What do you do to the staircase?

Pad and strap the handrail, the newel and the nosings before any furniture moves, and lay runners on the treads. It is the first job of the day and it is not negotiable on this stock.

Will a wardrobe go round the half-landing?

Measured rather than guessed. Send the clear diagonal at the turn and the longest rigid dimension of the wardrobe and we will tell you before the day.

Can you use a hoist or an external lift?

Often, and on a tall townhouse it is frequently the right answer. In a conservation area or on a listed elevation it is worth asking the question in advance.

What about the York stone path?

Boarded across. Old paving is bedded on sand and a loaded sack truck concentrates more weight on one point than that path has carried in a century.

Are the shutters and panelling ours to take?

Usually not. Fitted joinery can form part of a listed building and can also be a fixture under the sale contract. Where there is doubt we leave it and ask.

Is parking really that difficult?

On the narrow frontages, yes. It is workable with notice and unpleasant without it, which is why the approach is surveyed as carefully as the rooms.

Fabric that fails easily · B

Plaster, stone and a shallow stair

A Georgian townhouse is a more elegant building than it is a practical one to carry furniture out of. The proportions that make the rooms handsome — a fine cornice, a slender handrail, a stair with shallow treads and a tight turn — are exactly the things at risk.

The staircase is the single most protected object in a house like this, and for good reason.

What a Georgian move involves

Stair protection Padded and strapped from the bottom step to the landing before anything moves.

Moulding clearances Cornices, architraves and dados measured against the turns.

Route decision Which pieces take the stair, which take a window, which come apart.

Stone and path boards York stone and old brick boarded across, not driven or rolled on.

Frontage planning Where the vehicle stands on a narrow town street, arranged in advance.

No fixings Protection free-standing or self-taped. Nothing into joinery or plaster.

The handrail is doing a structural job

A Georgian handrail is a slender piece of timber carrying real load through a slim newel. Nobody leans on it deliberately; on a heavy carry down a turning flight somebody leans on it anyway, and it is the commonest serious damage in a house of this kind.

So it is wrapped and strapped before the first item, along with the newel cap and the nosing of each tread. It takes a while and it is not optional.

Damage happens at the arris

Not in the middle of a wall — at the sharp edge where a cornice meets the ceiling, where an architrave meets the reveal, where a dado rail turns a corner. Those edges are where a wardrobe corner catches on a turn, and they are what moulded plaster and old joinery are worst at surviving.

The prevention is arithmetic. The clear diagonal at each turn, measured against the longest rigid dimension of each large piece, tells us in advance which items simply cannot go that way.

When the answer is a window

On a tall narrow townhouse it frequently is, and an external lift or a hoist is a normal tool rather than an admission of defeat. What it needs is planning: a standing point, a clear pavement, and — where the house is listed or in a conservation area — a conversation held in advance rather than with a machine already on site.

The street outside

Frontages on and around the High Street and the Vine are narrow, the street is busy for most of the day, and there is rarely anywhere obvious for a vehicle. Where the vehicle stands is settled before the date rather than on it, along with a second option in case the first is taken.

Plaster, stone and a shallow stair

Questions about plaster, stone and a shallow stair

What do you do to the staircase?: Pad and strap the handrail, the newel and the nosings before any furniture moves, and lay runners on the treads. It is the first job of the day and it is not negotiable on this stock.
Will a wardrobe go round the half-landing?: Measured rather than guessed. Send the clear diagonal at the turn and the longest rigid dimension of the wardrobe and we will tell you before the day.
Can you use a hoist or an external lift?: Often, and on a tall townhouse it is frequently the right answer. In a conservation area or on a listed elevation it is worth asking the question in advance.
What about the York stone path?: Boarded across. Old paving is bedded on sand and a loaded sack truck concentrates more weight on one point than that path has carried in a century.
Are the shutters and panelling ours to take?: Usually not. Fitted joinery can form part of a listed building and can also be a fixture under the sale contract. Where there is doubt we leave it and ask.
Is parking really that difficult?: On the narrow frontages, yes. It is workable with notice and unpleasant without it, which is why the approach is surveyed as carefully as the rooms.

What is the house made of?

Both addresses, and roughly when the one you are leaving was built. That second answer tells us which category you are in and what the day needs.

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