1900's Phillip's of Deptford
Whilst this wagon had been subject to some efforts at restoration there were some major issues that had not been addressed. The roof was leaking and rotten timbers had been left in situ and simply covered with filler and expanding foam. A new step had been fitted with a wrought iron balcony that made the wagon look rather unbalanced.
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The owner wanted a porch, the interior brightened up and a different colour scheme along with a complete restoration to include re-wiring with a suitcase portable solar hook up.
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Th first thing was to get the fibreglass roof off. Every time we see a fibreglass roof we just know it will be a mess underneath unfortunately. The fibreglass always seems to develop hairline fractures, usually where the mollycroft meets the side roofline.
Unusually this roof was seriously well stuck! usually they almost fall off!
The usual signs of leaks were evident.
Once the roof was off we could have a proper look at the areas needing attention. Whilst we have seen far worse, there was plenty to be getting on with.
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New timbers had to be fabricated to match the original and all rot carefully cut out.
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Patterns were taken and spindle moulder knives custom made to re-create the exact profile for the fascias.
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New gables fabricated, carved and painted to replace the rotten ones.
The new porch roof was built to match the original profiles of the roof and the details of the ornate works of the undercarriage.
Theres a lot of painting involved, but by far the most time-consuming is the preparation of the existing paintwork.
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Sanding down, filling, sanding again, priming, undercoating, sanding again and then the multiple layers of top coat to get the deep, rich colour required,
After all the preparation we can start the works that everyone enjoys the most - the artwork
We brightened the interior using a light oak scumble effect to replace the original dark scheme.
Originally we thought it might be oak - but aftr sanding away the layers we found a variety of different colours over knotty pine, so opted for scumble as an authentic finish
