An old house is a lottery with partly known numbers. Before we start drawing we go through seven questions — and structure is only the third. The first two are about you: why you want to save the house, and how much uncertainty you can carry. Test 123
The seven questions
Why save the house? How much uncertainty can we carry? What does the structural engineer say after a first look? How damp is it and what is causing it? What will the conservation office and the local plan allow? What would a comparable new build cost? And last: what has to stay for it to still be the same house?
When the answer to the last one is “nothing in particular”, it is fair to consider a new build. When the answer is “that vault and those beams”, we have something to work with — and we build the budget around it.
The mill on the Sázava passed all seven. It took four stages and four years, but each stage had its own budget and none of them went over. That is not luck — that is the order of the questions.
