Wednesday 11 May 2016

Studwork In The Return

Some solid work was completed last week, primarily in the two story red brick Victorian return (extension). The first task at hand was to create a stud wall downstairs to separate the ground floor into two areas, a bedroom/study and a utility space by the back door:


The stud wall is to be located in between the two original sash windows on the left side:




Electrical, co-axial and CAT 6a cable runs to be located within the wall:



The ceiling was also installed after a very laborious leveling: 


The ceiling will be about 30cm higher at the far end, due to the lean-to roof above:


Slabbing begins:






The wall layout upstairs in the return is based pretty much exactly on what was originally there before, with the exception of the extended wall for the small bathroom to be located on the right side. In the picture below, the studs on the right side make up the new bathroom wall, where the hot press was originally located:






The original door below has been brought out of storage and positioned back where it once stood, albeit a few inches to the left. The small room behind the door was originally a bathroom and will now become a forth bedroom. About 20cm of landing space has been lost to the new small bathroom, however it makes for a decent sized bathroom space:


A perfectly matching bathroom door is being specially made to match the bedroom door:






Inside the small bedroom:







The original, restored sash window, surrounded by lime scratch coat, with a reclaimed Edwardian-style cast iron radiator:


My two brand new sash windows for downstairs in the return, supplementing the originals, built by Paul Dowdall of Dowdall Joinery. Made to match the originals in every way, down to the profile of the sash horns. To be installed within the next fortnight:


The underfloor heating within the limecrete floor has been a fantastic success so far and has been running continuously for the last four weeks in order to stabalise the heat levels within the fabric of the house, much to the dismay of my wallet. Despite zero insulation and a noticeable breeze from the still-unsealed return, the ground floor rooms are easily maintaining whatever temperature is being set. Currently it is ticking over at approx 16 degrees Celsius to climatise the floorboards before they are laid: