SINCE 1798, R. Moulding & Co has been employing traditional craftsmanship and materials to create some of Britain's most beautiful houses. For the past six years, the company has been included in COUNTRY LIFE's Top 100 list of Britain's best craftspeople.
Why do materials play such a vital role in a sensitive restoration?
Every successful project is a balancing act between aesthetics, heritage and the demands of 21st-century living. Both new and reclaimed materials have a role to play in any project. It's essential that materials are sympathetic to the original construction of a building, respecting both its period and the vernacular style. A new stone floor, for example, should use a local material, not a cheaper, less appropriate alternative from beyond our shores. Not only does this minimise the carbon footprint, it will also complement the look and feel of building.
However, this isn't only an aesthetic and environmental consideration; in old buildings, the use of correct materials plays an important role in the management of damp.
Where possible, is it always better to use reclaimed materials than new?
When used appropriately, reclaimed materials will create the immediate impression of age and offer the additional benefit of employing something that would otherwise be destined for landfill. However, great care is required; reclaimed materials are expensive and are usually purchased 'as-seen' (although many good reclamation specialists should replace any defective materials). Inevitably, reclaimed materials have a high risk of performance failure, particularly if required to provide a weathering function in an exposed location, notably on a roof. This will also raise the question of who will be liable for the cost of replacing faulty materials. Reclaimed bricks are likely to come from multiple sources, creating additional problems when they are laid.
Denne historien er fra August 10, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 10, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
