Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair

This fully revised and updated book is the authoritative guide on how to look after your old house – whether it is a timber-framed medieval cottage, an eighteenth-century town house or a Victorian or Edwardian terrace.

Written in association with The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the authors’ approach is one of respect, restraint and repair rather than ‘restoration’, which can so easily and permanently destroy the special qualities of an old building.

From the foundations to the roof, from the need for modern services to traditional paintwork and finishes, from windows and doors to breathability and damp in walls and floors, this handbook provides informed practical guidance. It is essential reading on maintenance and repair for all those with an old house.

Roger Hunt is an award-winning writer with a particular interest in sustainable and vernacular architecture and the materials and techniques used in construction. He co-authored both Old House Handbook and the companion volume Old House Eco Handbook. His book New Design for Old Buildings (co-authored with Iain Boyd) explores how effective contemporary design can give new life to the historic environment. He is also the author of Rural Britain: Then and Now, a celebration of the British countryside, Villages of England and Hidden Depths, an archaeological exploration of Surrey’s past. Roger lectures on building-related issues, has been a judge of annual awards for new housing and has renovated a number of old houses.

Marianne Suhr is a Chartered Building Surveyor, writer and broadcaster specialising in the repair and retrofit of historic buildings. After a scholarship with the SPAB, she worked for seven years in architectural practice, then full-time on hands-on repair projects of her own including four very different old houses. She has run over 40 homeowners’ courses and numerous ‘limedays’ for the SPAB. She is co-author (with Roger Hunt) of Old House Handbook and Old House Eco Handbook, and has written and lectured extensively. Marianne was co-presenter of three series of BBC2’s ‘Restoration’. Marianne runs The Old House Consultancy in Oxfordshire, advising homeowners on repair, alteration and retrofit.