Wray Common Windmill: The Restoration 2004-2006

Wray Common Windmill Auction Shot 2004

In June 2004 the mill's new owner Paul Baker together with design consultant and project manager, David Tate, took a long hard look at the logistical nightmare of restoring, renovating, remodelling and upgrading the Grade 2* listed windmill into a desirable residence.

The first priority was to make the building sound and, in this instance safe. The whole of the fantail stage and gallery were held together, and indeed up, by a single steel hawser. Herras fencing at the local council's insistence, was erected to protect passers by. The first action taken was to completely encase the tower with scaffolding. As the 'not so temporary' structure grew so did the enormity of the task ahead. Failed tar, flaky and missing masonry, cracks, damp, rust and rot was abundant. All this before reaching the cap woodwork.

The careful logging of every individual component preceded dismantling the dangerous elements so that faithful reconstruction would not present a mind-boggling addition to our problems. This process was to be repeated many times over as more and more damaged, destroyed and missing pieces needed to be catalogued, drawn, labelled and photographed before dismantling and proceeding further.

It is at this stage that the guidance of Conservation Officer, John McInally and Milling Heritage Consultant, Luke Bonwick became invaluable.

With Luke's specialist knowledge concerning the mill and the long-term involvement of John's department at Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, options were put to us. On the one hand, basic refurbishment would be acceptable to the Conservation Office but would mean an ongoing programme of continual repairs. On the other hand was the option to replace, like for like all timbers and components that could not be realistically salvaged.

With the long term view that a maintenance free listed structure would be far more appealing to prospective purchasers than one with ongoing problems, option two was taken. To avoid the enormous costs of engaging qualified millwrights to carry out the work because of the danger involved at such heights, it was agreed that if the work could be done at ground level then David Tate's own team would be more than capable.

The complete cap assembly was craned off in three stages and transported to an aircraft hangar where it was laid out in component form and the restoration began in earnest. Two complete oak trees were sourced from Latvia, because of their slow growth qualities and straightness of grain, these two twenty three cubic foot trunks would form the backbone of the cradle that supports the entire cap structure. Another massive eight feet long, four feet wide and two feet deep trunk would replace the collapsed wind-shaft stock and bearing housing. In total, the green oak bill was £38,000 before a chisel or a saw came anywhere near it.

Back at the tower, the extent of the damage to the rest of the mill was unearthed. The failed tar had led to water saturated brickwork. With vinyl paint applied to the inside walls, the damp had nowhere to go and so remained to cause major damage to the embedded beam and joist ends. The solution was to tent the tower with monoflex and use graduated grit blasting inside and out. With all floors, stairs, electrics and fittings removed, the exposed beams and joists were carefully grit blasted as well.

With the tower now back to its barest essentials, the drying out process could begin naturally, and with the aid of an industrial de-humidifier. A side-effect of seventy years vibration during the mill's operating life had left the tower with a slight tilt towards the southwest, the prevailing wind direction. This necessitated levelling all the floors. Beams were treated and repaired and purpose-made cast iron slippers reinforced the embedded ends of the main timbers. The modern replacement joists, preferred during the last conversion, were scrapped in favour of sympathetically matched copies. Once stabilised, all timbers were then treated for rot and infestation by Shaws Preservation and duly certified.

Botched brick repairs were redone and any holes or cracks professionally filled and repaired. Six months later in March 2005 the tower was declared dry. Dryzone injection damp proofing from Safeguard UK was applied inside and out around the twenty-four inch base of the tower walls and a waterproof render from the stone foundations to the damp proof course. For added protection, new window cowlings designed to deflect rainwater away from the sloping gothic arched crittal windows were fitted. Painted white, these have a removable aluminium outer cladding to aid re-tarring.

The first coat of refined coal tar, normally applied in vertical strips by a workman harnessed and suspended from the gallery was, in this case able to be applied horizontally, a far more thorough method and allowing for later coats to form a matrix of protection.

Internally, the problem of solid wall construction was overcome with another Safeguard UK product, Oldroyd membrane. This rigid bubble wrap allows airflow between brick and finish and completely eliminates water ingress. Three coats of thistle and a coat of finish completed the system.

A complete rewire throughout the project allowed the elimination of all surface mounted points and trunking. CAT 5 and co-axial TV points are fitted to the six principal rooms.

April 2005 saw the return of the cap assembly. Every piece had been dry-fitted at the aircraft hangar, dismantled and transported back to the mill in its component form. The cradle, wind-shaft and brake wheel were craned back into position almost immediately. The cap was left at ground level and tented, waiting for a glass fibre and gel coat to seal to the new outer shell that restores the original ogee shape. With the listed conical cap completely encased and protected within, the new shell and insulation eliminates the condensation problem that caused so much of the internal cap timber to fail. With a full spherical filial and its graceful lines the ogee is more in keeping and far easier on the eye.

Topside, the replacement gallery, staging and fantail slot together for the final fix. Every nut, bolt, bracket and piece of hardware faithfully replicates the rusted damaged or lost originals. Every replacement timber exactly matches the original dimensions and method of construction. All of the exterior oak has had three coats of microporus ranch paint, allowing the wood to breath whilst giving total weather protection.

The new cap was raised in June 2005. The balance of the timbers that pass through the cap were fitted and the tower received a second coat of refined coal tar. Derigging the scaffolding started, and little by little, the freshly restored tower revealed itself from a yearlong hibernation.

Work now continued inside the tower. Sound reduction floors were laid. The handcrafted sweeping staircases started to take shape. The ground floor level in the tower was raised by 450mm to give the main living space better proportions and to bring the high windows down to eye level. To keep the clean lines and form of the tower, all water, waste and heating supplies run between the insulated staircase's stringers, an innovation that caused building regulations to relax the straight-line rule.

Gothic arched oak doors were designed and made in-house to complement the tower's windows. Reclaimed oak from the cap has been used wherever possible for cabinets and mirror frames and features extensively in the new extension. Four of the eight curb ring timbers are used to create an oak frame effect in the farmhouse kitchen and dining area. The other four form the curved uprights for the front porch. The remaining millstone is the front door step.

The granary, re-roofed and insulated, has under gone a major facelift. A new configuration of timber doors and windows replace the industrial metal fanlights that were never original. French doors open out onto the patio, with views of the pond and common. The half timbered walls and hips blend perfectly with the remaining loft beams. The modern replacement rafters were plaster boarded over and insulated to accentuate the original timbers and leave cleaner lines The old boiler and store cupboard has given way to a classically designed and fitted bathroom.

Outside the six inch featheredge was removed and replaced with authentic seven-inch boards made to order, but not before the cavity timbers were treated and rock wool cavity insulation and a vapour barrier were fitted. Finished in Jacobean oak stain and with heritage cast guttering.

The link building, a flat roofed extension that joined the granary to the tower, has been completely restructured. The front wall remains with more of the oak used to make a new stable door and frame. The back wall has been totally removed to give an open plan entrance hall and reception space that leads directly into the very large farmhouse kitchen and dining area. The flat roof has been replaced with a vast self-cleaning glass atrium that floods the whole link with light. For the first time ever the entire tower entrance is within the building. Part of the earlier link housed a bathroom. The room remains but is now transformed into an oak panelled cloakroom with slab marble flooring. Behind a panelled cupboard door is the fully condensing boiler system and next to it, another door screens the piggyback laundry station.

The addition of nearly thirty square metres of extension that, from the outside, replicates the original granary with its own French doors leading to the raised patio and the same pond and common views, was not started until a forty five cubic metre hole was excavated to provide the circular wine cellar. Accessed through a trap door in the kitchen/dining floor, where granite steps lead you to one hundred and one cases of racked wine, the addition of the wine cellar gives accommodation over seven floors.

Throughout the ground floor, wide random width solid French oak has been laid. Punctuated only by the bathroom-tiled floor, the cloakroom marble and a 1200mm circular glass viewing floor panel above the centre of the cellar. The oak framed, black glass panelled kitchen cabinet doors on the 'L' shaped kitchen units blend and complement the black and butterfly blue pearl granite worktops. The Paul Bocuse range style cooker takes centre stage at the far end of the extension and as the kitchen returns along the right hand wall, a double Belfast sink, dishwasher and free standing American fridge/freezer complete the mix of contemporary and farmhouse ambience.

The accommodation layout of the Wray Common Windmill is largely left to the purchasers own interpretation. The granary would make a wonderful ground floor master suite, perfect guest room or with very little alteration, a self-contained unit. The tower's first floor double bedroom has two large built in cupboards, two windows and sea grass carpet. A theme retained in all of the tower's bedrooms; the sea grass blends effortlessly with the oak doors, hallways, stairs and banisters. This bedroom is adjacent to the stone floored, white tiled shower room, and once again reclaimed oak from the cap has been used for the under sink cabinet and heated mirror surround.

Take the stairs up to the second floor double bedroom and you are greeted with light from windows on three sides and borrowed light from the fourth. More of the cap's two hundred and fifty year old oak supports the stone vanity basin and frames the three faceted mirrors.

Ascend the Victorian cast iron spiral staircase and four porthole windows in this third floor room offer the highest internal views in all directions. Look up and the skeletal dust cap fourth floor beams reveal the first sight of the machinery and the inside of the conical cap. The sliding wooden loft ladder leads to the dust cap steps and up to the gallery door and out to the fantail staging. Catch your breath and turn right for the eastern gallery, breakfast bar, or turn left for the western gallery, 'Pimm's' deck.

Heating for the ground, first and second floors of the tower are supplied by using a skirting radiator system. Heat Profile of Guildford was given individual templates for each rooms profile and curved aluminium extrusions were formed to fit. This highly efficient method of heating leaves perfectly clean lines and is barely noticed. Boxed radiators are used in the granary and kitchen/dining area. Dual fuel towel rails in the bath and shower rooms give year round comfort.

The last remaining chapter in this remarkable restoration and transformation project is the reinstatement of a set of 'dummy' sweeps or sails. As of now, July 2006, listed building planning application has been submitted and half the money needed has been raised. The design for the 'dummy' set is an accurate replica of the original working sails minus the shutters. They will

span sixty feet and remain static in a St. Andrew's cross-position. Made from laminated veneer lumber, they will be stronger, lighter, more durable and require less maintenance than any other material used for this purpose.

Maintenance in general is kept to a minimum because of the quality and depth of the restoration and the materials used. It is highly recommended that the tower receive a fresh coat of refined coal tar in the spring or autumn every five years, the next in 2009 or before. The white painted green oak would benefit from a cleaning and fresh coat of Ranch paint every five to seven years. In theory the sweeps should be rotated 90 degrees a couple of times a year to relieve the gravitational stresses and water build up, however, the design, materials and construction of the Wray Common sails may well make that chore obsolete.