The London Nest

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

After demolition of ceiling cornicing & new windows!!

After demolishing the ground floor ceilings (as shown in the video footage)

(above: ground floor entrance corridor, reception & dining room)

(above: looking up into first floor, from ground floor - after demolition of ceiling lava plaster)

Windows: We had all 13 windows hand-made by a local artisan carpenter, with weights and pulleys, just like the original old English sash windows would have been. The main difference is that these new ones have all been double glazed for energy-saving purposes. This was such a GREAT day for us because the windows in this house were all PVC plastic or metal aluminum which had to have been installed back in the 80s. We love our new windows!!

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Lower Ground Level - It's progress from July - October 17th, 2009

We fired our builder at the beginning of August (August 10th to be precise) when we realized he was obviously taking us for a ride and unaware of many things regarding UK building regulations. I won't go into details, but let's just say we have learned our lesson and we are roughly two months behind on our build due to repairing damages and changing builder and team.

The following photos are of the LGL area to show the progress of this particular level. Each new post will be dedicated to a floor and it's history of progression.

LGL:

Stages of change & improvement

(below) The old joists before they were removed

(below) photos taken immediately after the ground floor joists were removed

Joists were removed from ground level (the reception)

(photos below taken Oct. 17th, 2009)

New joists were put in two months ago. The LGL has now been plaster boarded, wired with electricity and it's own alarm system, new & improved larger windows & new plumbing. We have decided that the LGL will be turned into a one bedroom flat that we will rent out. The house is too big for just the two of us, so we might as well make the most of it in terms of its investment potential. The flat will have an open-plan living room and kitchen (wall in center of flat is missing because of continued movement of materials on site), new bathroom, utility room, a bedroom and small study area with large skylight at the back of the flat for extra natural light. The space in the flat is roughly 62 square meters.

Demolition - August 11th, 2009

After removing the original wood floor planks (12 feet long) we decided to finally get rid of the original ground floor cornicing that seemed unsalvageable. It was a pity to lose it, but it was too difficult to save it after it had been so badly damaged by the builder (who we fired a few days prior to this video).

These are two small clips of the demolition that took place on August 11th. We were demolishing the ground floor ceiling from the 1st floor. An extremely dusty process, but quite therapeutic at the time.

Monday, 27 July 2009

July 11th - more changes

These are simply more photos that show various other changes in the house, as mentioned in the previous post. I'll add the architectural drawings as well so you have a better idea of what the layout is going to be like.

Raised Ground floor & ground floor level photos

(above) ceiling of reception room & destroyed original cornicing (which the builders will be replacing)

(above) same

(above) excavations in back of house - no foundations beyond a 2 brick deep footing

(above) The guys merely removed the floorboards and found the soil directly under them. They dug out 1 foot of soil and found this. Notice under the fireplace the "foot" - that is it in terms of foundations. Shocking!!

(above) soil & rock that was dug up

(above) once we dig down a bit deeper we can underpin the walls and lay a proper cement floor. We're hoping to gain quite a bit of head height here. The wall to the right of Antonio's left hand will be removed for the extension in about 2 months time.

New Joists!!!

July 10th - Incredible changes!!!

It has been a while since I've posted, and for those of you who have been following the work on the house, I apologize. We've been so busy since July 12th that I haven't had much time to organize or post photos online. We've been watching over two teenagers (13 & 14 years old) for the past two weeks and obviously that has consumed our lives a bit, but in a good way.

So the following work has been completed (between July 10-July 28th). The following photos and comments will explain in detail the progress we're seeing. It has been stressful at times too because the official council engineers have come out to inspect the work and a few things had to be altered, but overall what's been done has been done with accuracy. We are still happy with our builder and workmen, but we are hoping a bathroom will be completed before we must move into the house. Our official moving in date has shifted by a few days. We must move in on August 27th, 2009. We had wanted to move in one week prior, but the last possible date is the 27th and we're still unsure if the place will be habitable (meaning running water & functioning bathroom).

Progress Report:

Positives:

(1) All the new copper piping is being laid upstairs in the bedrooms & the LGL for the bathroom.

(2) We've been guaranteed that the 4 bedroom windows will be delivered & installed 1 week before we move in. This means our bedrooms will actually be plastered before we move in! YAY!

(3) We are getting much closer to finding a glass company for the glass wall in the extension. This has been concerning because we don't have 20K to spend on glass, like many companies keep quoting. I don't think Londoners tend to shop around and bargain for cheaper deals. After calling 32 companies I've possibly found one who will install our beautiful, slimline, minimal framed sliding glass doors for the extension and for a fraction of the 20K most companies near London have quoted. It's a Scandinavian company and they must be good simply because of their association with Scandinavia! :)

(4) Slowly convincing Antonio what colors to have the room painted...not there yet though, but almost. ;)

Hiccups:

(1) Window supplier had not taken window measurements as of July 20th, so we had to quickly change our window supplier. We are now having them made by hand, by a 68 year old carpenter. The windows will made with Swedish redwood pine. All of the windows will be sash windows and each window will have its own individual pulley! If you don't know what this means, don't worry neither did I, so once we've got one I'll take a photo of it. It's very English, but that's said with a complimenting tone. :) We're actually paying a tiny bit more now, but we're getting better quality and more extras (i.e. saftey glass & brass pulleys) with this change.

(2) We're having long wood planks (Iroko wood), for some of our flooring in the house, which is in the process of being shipped over from Italy this week. An inconvenient problem is our uncertainty about where to store it while the house is under construction. The wood weighs 1.25 tons and we had expected to leave it in storage in Italy until the work was complete in the LGL level, but our shippers misunderstood and have now shipped the wood to the UK. It's currently in holding for another few days & to be delivered to the house possibly this week. BTW, the LGL is 3-4 weeks away from "ready" to have this large delivery!

(3) We haven't heard from the Council on our extension planning application, yet.

(4) We discovered that Victorian builders never built houses with foundations - we excavated to drop our floor levels and made this discovery. We're now required to do under-pinning on the house. We're looking at possibly more than 1 ton of cement going into JUST the under-pinning - this calculation does not include the creation of the extension foundations either.

(5) One of our fireplaces is apparently completely open to the sky and elements. We only just realized this last week because the typical English weather (rain!) has helped create a pool of water at the base of one of our chimneys. I would liken it to a small pond! I've called in a chimney sweeper & inspector for this week to find out how much damage this may or may not have caused over the years.

Enjoy the photos!

(above) front door into LGL

(above) The front joists have been removed, while the remaining are supported by that large steel RSJ that runs in the middle of the house. Looking up you can see into the dining room at the back of the house on the raised ground floor level.

(above) Fireplace of the reception room on the raised ground floor level is visible.

(above) The house is quite deep, actually. The light at the back leads onto the current patio in the back garden.

(above) our original Victorian doors collecting dust as they wait. Up above you can see the dining room on the raised ground floor level (RGL). To the left of the photo are the stairs leading up to the RGL.

(above) Looking up from the LGL. That's large bow window in the reception room above Antonio's head.

(above) We realized the wall on the right (separating reception room from front door corridor entrance) was being supported by nothing more than mere broken bricks stuffed with lime stucco, so that has recently been removed (photos to come).

(above) what will become the kitchen area of the LGL - Note: brick column to left is a major load-bearing re-enforced cement column and bears the weight of the center of the house.

(above) Front entrance to LGL & main living room

The LGL and ground floor exposed. The joists have been removed

from the front half of the house.

(above) what will be the living room of the LGL

(above) View of ground floor fireplace in the reception room on raised ground floor level. One can see where the joists and floor level used to be wedged into the wall.