Elaine and I bought our home in Monson Road in the Summer of 2000 for just
less than £125,000.
We have now been here 5 years and made some recent improvements based on
energy efficiency, reducing waste and improving comfort.
In Spring 2005 we commenced work on a new rear extension which not only
provides much more kitchen space, but will help to reduce fuel bills and improve
comfort, by sheltering the house from the north side, and adding thermal mass.
Details of the construction of the new extension can be found here.
The house was built in 1904, by J. Farmer, a local builder, on a budget of around
£120 (1904). He built four pairs of semi-detached houses on a plot of land he
acquired from the United Land Company in about 1880 - when the land around
this area was first sold off for development. The plots are long and thin about 240'
x 20' or 75m x 6m.
The land in Monson Road used to belong to the Gatton Park Estate. It was sold
for development in the 1880's when Lord Monson ran into a few financial
difficulties. Gatton Park, was then sold to Jeremiah Coleman of Coleman's
Mustard, and after the WW2, became a school.
There was a stream at the bottom of the garden which flows from the lake
overflow from Gatton about 400m to the north, but this was put into a concrete
culvert pipe about 20 years ago, to minimise the re-occurrence of flooding.
The previous owner Roy Partridge bought the house for £1000 in 1956 and had
a bathroom built in 1958. He also added gas central heating in the 1970s and
double glazing in the 1980s.
The house is of traditional brick construction - 9" outside walls and a Welsh slate
roof. The roof is pitched on conventional 4" x 2" rafters and so there is a lot of
loft space. Ceilings are lath and plaster which was common until about 1920.
The floors are suspended on standard floor joists and the boards are nominally 6".
There is a 2' 6" sub-floor space.
The kitchen and the small back bedroom above it almost appear to be an
afterthought - although this was common around 1900 to take a standard 2 up, 2
down design and build a bit on the back to provide a proper kitchen. Earlier
properties would have had no kitchen and meal preparation would have been
done in the scullery or back room over a coal burning range.
There is evidence that there has been a range in the kitchen from the chimney flue
on the back gable end wall.
The kitchen is on a solid uninsulated concrete floor and is a 7" step lower than the
usual wooden floor level. Likewise the back bedroom also has a 7" step. This
was to save time digging a basement. Heatloss from the back of the house is
considerable, and so it is a primary intention to rectify this when the extension is
under construction.
lot of afternoon sunshine. Taken in August 2000
shortly after we moved in.
needed additional storage space, and being fully insulated
can be used as an office all the year around. Size 16' x 10 '
The house is of solid brick construction with a Welsh slate roof. It is typical of
countless others in this area, built in 1904 at a time of suburban expansion of the
towns surrounding London.
The property forms one of a pair of semi-detached houses, unfortunately we are
on the north side of the pair. The property consists of two floors and a basic attic
space. The house is 4.4m wide internally (14.5'), with two rooms to the front and
two to the back separated by the staircase which runs across the width of the
house.
The kitchen and bathroom are at the back, in almost a separate extension. This
has meant that they have previously been cold and seemed uninviting.
The house has two good sized bedrooms about 3.6m x 4.4m, and two reception
rooms of a similar size. There is a smaller 3rd rear bedroom which can only be
accessed through the middle room, and this has previusly serves as an office, but
will shortly be converted to an upstairs en-suite bathroom for the master bedroom.
The house offers about 100 square metres of floor area.
Outside there is a fairly level garden of width 5.9m and length 69m. There are 3
sheds on permanent bases and a small greenhouse. Most of the garden is laid to
lawn. The garden is aligned NE/SW so receives good sunshine for most of the
day.
ways in which to conserve fuel and water.
Although solidly built and benefitting from gas central heating and double glazing,
there are several key area of improvement, particularly related to the 30 year old
heating system and the poor standard of insulation.
1. Almost no loft insulation. Remedied with 150mm layer of rockwool
throughout the loft space in September 2000.
2. Hot water cylinder insulation was inadequate - new jacket fitted, eventual
replacement in August 2005 with modern insulated efficient cylinder. New,
additional 200 litre cylinder to be installed as heatstore for woodstove and solar
water heating panel.
3. Heating system is 30 years old and consumes 6 to 8kWh of gas just keeping
the pilot alight. Replacement with modern condensing boiler in August 2005.
4. Many of the hot water pipes pass underneath plasterwork or through concrete
floors. Re-routing of these pipes with adequate pipe insulation fitted was done in
May 2005 when we did the plumbing work for the new kitchen and bathroom
extension.
5. The roof is now 100 years old and really needs replacing! We will do a loft
conversion next year replacing the roof at the same time to give us some more
space, and a light and airy double height room with a mezzanine floor and Velux
roof windows. This give the opportunity to fully insulate the space between
rafters, and further reduce heatloss.
the north side of the house. Although only 100 sq ft or 10
sqm. this extension is built to a very high standard of
insulation and helps to keep the rest of the house warmer.
Underfloor (water) heating and a new efficient condensing
gas boiler have been added this summer to improve heating
efficiency. A Solar water heating panel was installed in June
and has worked well for the last three months. A wood
burning stove with back boiler for the living room is being
planned for later this month.
This has been a long time in the planning! It provides
a simple, single storey extension of size 2m x 5.8m
to the back of the house where the back was cut
away.
By knocking through from the existing kitchen, it
immediately extends the kitchen from 9' x 8' to 9' x
14.5' and adds a 6' x 10' utility room.
More importantly it replaces the solid 9" outside wall
with a new wall of brick face, 75mm cavity filled with
rockwool and lightweight thermal concrete block
inner wall, greatly improving the thermal insulation.
It also gives an opportunity to fully insulate the floor,
using 100mm of Celotex insulation, then a 75mm
screed floor containing the underfloor heating pipes.
This effectively removes the old 7" step down into the
kitchen and brings the kitchen and bathroom up to
exceed current standards of insulation.
The underfloor heating is fed directly from the new
efficient condensing boiler, (Worcester Bosch 24kW)
replacing the 30 year old back boiler and gas fire.
This immediately save me 6kWh of gas by not having
to keep a pilot hight burning.
A wood burning stove with back boiler will be
installed in the living room in the Autumn, to offset the
heating from gas to wood.
Additional windows have been added to the
gablewall of the livingroom. These provide much
needed extra illumination.
The roof of the new extension is fully insulated with
100mm of isulation laid between the ceiling joists and
a further 150mm of rockwool applied over the top of
the joists giving a full 250mm or 10" of insulation. At
the same time the old bathroom was re-roofed and
had the same method of insulation applied.
The separate WC and bathroom were knocked into
one room to make a spacious 2.4m x 2.4m (8' x8')
modern bathroom with economical solar heated
shower.
All plumbing was renewed and re-routed so that the
hot pipes could be properly insulated and no longer
run underneath the cold concrete floor or set into the
plaster of the walls. Such was the previous heatloss
from the hot supply, that it required about 4 gallons of
wter to be run before the tap would run hot. A total
waste of heat and water.
Provision has been made for collecting and re-using
rainwater and grey-water, for garden watering.
A service duct containing heating pipes (22mm
MDPE insulated pipe), power cables and
communications wiring leads from the back of the
extension to the new workshop. The 6hp Lister
engine running on waste vegetable oil in the
workshop/engine shed will provide both heat and
power to supplement the house.
Heating and Insulation
Efficient gas central heating provided by a modern condensing gas boiler.
Replacement of old radiators with more efficient double convector units and
substantial underfloor pipe insulation.
Class 3 Insulated hot water storage cylinder to replace the badly insulated
existing unit.
100mm of rockwool insulation between the ceiling joists in the loft.
New kitchen and bathroom extension that effectively improves the overall
insulation at the rear of the property.
Underfloor heating provided by hot water pipes buried in screed flooring.
(Screed is a 3:1 mix of sharp sand (grit) and cement)
100mm of Celotex underfloor insulation throughout new kitchen and bathroom.
Re-plumbing the hot water system so that the heat is not lost to the walls and the
sub-floor.
Renew the 1890 lead water main that is shared with 4 neighbouring properties
and leaks like a sieve!
Since moving in, we have redecorated the living room and insulated and boarded
the loft space. However career pressures meant that it was not until Spring 2004
until we could finalise our improvement plans, and then a further year before
construction actually started. Construction was almost complete by August 14th,
sufficient for me to host my 40th birthday celebrations.
The previous owner added gas central heating and double glazing, and a proper
bathroom built in the late 1950's replaces the original outside toilet.
Previous attempts at modernisation in the 1960's have left the interior somewhat
lacking, with woodchip wallpaper on almost every wall and polystyrene ceiling
tiles on almost every ceiling. Fortunately most of these eyesores are now being
removed.
As of June 2005, we have almost completed an extension to the rear of the
property that provides a much larger kitchen, a utility room and a modernised
bathroom.
It also fills in the back quarter, which being north facing, tended to be cold and
dull, and greatly improves the overall standard of insulation at the back of the
house.
Our main aim is to modernise the house in such a way that is sympathetic with the
ideals of suburban sustainability, reduces our reliance on rising cost gas and
electricity, and provides a modern home that is more suited to a 21st century
lifestyle rather than a mid-20th century one.
In August 2005 the extenson was nearly complete and the new condensing gas
boiler installed. Solar water heating panels (Navitron evacuated tube system) was
installed in June and is working well, reducing the requirement to use the gas
boiler for water heating.
replaced with a much larger 12 x 10 workshop with forge area and engine
shed, located 25m (80') from the house. The small hole in the brickwork on
the right is for our cat Monty to get in and out! The new part provides much
needed extension to the kitchen and the bathroom (left) has been re-roofed
and completely insulated.
also showing the mirror image of the adjoining house.. The shaded room is
our living room, and the intention is to make this a warm core during the
winter months.
