The Kitchen and Bathroom Extension
Home Improvements - Part 1 Construction
In the Spring of 2005 we finally started work on the new
extension. Although not very big in floor area it has made a
tremendous difference to the size of the kitchen, and greatly
improved the comfort of the house.
It was a lot of hard work, and a fair amount of money, but
now in mid-September the end is in sight (site?) and we are
looking forward to a comfortable Winter.
One lesson I learned: Never take your kitchen and bathroom
apart at the same time! -see below. Also the dust created
from 100 year old brickwork gets into every room in the
house despite your best efforts to contain it
As well as the new build, the bathroom was completely
renovated with the floor and ceiling being raised by 175 mm.
New insulation was fitted to floor, ceiling void and walls and
the roof was re-slated. The kitchen and bathroom plumbing
was entirely replaced at the same time to minimise heat loss
from the hot water pipes through the old concrete floor and
walls.
The extension is a simple 2 exterior walls and a roof to
fill in the rectangular area at the back of the house. The
floor area is about 10 square metres. The floor is
heavily insulated with 100mm of Cellotex and has
underfloor heating water pipes installed.
Note the lightweight thermal blocks and the 75mm
rockwool in the cavity of the wall. All this insulation
will help to keep the rest of the back of the house
warm.
The extension with the outside construction nearing
completion - June 2005.
Note Monty's own private entrance! The shed will be
moved to a new location further down the garden later
on, allowing more light into the kitchen and bathroom.
A rough plan of the property showing the ground floor as it was before the extension and the neighbouring semi - a
mirror image of our own.
The kitchen and bathroom are somewhat exposed at the back of the house and receive very little sunshine except in the
early mornings. They do not fit in well with the otherwise warm core of the living room and the solid concrete floor means
that there is always a chill.
From the outset we wanted to extend the kitchen to meet the line of the gable wall and fill in the missing part at the back,
use extra insulation and bring the kitchen space more into the core living area.
We achieved all of this and totally renovated the bathroom with a new roof, new insulation and new plumbing.
Building is wasteful - sadly the old
cast-iron bath had to be scrapped
plus a couple of double glazed
windows and door.
The old outside wall was removed and
held up temporarily with acro-props and
"Strongboys" before the steel beam
could be manoeuvred into place.
Knocking through from the old kitchen
into the new extension - the photos do
not show the dust we had to put up with
for weeks!
The old kitchen has been enlarged
from 2.75 x 2.44m to 2.75 x 4.44m.
The door into the bathroom has
been bricked up and a new
doorway made in from the utility
area.
The other side of this old doorway
was half bricked up and is now an
alcove in the shower compartment.
This view shows the newly built
part of the extension, and the new
doorway into the bathroom is on
the left. The window straight
ahead is removed to form the
new connecting entrance.
This was taken just after the
75mm screed floor had been laid.
The white tails of the underfloor
heating pipes can just be seen in
the right hand corner.
The two steel beams are bolted together
and fitted in plac, resting on 9" x 9"
padstones. The brickwork below the
beam is patched up. The wooden
wallplate which will support the ceiling
joists can be seen bolted to the beams.
The Extension.
Better late than never, the extension finally got underway in late April 2005. As originally intended it fills in the 2m x 6m
rectangular area on the northern rear corner of the house, and provides a far more spacious kitchen area, a utility room
for the washing machines and a much improved access to a modernised bathroom.
In addition, it fixes the old problem with the uninsulated concrete floor, the floor level has been raised to match that of
the rest of the downstairs, and 100mm of Cellotex insulation has been added and underfloor heating using plastic hot
water pipes laid into the screed floor.
The kitchen area is now 2.75m x 4.5m and provides the much needed storage and worktop space. A new gas range
has been added, and a sink and dishwasher. Although the dishwasher uses a lot of water and electricity, Elaine insisted
on it, and so we only use it when we can justify washing a full load.
A modern condensing gas boiler has been installed to replace the old gas back-boiler and so far is proving to use a
fraction of the gas. The old boiler has been removed from the living room fireplace which has been opened out to
accept a wood burning stove and back-boiler. We hope to use the woodstove to offset the amount of gas used and
provide a cosy heart to the living room on winter nights.
The bathroom benefits from the underfloor heating and has a low-flush toilet and thermostatic shower fitted. Part of the
plumbing work was to replace the hot pipes that ran under the concrete floor, and these are now replaced with properly
insulated pipes. The bathroom is a long way from the hot tank, so new pipes have been run which allow a much shorter
route to a much larger hot water cylinder.
Above the kitchen, a box-room will be converted into an en-suite bathroom for the master bedroom, so all the plumbing
and waste pipes have been put in place ready for the new bathroom suite.
The 15mm plastic pipe which forms the
underfloor heating loop is clipped down
onto the 100mm thick Cellotex
insulation. This is then covered with a
75mm screed (sharp sand and cement)
layer which acts as a thermal store. The
two ends of the pipe plumb into the
central heating loop just like a radiator.
A thermostatic control valve regulate the
flow of water through the loop and
hence the floor temperature.
Experience has shown that it takes 2 to
3 hours for the underfloor heating to
reach comfortable temperature but it
then retains this heat for up to 6 hours.
Conditions were pretty basic for a few weeks. This shows
the new low flush loo temporarily plumbed in after a couple
of desperate days! It was 6 more weeks before we got the
bathroom door on!
Part Two will show the finished scheme,
in a few weeks time.
