But it never would have been bare stone. It always would have been planted in it because it's really impractical for a start to get loads of dust. And then people try and put some seednets of it. and you like me travel and moisture Okay, well, about swings.
00:33:52
Speaker
But police is again, it's learning from the past and history really important because do you know what? The Georgians and the Victorians, they were really good at building buildings. Yeah, then they were doing it. And compared to now, we're kind of like, oh, yeah, we can do it because we can, because we've got materials that can do it. It's like not necessarily whether we should.
00:34:10
Speaker
Yeah. It's such a shame, isn't it? It's like you think all the technology we have, it feels like it's backwards. Yeah. i mean, they have in London, for example, the beautiful buildings we have everywhere. I once lived in like a Georgian.
00:34:22
Speaker
house in London or flat in London and it was just magnificent like 200 years old and you just let's what it seems like we're going further with technology but my backwards and that so that's that fit well we certainly I think definitely we're getting away from craftsmanship yeah so I mean houses these days are thrown up in literally wheeless. Whereas of course, houses back the day would take months, years to build. And you would have a particular artisan that would be second, fourth, fifth generation stonemason or carpenter that would go in and he'd spend several months on doing all the floors and making sure they're all lined up everything else. They're absolute craftsmen. But time is money. You just can't afford it. That's gypsum plaster now is the favourite because you can skim a wall within two weeks, can paint you get lime glass it. You've got to wait a couple of months for it to carbonise actually doing that.
00:35:11
Speaker
It's a much better material, lime plaster, for every building in terms of how it regulates humidity. It just takes too long. And that's why people don't use it because time is money. It's a massive shame, I think, because I think we are losing track of actually why all these buildings built this way and why are the materials are used because because they were really good at what their task is. yeah And now things are being introduced because, yes, they make money for the amount of pressure to build them, but but they make money because they're really quick to use. Yeah.
00:35:39
Speaker
Your PIR insulation foam board is a really good incubator material. mean, crap, they're doing lots of other things. It's a good incubator material, just super quick. You just stick a board in there that's it. You've got over-insulation there. I have other issues with, you know,
00:35:53
Speaker
how it's produced in off-gassing and everything else. you But that I think that's one of the big challenges. It's the time. I think we're going to have to mention my
00:36:13
Speaker
Exactly. yeah How did you come up with concept that must be your engineering background coming through? Yeah, I think engineering background is stupidity. fits different for me because i me um So we bought a house and I didn't even know it at the
Swimming Pool Discovery and Restoration
00:36:28
Speaker
time. It wasn't even on sales particulars.
00:36:30
Speaker
Very derelict. It was swimming pool. not dissimilar, probably what you handle it. And um when we bought the property, ah it wasn't even on the sales particulars that had an app that was going to be pooled in it. So it was a genuine surprise when we went to the upstairs bedroom and went, is that a pool? And the estate agent went, oh yeah, it didn't you know? It was kind of like, paul because it was so derelating, so like grotty.
00:36:52
Speaker
And um one of the things that, you know, was bottom of the priority list for doing anything on the house, but we grafted so hard for for two or three, what, three years, I think it was in the house. And then And Naomi and I said to each other, well, the kids are 10 and 12 at the moment. If we don't do the pool soon, they'll be at university and then we're never going to use. So we made the decision, we'll do it.
00:37:13
Speaker
Had some quotes for doing the pool in general and they were mind bending kind of quotes in terms of getting it, getting up and it was like, we're never going to afford that. And I just thought, like I said before how hard can it be it turns out really hard yeah well I then um sort of went and spoke to a kind of like swimming pool builders essentially and sort of said can you talk me through how to do it and actually one of sort of if you buy the bits from me no problem at all and they were based out in Sussex I mean um
00:37:44
Speaker
Or bro pools or solid pool. Brilliant. Ben's fantastic. and So we would thoroughly recommend people go and get some advice or go and chat to Ben for that pool stuff. He's a really nice guy. um But essentially, you just sort of every couple of days, I'd have a video call him showing him out and what say, right next, you need to do this, it's in this and this, which. So that that was the pool and was able to then transform the pool into being a functional swimming pool.
00:38:05
Speaker
Now we've got trees down the one side of at the pool and they're kind of what they're called l-l-l-l-landi or something. Okay. So they always land up trees and of course they drop pine needles all the time. night back for b next But their screen is from one of the neighbours. So actually quite useful. Yeah.
00:38:21
Speaker
and you told them that yeah So there was that element, but also there's a little retaining wall around, retaining wall, a sort of dividing wall, which cut the garden in half, if you like. And I really hated that. And I liked the idea of actually having a plant. So for safety reasons with the kids and the...
00:38:37
Speaker
pets and animals we've got didn't necessari necessarily want them meandering into the pool and falling so i thought why can't and i looked into the safety covers and um you've the there's a one that you can get is like go rigid almost or vinyl cover that goes up automatically but you can walk over the top of it okay and i've got a quote for that and this is going back well now three or four years quote flat was like 25 grand for the ball and as i was like what it doesn't seem that complicated yeah so ah very um I think am I managed to get the name of drunk or something but I said her if I can build a proper read-through deck for it for less than half the price of that electric cover would you let me and she said I don't think you can do that and i going i did constant numbers and dramatic I went
00:39:28
Speaker
And so it was it was that that's where the concept was born, really because I wanted this this idea that I wanted it to be essentially usable space, entirely usable. Because I just thought it is just a mezzanine floor. It's effectively a mezzanine steel floor on some rollers. Like, how hard can that be? is I mean, it's a lot of tolerances got to get right to make true numbers. We'll be trying to demonstrate and plums are true and everything. um And it's been very iterative.
00:39:51
Speaker
So i I absolutely have not had an entire plan skipped out in terms of how it work. It's always been in the case of, right, do that bit for learning on the job and then learning on the job in terms of, right, what do I need to do that?
00:40:01
Speaker
But I think here's one of the things that that um the I've learned from doing lots of projects is, Having to try and think one, two, three, four stages ahead in terms of if I do that now, does that reduce my options for doing such and such later? Yeah. And and that's the hardest thing because I cannot stand as any tradesperson and you guys will attest to as well, redoing something. Oh, it is the worst joke I did but to me.
00:40:26
Speaker
So that is a pet head of anyone that's at any work. Even if simply it's easy, I don't want to redo it. It's actually 10 minutes, I still don't want to do it. There's all the rooms in my house that just have not touched yeah since we've been there because I just know that if I do them now, I'm going to have to go back and redo the Ficus and selection sets. So decided I'd rather leave this decrepit and fall apart. So it's very long-winded story in terms of, Moby Deck, I had a structure engineer, ah build me a mezzanine floor plan, essentially just do the sketch for it. and He also ordered the steels for it. So it is essentially, it will it is has the same structure as um you know your up upstairs bedroom, if you like, on an SD floor. So that's the load it can take.
00:41:03
Speaker
That was the basic structure. Those steel, that's seven grand for those steels. That's the lumpiest part of it. and All bolted together. The rest of it was Facebook Marketplace buying steels and they bought like RSJs for like 50 quid type thing, cut them up with a re-sip store as a job. Cut a re-sip store, borrow mate's mag drill to kind of drill all the holes and in it and that sort of thing. It's just insane amounts of hours of labor. It was just you cost that small, which is the case if I didn't want to necessarily go and fabricate all these fancy brackets. Yeah. And then and buying steels.
00:41:36
Speaker
just plastic wheels essentially, like nylon wheels for as cheap as possible and buying a whole set of them. And then um getting some stainless steel to fabricate to kind of make the runner type thing. And that was done locally. So I think at the moment, the current spend is about 10K. Amazing. Not including the debt boards. i mean, the debt boards are $100.
00:41:53
Speaker
So I got like composite board. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not counting that. That would throw the budget out at the moment. And so off E-Bair got its electric gate motor, which is like 200. That's what I was watching about the size of the motor and the weight of the thing.
00:42:07
Speaker
So this electric gate motor, I mean, as I was looking at the commercial ones that you get from various companies and then like a thousand quid, until I'm in a quick money too, of course, for for kind of driving the deck apart. And um like bonkers expensive. was thinking, again, why is it so expensive?
00:42:21
Speaker
And most of these things are made in China, as lot things are, and they put a label on them. So I thought, well, I'll just take a punt and take a risk. So 250 quid off eBay for this game mode that says it can shift two tons. And it's just on a rack of premium gear. that Yeah, so yeah.
00:42:35
Speaker
took a lot of fettling with to get that, that, um, the rack absolutely spot on and so because you've got such minimal tolerance and yours in terms of moving up and down. So I had to make sure, so there were a couple of trades I've used. So, um, Mark's a friend of mine, so landscape gardener. So I've got him today, the coping stones, because he would get them absolutely Bob odd level because that's critical of course. So it's kind of the depth moving up and down. Yeah. So I've got him to do, so the things where I know I'm not skilled at it, like you call him the big boys. yeah Um, so that, yeah, got him to that. And so,
00:43:04
Speaker
And then, yeah, it fitted the motor and actually, you know, I can tell Siri now. I can talk into my shoe it's got some cameras on the phone and it'll say, like, Thunderbirds are go and that's it. It's echo bends up. houseless A real, such a pathetic, non-important question, but do they open at exactly the same rate and time? Because you know when you get, like, automatic kerbs and so on and they don't, they'll drive me nuts, but that's slightly different. Yeah.
00:43:25
Speaker
So they don't yet because they've only motorized the one side. sorry the moment because ah the other The other end where it is ah ah just literally last week had some screed put down because that's going basketball court. So when the deck is retracted over the pool, there's like a basketball court at the one end. so yeah, it's the world where the kids can yeah basically get away from the house. and doesn't not full out You're trying to keep your kids there for forever. It's like, you um So I haven't yet bought it the motor or motorized to the side yet because the biggest headache I've still at the moment, and this is all part of was talking about, like thinking several stages ahead, be dead easy to stick the deck boards out now and be done with it. But all those pioneers can fall on the deck boards, go between the deck boards and still fall in the pool.
00:44:11
Speaker
Well, worse still, you've got all the dust and grime and everything else that fall that effectively collects on the boards and you get all that grimy water going Because at the moment, course, the pool jinkits rainwater. You've got a deck over the top of it. You've got dirty water so yeah coming off washing off the boards into the pool. So I don't want that.
00:44:25
Speaker
So I'm now having to, or I knew I'd have to do this, devise a way of putting some damp roof material underneath the deck boards to then drain off to the sides. And I've put a gutter in along the sides actually drain the water away into a soak away sort thing. So mean, it's like the engineering of it is just, yeah, become a behemoth. Yeah.
00:44:42
Speaker
The other challenge is do I insulate it or not? Because of course... having these big steels above it is a giant heat sink. Yeah. So it's going to do the opposite. it's going to radiate the warm pool water into the fli deck and then it's going to radiate it out. So actually, do I want to insulate it? And then how do I insulate it? Because of course, I needed that before. it but the deep So it's just, yeah, created quite... yeah but couldji thousand po yeah that's it i mean, don't go I mean, they're be patient um I mean, bearing mind, I started the pool three years ago. i mean, ph generally finished the pool within sort of three ah three or four months of actually starting. Yeah, I mean, the coping zones on there, but it was functioning as a pool and heat pump was installed and things. um
00:45:27
Speaker
But um generally, the pool was up and running. But actually, for the last two years, I've been fiddling with this. Yeah. It's actually just like, yeah, I mean, it's not working. It looks pretty. It looks cool. Oh, I just got by it now. like, why I get rid of my fork? I mean, it is. I mean, I love all the, yeah, the engineering, the gadgetry, and the secret stuff. I mean, love secret doors. I love both putting power. Yeah, love all that sort of stuff. Unexpected trap doors and stuff at night. It's all part that sort of, yeah, the little boy's dream, isn't it? Yeah, that's awesome.
00:45:58
Speaker
It's very James Bond. Exactly. Actually, one of your other videos that really like hit home with me is what I do, but I don't think normal DIYers do, is your patio. And you said you sought advice from, was it friend or someone or a local company? And I think that is really transferable in all industries. I don't think like every electrician, for example, would let you run the cables or whatever. But yeah but I think certain people would under supervision.
00:46:25
Speaker
I think it's a really, really great way to save money, especially something like the patio where you said, was it friend you sought out or a local company? Yes, it was the same guy to the cooking store. So Mark, oh nice. So Mark Tooth, he's a landscape gardener that that sort of got friendly with, you know, from doing the works and um and essentially exactly that. So I've never laid, I've laid a few garden slabs before kind of thing badly. um So he came around to basically help the start and setting out and saying, well, this is how you do it. And I do much the same thing, which I'd sort of get my video call and saying, what I do next? And same the swimming pool.
00:46:57
Speaker
And I think um so ended up because, again, i I didn't need him to lay every single break. No, I didn't do that myself. I mean, i like as long as teaches me the basics of how to do it, I can then do it myself. yeah And that was massively empowering.
00:47:10
Speaker
in terms of I've got someone that I can ask a question who isn't trying to sell me any products, isn't trying to sell me the services, they just sort say, but they're also happy to share their advice. Because again that's their IP. you know A lot of tradespeople you speak to it and i'm like, well, would have told you because you're my you're my gig. Are you yet work off you? So there were quite a few... There aren't many tradesmen, I think, that would be happy to sort of tell you how to do it because it's losing them work. yeah yeah I think personally, this is where we're at the tipping point now and with regard to because things are very expensive. you know i'm a big supporter of trades. I'm very, very supportive of what they do, of course.
00:47:45
Speaker
um But I think there are a growing number of people that are going, actually, I want to have a go at this myself. But I just want the support of someone that can sort of guide me through it, yeah which is funny old thing.
00:47:57
Speaker
Which is why Expertable is ah yeah and it's a where it allows that. Now, Expertable is exactly off the back of of doing things myself where I've used experts have gone, here's how you can do it.
00:48:13
Speaker
um Because i did find, i felt quite guilty when I would get certain trades and builders around and all I wanted from them was their knowledge. So I'd get them to come out collect it. So, mate, how would you do this out of interest? Because, yeah, just want to make sure that, you know, done what's going on. No intention whatsoever at booking him to do the job. And that's really naughty. And I'm sure there were other people that suggested also done the same thing. Yes. um But I thought, why not be totally transparent about that and and sort of okay, I want you as a builder, I want you to tell me how to do this job, so can I pay you for your knowledge? Can I pay you for advice that you can tell me in a really transactional, transparent way, and here's some time for your, you know, some money for your time. um And that's ultimately what I've now created and built so that there are people that can then do it for themselves.
Building Industry Regulations
00:49:02
Speaker
There's also, i mean,
00:49:05
Speaker
background sort of was in military and military aviation and where accountability and supervision were absolutely everything. And I found it really quite bizarre coming into the kind of the building sector that just doesn't exist at all in that regard. You know, you can stick a label on your van and call yourself a builder and, you know, tomorrow there's no kind of checks or balances to it. I've always found that crazy. It's a bit bonkers. As an electrician, I have to go through three years of college and things, but to actually build a house, you don't have to do very much. It's a little bit worrying. And also, even if you do get an electrician around, you wouldn't go, oh, because that's a yield statistic. it's so true. Do you know what I mean? So anyone, like you say, get a fan and a level with a pencil behind your ear and you look the part.
00:49:46
Speaker
You do. And and and then we touched on building control earlier on. And and i've I've got a project that I'm helping some people out with at moment where... um building a control have very much missed some fundamental challenges or issues that they should have done. And and their response is, we're not building inspectors.
00:50:03
Speaker
So we put all of our trust in the the firm that's doing the work, know what they're doing. So if they show us something and it looks like it's generally with intolerance, we assume they've done everything else correctly. And i'm like,
00:50:14
Speaker
that's pretty So there aren't any independent inspectors of buildings, if I'm honest, unless you you know fundamentally go and pay for them. And and therefore, um I think that's something that's massively missing in the sector in general in terms of where do you get a second opinion from?
00:50:31
Speaker
of someone that isn't going to just suck through their teeth and say yeah i wouldn't have done all that mate because they want the gig you know you want someone that's saying they're on your side it's like having your uncle that's a builder that's looking after your interests and sort of sort say yeah actually what they've done isn't quite right but it's okay you know it's not going to be that much of a problem to have that reassurance because it's uncertainty is really unnerving. Like when you don't know if you're doing the right thing and you can do as much research as you as you pre want on online and whether else but you're still kind of like, yeah, but
00:51:03
Speaker
i'm ah I'm an insurance broker. What do I know about old buildings? I spend hours trolling internet and stuff, but I'm still not certain because I don't be bread and doing all sorts stuff. Sounds like a really good idea. Really good. The YouTube videos for anything, say plastering a wall, there might be 15 different opinions. And then you're like, well, how good is XYZ? I'm watching YouTube. But an expert, for a sense, just can actually find someone specific to say line plaster that we were speaking about earlier. And what do you do? just You just literally approach them, see if they want the gig and just speak to them about allotted time. Yeah, so but so we we we built the platform such that... um
00:51:41
Speaker
You can go and review the experts in that particular area. So let's take it to Lime Classroom. We've got a bunch of building experts on there who who are either current building builders, if you like, or their Lime coaches, Lime teachers, their teachers, Lime Classroom, things. We've got a whole bunch of different range on there.
00:51:58
Speaker
um Generally, these are people that are what they, there how do we put it, the apathy of their career. So they're not necessarily chasing every job anymore, but they really want to pass on and impart their knowledge to people and help people out. And they and one of the fundamental things about how we vet the interview experts is it doesn't matter what qualifications they have, they've also got to have the right EQ, the right emotional intelligence, because they are coaches, they're mentors. They are there to empower and help the person who's on the call, not to just sort of like, so you'd say, wouldn't have done that, mate, the other thing.
00:52:26
Speaker
and But yes, the idea is that you you're presented with a selection of of these ah experts. You can look at their bios and things and you can pick which one you want. Then it will show their diaries because they update their own calendars and you pick a time that works for you.
00:52:38
Speaker
You upload a load of information beforehand if you want to, so you put videos and pictures and things, which is always advisable because it means it gives the expert a really good overview and saves time on the call. yeah And essentially then have a video, one-on-one video call. And the idea is that ideally you've got Wi-Fi or mobile signal. You walk them around your house. Yeah, go. So when we've got things like common one is damp issues and and I won't go into the whole damp industry and how it's just sort of grown over the years of being lots of people being miss old stuff.
00:53:06
Speaker
um But certainly with um when you initially have a damp problem, it's about identifying where the cause comes from. And sometimes um it could be not necessarily easy, but it could be a combination of different factors in terms of do this, do this, do this, which are all DIY-able, all can yourselves, then see if it changes, and then you run a hook.
00:53:26
Speaker
You can pay upwards of 500, 800,000 pounds for someone to come and do that for you. i like But actually, you can do a lot of that yourself and that initial diagnosis of vehicle. Or I've just had a quote from a dump-proofing company and they want to spend three grand on doing such and such. Is that right for my building? I'm pretty sure the person in there will say, no. yeah because Yeah, so you can save a huge portion of debt. So that yeah that is the best ground up.
00:53:49
Speaker
Clearly it's not going to replace a physical visit. So there are times when the person on the phone will say, I've done everything I can now, you will need a physical visit. But at least they can then sort say, this is the qualifications you need to ask for, this is what they should be checking, this is roughly what you should be paying. So it's still, again, it's getting the information, putting the power back in the hands of the homeowner yeah to be able to them and sum up to next. so Very cool. Brilliant, yeah.
00:54:13
Speaker
Well, our podcast obviously focuses mainly on DIY, so we always sort end with the same sort of question and we like the worst and well, the best thing you've done DIY in your home, but also the worst because we like the worst because just face it, we all had those moments. Hopefully it's not your amazing project. But and just what what do you think your best and worst thing you've done on your property or DIY and you're like,
00:54:36
Speaker
I suppose, yeah, to define the term, so the best, um I think, is in terms of performance of our building has been getting it dry because that saved huge amount of money. and And I've only got this anecdote. I'd love to have taken some kind of like statistics on it but I've looked at the kind of gas bills from previous owners and looked at our current gas bills now they may be a heathen house to 25 degrees I don't know but since stripping off all that masonry paint the building has now dried out it doesn't feel damp it doesn't smell damp and that's significantly improved
00:55:09
Speaker
how it performs as a building and now we don't have any internal wall insulation we don't need to because again we put the insulation we need we need to have it in the attic and and those sort of things with draft proof we've added ventilation in the extractor fans where it needs to go and actually comfort wise in the house it's really nice and comfortable than it was before it felt so that's that's probably the best thing that i've done a house diy And I say DIY because um that masonry paint, um it was so thick in terms of number layers. We tried, had a trial of ah a Thermotech similar to Dof, which is like super heated steam. So effectively trying to lift some peels of layers. With lots of these, well, with the Thermotech devices, you add different types of softener depending on whether it's now poly paint or outweighed and anything else. And so that to try and soften it before you lift it.
00:55:54
Speaker
it would soften a couple of layers and then use thermotech so it would have taken about three or four different softeners several times to go around so it was just water didn't touch it so it was literally little toffee hammer and a scraper oh wow for three months with me and a laborer stripping the paint off his house when he was like that is so whilst the roof has been done to discover zo it was like there every day was gracing away so that was our tough but super worth it the priority you have yeah and the building now i mean Again, i I'm bought into this Victorian fetishization because now it looks brick. So before it starts this stark white, very clinical sort of building. Now it's actually, you can see the brickwork. Now it always would have been yeah painted or line-washed or red. So it always would have been white or coloured. The conservationists have said it needs to go back to being painted some point. I will do when it's dried out.
00:56:40
Speaker
To be eight years, still not done. Let's do a little bit more. It rained last night as well. So as your good friend, I like to your days. ah Worst... Or not maybe a one you maybe. think Yeah, to your state you've had to rectify or... um I mean, there's just so many. It's like my previous house burned down. i changed the life of it.
00:57:03
Speaker
um ah ah The reason I'm struggling to think is because there's lots of little mistakes. and I've had children who've got so many pipes in the past. It's a class. It's just like a matter of calls in Sebastian Bonner, isn't it? Yeah, well, I'm trying to stop coffee.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah, we've got a finger at the pipe. um But the reason why i'm struggling is because I think I've always got quite glass half full kind of, do you want this? So even if I'm completely coxing me up, it's kind of like, well, that's that's a lesson learned.
00:57:34
Speaker
So I always look at it as being, don't, struggle as if I think of it because I don't dwell on it, if you see what I mean. I've learned that lesson. Because the only way of improving is by learning. i mean, you know, the accurate people say that fail is an acronym, you know, first attempt in learning. Yeah. And I've got like, and that's my mentality but with lots of things in terms of, um you know, if it doesn't work the first time, it's because, okay, well, it such and such will work. And I can then go, oh, great. Well, next time I try, I'll overdo It's like a slightly different way. Yeah.
00:58:02
Speaker
I think 100% that's how most DIYers learn. i mean, there's no way you're just like, oh, I'm going to do this today. i'm going to build this bit of carpentry. And it's just like, well, it's just some magnificent. It just doesn't happen. You're like, oh, that bit's a bit crap. I can see that screw hole. And you do it again and think, oh, what can I do to either screw hole or whatever? And it's just like growth, isn't it? That's how you grow into it, I think.
00:58:23
Speaker
but It definitely is. I mean, I think... The one thing that DIYs have, which trades might say they do, but but if I'm honest, they don't, is personal pride. No one cares more about your house than you do. And as much as you might get, from there are some fantastic trades people that are really excellent at what they do.
00:58:44
Speaker
But at the end of the day, their time is money. So the difference with the DIY is that everything on my house um that that I've done has taken about four or five times longer than it would have taken a trade. yeah and Without shadow of a doubt, they would do it quicker.
00:58:59
Speaker
um But I've done it to such an exacting standard, which is my standard. Yeah. which Because I'm going to have to bloody look at this thing for the rest of my days. It's becoming a common theme, actually. Many guests are exactly the same. They say, well, we've done it. We had people in and we did a better job. And then we realized doing the next room or whatever.
00:59:16
Speaker
And it's just because you've got that pride. You're not going to rush And you're going to notice each imperfection. I've already pointed a couple of imperfections in this room that we're responsible for. But, you know, it's one of those things.
00:59:27
Speaker
but Because then as if you think about how trades... It sounds I'm trade bashing all the time. It's not at all. But you know they've got a quote for a job and they've got Alex in and out, we get tired because they've got to put bread on the table for their families. that yeah And so they are absolutely the you know the backbone of this country in terms of keeping houses up and running. yeah um so But at the end of the day, they can't spend as much time as they would possibly like to or if they would do for a Zorin. I mean, I don't know if you've been to many tradies' houses.
00:59:58
Speaker
in doubt. And we were a long way off finishing our place as well now. And because, I mean, um the one parting sort of bit of advice I'd give to anyone not um in the position to give advice is this case of like, when you've got an idea of how long something will take, like literally travel it. Yeah. I mean, it takes so much longer. And and the reason takes so much longer is because I am the world's greatest at starting a project.
01:00:29
Speaker
I simply cannot finish them. I have the most enthusiasm at the best times to start any project and Naomi gets very annoyed with me when it's kind of like, okay, got this great idea, we're going to go do this. It's like, can you finish du doing that thing before you start it's another project? like just trying to do it properly right yeah yeah it's exciting like it's exciting starting to a new project it is true as well like in my first flat I had remember putting a picture up on the board get one of those hook things just bang into all a hammer and it created a bit of a mess I was like son this house I i get like three sets of tools out got like my drill drill it properly I've got my level to make sure it's all level fixing it takes to like an hour to put up one frame but I'm like it looks better I'm happy with it it's level when it's just that sort of personal pride of doing it I guess so Yeah, but um thanks so much for coming on. then you please let all the listeners know where we can find you on social media and more about experts? sport israeli plan
01:01:23
Speaker
Sure. So sympathetic underscore restoration is my Instagram, TikTok and the other bits and bobs. um I do a podcast, which is all about ah old buildings, which i I co-host with a chap called Stephen Boniface, who is a super guru on old buildings. He's been doing it 40 odd years. These buildings are called Talking Conservation. um And then Expertible is expert, I-B-L-E, so expertible.com.
01:01:49
Speaker
And that's where people can, if they want some second vineyard advice on their own particular property. Primarily at the moment, we are looking at older buildings, so 100-year-older things. That's where the experts are. But with a view to actually, we can um expand in the future. taking on any kind of queries of buildings and stuff and book a video call through that.
Promoting Rich's Platforms
01:02:06
Speaker
Brilliant. Amazing. Thanks for time, Rich. Thanks for your time, Rich. Great seeing you. Amazing. Thanks, Rich. what ah What a great interview that was. like To do in person as well was so cool. Yeah, was really nice having him over. And it was cool just getting into like the depths of his thinking. because Yeah, yeah. Really thinking outside the box.
01:02:25
Speaker
Massively. And it's kind of like the geeky side to like... Yeah. Because he's really like passionate about... Well, as you can all i have heard, like he's really passionate about that doing renovations that suit the house rather than just having a one-stop fix-all. Yeah, exactly. And not just like paying over the odds to sort of do it wrong. It's just really doing some research. It's the best way of doing it for the future. Yeah. And so I really like anything in literally in the world where you learn something new. Oh, man. And his account following now just going to be so interesting moving and forward after speaking with him. Yeah, definitely. Goes into so much detail about that the moisture in the walls and the plaster used. And then obviously he's got some skills as well, right? Yeah, oh, massive skills. And that company set up is like genius and how helpful and a great resource that is where people can just reach out and yeah and the and speak to them if they've got a certain period of property. Yeah, exactly. I mean, obviously, you could just waste so much money doing something wrong where you could just speak to someone, i don't know what the price is sort startup. But imagine if you speak to someone for an hour, would be so much more helpful than just digging in without knowing or using chat GPT or something. Imagine someone who's experienced it and done it for years and years and years. It's a great idea. Imagine if, well, now we've got a line to sort of rich. If I bought a for a house like that, it'd be the first sort person you'd ask. It's just basically the same principle, isn't it? Or even before you buy it, like I'm thinking of buying this property, like what do you think are like the pitfalls? Like what is the first thing we should do? Yeah, yeah it's cool. And yeah, we didn't brave him in our creepy podcast room. But it's still good to see him. And yeah it was nice to have another guest. Yeah, really nice. Yeah, really great.
01:03:59
Speaker
ah Thank you for all tuning in. Yeah. Have a great week. um As always, you can reach out to us via DM on the DIY Guys podcast Instagram.
01:04:10
Speaker
Or you can also drop us an email. Hello at the DIYGuysPodcast.com. And ah yeah, it'd be great if you could like, subscribe, tell a friend. Yeah. Bring more people in. Lovely. And we'll see you on the next one.