One Step Forward Two Steps Back!

I thought it was time for an update on the ongoing activity on Albert House, things seem to have been a little slow during January and February and it sometimes feels like one step forward and two steps back as we seem to make an action plan then as work starts we find we need to change tact as we come up against some unforeseen event, but I suppose that can be expected really as we are carrying out a full and complete renovation and have always said we need to do this beautiful house justice and not cut corners, so if something needs doing it has to be done whatever the work commitment and cost.

A typical case in point has been the two 3rd floor rooms which will eventually be offices for the family`s business activities, this started off as a simple re-wire to move the existing side lit spot lights to central pendant type lighting, and then strip off the old white painted wallpaper and re-plaster, nice and simple upgrade you would think! well, think again, the scenario goes something like this..... work starts with paper stripping with the steamer, as the paper starts to taken off we find areas of loose and crumbling plaster, not a concern, keep stripping and we can make good any inconveniences of crumbling plasterwork, after all underneath is good solid laths. Well it would appear to be not so simple, one day I arrive at the house to be greeted with "the old plaster was worse than we originally thought so we decided to take it all off, including the laths because this would be too difficult to re-plaster, so now we are going to plaster board it and skim, ok"? Actually yes it was ok because we have now completely taken these rooms back to brickwork and exposed joists which in turn has allowed us to add two new Velux windows, which have transformed the rooms by significantly increasing the natural light, we have re-torched the roof tiles and insulated the whole room with Kingspan foam insulation which undoubtedly will reduce heating fuel consumption and improve our carbon footprint, so, as well as doing our bit for the environment we are bringing the house up to modern standards. As there is no roofing felt on these old houses we have put the insulation boards under the joists to maintain a 75mm air gap between the tiles and the ceiling to allow the roof space to "breathe", the final plaster boarding will be 12.5mm Duplex type to further reduce heat loss and avoid any cold spots.

We have also taken the opportunity to remove all the original cupboard type spaces which you find in these period properties and managed to increase the floor space by a whopping 10m2! now that was worth doing, so, here we are in February with two rooms nearly put back together and how different they will be to the original.

just like a Victorian, home from school and set to work!