Beams in a listed property?

[Pizdets]

I wondered if anyone has advice on beams in a listed property? We're in the process of buying a grade ii listed property which is in pretty good condition but there are beams in each room and they seem to all have been treated differently...some stained, some not, couple repaired in different wood, in one room they've even been painted a horrible gloss white. Ideally I'd like to strip them back and restore them as far as possible.

The listing for the house relates to the windows and I understand you don't need any kind of permissions for changing the decor, but would the beams count as part of the decor or would we need to consult the planning office? Am a bit clueless about this at the moment and trying to get my head around it all so any advice or experiences would be really useful!

Firstly, listing legally covers all of the house, not just the windows. That is to say that the whole of the building is listed and changes ie to windows, room layout, fireplaces etc (for example) is likely to need listed building consent.

The best thing you can do is befriend the conservation officer- they will guide you as to what needs permission and what doesn't. They might be able to give you a list of approved contractors who do work on listed buildings. Decoration doesn't usually require consent, but it depends on what you are doing- ie if that includes replastering of walls, sometimes consent can be required.

There are lots of websites which can help- listed building property owners club, SPAB.

With the beams, it depends what you want to to. Getting rid of gloss paint can only be a good thing, but depends on how you do it (it can be a nightmare to get rid of and some techniques might do more harm than good).

Best of luck!

We looked into this when we wanted to buy a listed house with awful black beams. Check out

www.beam-renovation.co.uk/

We didn't pursue it beyond visiting the show house in Rye (and honest truth, it is impossible to tell that the beams have been painted, even when your face is 2 inches from the beams) but they told us that their work is approved by conservation officers for listed buildings. In the end we bought a different house, without beams, but if we have proceeded with the beamy house, we would definitely have used this company.

Thanks very much both, really useful info! I'm keen to restore as sympathetically as possible so will look into the recommendations you both made!

Assuming your house is grade 2 listed you can change the decor including painting or not the beams. You don't need approved workers to undertake any work but you do have to submit listed building consent (which is different from planning permission) to do any structural alterations including putting back original features but it's free to apply. According to our conservation officer you don't need planning permission to re plaster a wall sand a floor etc but she does assume if your are plastering you will use lime plaster. Listed building consent is a bit contradictory for example our cottage is 500 years old and needs new windows as 40 years some idiot granted permission for hideous ye olde windows which are incorrect for the type of house, we will easily get the permission to change them but we are not allowed double glazing that would be virtually unnoticeable but it currently has hideous plastic secondary glazing complete with polystyrene strips clearly visible and this is ok. Olivia is right contact you council conservation officer they are very happy to advise you for free and detail what you need to apply for and what drawing including scale e.g, 1:1 1:5 pictures etc they require. Plenty of surveyors and architects are keen to offer you assistance and imply it's a complicated mysterious business and charge you an arm and a leg but I would avoid going down this road if I was you unless you considering huge alteration e.g, barn conversion.