Renovations in Cape Town's Southern Suburbs

The Southern Suburbs hold some of Cape Town's oldest residential stock: Victorian and Edwardian cottages in Wynberg and Plumstead, 1930s family homes in Rondebosch and Claremont, and larger properties up against the mountain in Tokai and Constantia. Old houses have specific problems. Soft brick and lime plaster that must not be sealed with a modern waterproof coating, or the wall cannot breathe and the damp moves inward. Concrete floors laid without a membrane. Gutters and downpipes sized for a smaller roof, now asked to carry a bigger one. Window openings that were never flashed because the original detail relied on a generous overhang that a later alteration removed. The work here is often careful rather than large: matching original mouldings, repairing rather than replacing, and choosing materials that let an old wall dry the way it was designed to.