This 300-400 year old listed oak timber-framed cottage was bought as a project by a young couple. After recording temperatures of -2 in the upstairs bedrooms they gained permission to retrofit the exterior in order to make it habitable and prevent the building from disintegrating. However, once the external renders – which were a patchwork of styles – were removed, it was found that the building material was 3-4” wattle and daub. They were therefore required to preserve as much of this base as possible – so the project is now proceeding by stages. The contractor is stripping the old renders, fitting  woodfibre insulation boards and rendering the exterior using fully breathable renders.