Raphael Kessler

The first part of this page is about the work I did when I first got my house.Further down the page there is more about subsequent projects including my new porch and my side and rear extension.

Renovation

I originally put this page together to show the house that I bought and re-wired, re-plumbed, re-built, re-furbished, renewed. Basically I changed a lot, walls and ceilings came down and went up, floors came up and went down, the chimneys were removed (makes a huge difference to the size of the rooms without the chimney brests, particularly the bedrooms), the stairs were stripped down, the garden was re-planted, the useless garage rebuilt as a decent shed, with a nice sized deck and pergola next to it and the driveway was dug up and a new one put in. The only things I did not do personally, to some greater or lesser extent, were the gas, the new warm-air heating system, the carpeting and the driveway. Everything else I had a hand in although I had some people helping, mostly for labour. Those who did that much more were: My dad who did much of the electrics (he is an electrical engineer, amongst other things anyway); my mum helped with some of the plants for the garden; my friend David helped out with some of the lighting; David and Jocelyn, my neighbours to one side, painted my fences (their idea not mine, although much appreciated); David's uncle John did some of the plumbing; a plasterer did most of the plastering and a structural engineer was involved in the structural supporting of the remaining chimney stack (there is a lot of weight there, previously supported by the chimney brests).

All my neighbours were very supportive, often helpful, generally inquisitive and never complained about the noise and disruption to their lives.

The work was all done in three months which is quick by anyone's standards and was all-consuming of my time and energies during the process. As a result there are not as many pictures as I would have liked, nor are many of them of fantastic quality as I was preoccupied with other things. 

Some odd bits of trivia if you care, is that I estimate that around eighty tonnes of waste was removed during the three month period and there was over a mile of new cabling put into the place.I have decided to organise the pictures by room, as I think it most clearly shows the changes that took place. 

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These pictures show the front of the house, apart from the guttering, some painting where necessary and cleaning, the driveway was the most major change. The last photo was actually taken a year later. The previous driveway was paved with inadequate paving slabs without any foundation, the new one is a nice block built one with a small garden area.

Downstairs

The entrance hall of a home gives a first opinion and feeling for a place, the hallway when I bought the house was dark, dirty and dismal. I lightened it not only by painting the walls white (the whole house is painted white actually, I like the minimalist thing, which also makes the place feel more spacious), but also by cutting the panels out from the banister going up the stairs. The under-stairs cupboard doors were also replaced with wooden ones. The absence of the radiator (replaced with a small vent in the floor for the warm-air system) also gives a feeling of more space. The carpet on the stairs is lighter and the floor is a light coloured wood. I also stripped the banister down to the bare wood and treated it, giving a warmth to the area that might otherwise be too sterile. The wooden floor and lamp shade also give a bit more warmth.

The front reception room had peeling, dirty paper, a disgusting carpet, poor lighting and a blocked fireplace that had several dead crows in. The chimney brest was removed the ceiling re-plastered and fitted with dimmable recessed spot lights. The wall where the chimney had previously been also needed plastering. The flooring was replaced with the same wooden flooring as throughout the downstairs.  

The rear reception room previously was poorly lit, papered with a horrible chintz and had Artex on the ceiling (I strongly believe Artex should be banned outright). The chimney brest was removed here too, the ceiling boarded, plastered and fitted with dimmable recessed spot lights. The wall where the chimney had previously been also needed plastering. The flooring was replaced with the same wooden flooring as throughout the downstairs.

The Kitchen previously was poorly lit, dirty, unventilated and the space was inefficiently used. The tiles were actually laid on top of another layer which in turn had been cemented in place. These were removed (a lot of chiseling involved) as was the dangerous wiring and antiquated pipe-work. The floor was solid in some areas (probably for an oil or coal burner when the house was built). That was removed and new beams and hangers put in place as under-floor space was needed for the hot-air ducting and as also I wanted the gas pipe to be under the floor as opposed to through the wall as it had previously been. An extractor chimney and fan was installed over the five ring gas hob. Three separate ring mains were installed, one for the cooker, another for the sockets powering the washing machine, refrigerator and other similar appliances, the last ring is for the sockets at worktop height. The reason for doing it this way was that if for example someone put a metal object in the toaster it would break the circuit causing them and the toaster as little damage as possible, but would not stop the wash cycle on the washing machine or turn the fridge / freezer off at the same time. The cooker is always on a separate ring.  The gas boiler and cooker were removed, replaced by a boiler in the loft, the warm air heater is also in the loft and the new cooker is electric. The ceiling was fitted with recessed spot lights highlighting each of the work areas and the basin. The flooring was replaced with the same wooden flooring as throughout the downstairs. The refrigerator is actually in what was originally the coal store and later a larder. The aperture was increased and now accommodates a proper size fridge/freezer. The cupboards have a beech finish to compliment the floor and the cooker, chimney, splash-back and electrical fittings are all in in brushed stainless steel to match the sockets and switches throughout the house. There is now much more cupboard space but the room is more spacious. In the future I extend the kitchen as I like to cook and prefer more space. However, this is more than adequate in the meantime.

The downstairs toilet was previously dank and dark, the toilet itself was reminiscent of those found in schools and hospitals and there was no hot water plumbed to the sink. The wooden floor that runs throughout the whole downstairs is also found here, the radiator went (replaced by another hot-air vent), the back was paneled to give a cleaner look as opposed to the cable boxing that previously existed. Furthermore, hot water was plumbed to the corner sink.

Upstairs

The banister on the upstairs landing was taken down to the bare wood and treated, the same as the one on the stairs. The light was changed and the loft access was made into a hinged drop down trapdoor, with a pull down loft ladder.

The front bedroom is actually the largest room in the house. When I got the place there were fitted wardrobes that were not deep enough to hang things straight in, the lighting was also poor and the decor atrocious. The wardrobes and chimney brest were removed, the ceiling and walls re-plastered and the floor extended to cover the cavity where the chimney previously was. A light Berber carpet was laid and the lighting was changed to several low voltage spots. 

The back bedroom had similar problems to the front one. There were fitted wardrobes that were not deep enough to hang things straight in, the lighting was also poor and the decor atrocious. The wardrobes and chimney brest were removed, the ceiling and walls re-plastered and the floor extended to cover the cavity where the chimney previously was. A light Berber carpet was laid and the lighting was changed to several low voltage spots. In addition though, there was an airing cupboard access which was incongruous. This was removed and a new wall put in place. This gave a cleaner look to the room and also provided a lot more space and also more space in the bathroom.

The small bedroom, which is likely to be used as a study in the future, was abysmally decorated. When stripping off the paper and paint though I actually found that some of the previous colour schemes had been even worse. In this room there was an old airbrick that had been stuffed with paper, it was plastered over. Also as it is potentially going to be used as a study there are proportionately many more power sockets than the other bedrooms. As per the rest of the upstairs a Berber carpet was laid and the walls painted white.

The bathroom was completely rebuilt as previously it was very small, with the airing cupboard taking an inordinate amount of space. That was removed as was all the bad wiring (some old lead covered cables were still there) and the old plumbing. The element heater was dangerous and one of the first things to be taken out. The tiles in here were also two layers thick and the bottom ones set in cement (the same as in the kitchen). They were removed and the walls stripped down. A new bathroom suite was installed, with a large vanity unit, full sized bath and a toilet (something there had previously not been space for). The floor was tiled with large marbled, non-slip, grey tiles and the walls in large white tiles with a black and grey band around the room to stop it seeming too sterile. A glass shower screen was also fitted and recessed directional spotlights improve the lighting. 

The upstairs lavatory was a nasty, claustrophobic cubby hole with a horrible plastic toilet. The linoleum floor was removed and the floor was tiled with the same tiles as in the bathroom. The soil stack needed replacing as an extension needed to be made to the new toilet in the bathroom next door. The toilet was replaced and the lighting improved. Later this toilet disappeared to make a passageway to the future extension. It was with this in mind that I did not knock this through to make a larger bathroom in the first place.

The loft was dirty and had a lot of rubbish in it. It was cleared out, properly insulated and boarded. It also now houses the hot water boiler, warm-air heater and television aerial. The future is to have a loft conversion as it is of ample size, although this was when the extension happened.

The line of sight in the garden was overly interrupted by the pre-fabricated garage, which was of no practical use as a garage. I decided to rebuild it at the back of the property, giving better security, noise insulation, a visual barrier to anyone trying to look in from over the fence and also to provide a good sized solid shed and workshop. The concrete base it was laid on is between one and two feet deep (30cm to 60cm) and has been entirely over-engineered. There is a mesh in it and the mix of cement to ballast is equivalent to that used in a multi-storey car-park. It has power and lighting, via an armoured cable running to the house. Next to the shed I made a large soak-away which was filled with many of the bricks from the demolished chimney brests and laid over with the crushed asphalt from the patio area. On top of this I built a large deck and arboretum that I hope to train some climbing plants and flowers over to create a tabernacle of sorts. A path was laid using some of the former driveway paving slabs overlaid on a bed of sand. The border was extended down both sides and a number of new trees and plants were planted. The lawn was also levelled a bit and the grass rejuvenated.

Other things that I did during all this housework was put in many more power sockets (one can never have enough in my opinion), there is co-axial cable running all through the house from a distribution box in the loft, that carries satellite, terrestrial and radio signals. There is also RJ75 multi-core cable running all through the house. This can be used for networking or multi-room audio visual systems. I don't have one at the moment, but who knows what happens in the future. The telephone system has also been expanded to provide a socket in each bedroom and reception room.

Porch

After a few years living contentedly in my home, I decided it was time to extend it. Starting with a porch. This was a test of my bricklaying skills, as I had done an intensive course and so needed to put the newly acquired knowledge to good use. I did everything in it myself, from the foundations to the roof, including installing the doors etc. The only thing I didn't do was the plastering and my ever reliable father was on hand to help out with the wiring and some other bits and bobs. It was more work than it would appear as I was doing it evenings and weekends after work etc. The weather was also working against me. My pointing is quite deep, so the shadows from the lights at night make the brickwork seem wonkier than is the case in reality. All in all I've been pleased with my first construction.

Extension

The kitchen in my house has always been woefully small in my opinion, so I have always had the plan to extend it. Whilst doing that it made sense to add a garage / utility room. If you're doing one level, you might as well do two. As the greatest costs are for the footings and the roof. So, I have a two storey side and rear extension. It all started, as these things have to at the bottom. The foundations required a lot of digging, to which end I hired a mini-excavator, which was quite good fun to use for a little while, until it got repetitive. The clay in London is famous and around my way, it seems to be heavier, stickier, wetter and generally more difficult to dig than it should be in a civilised country. Thankfully the excavator did the majority of the dirty work. I had previously covered my driveway with plywood to protect it. It also meant that then we could pile all the muck there for a grab truck to take away there were three full loads, the last ten or fifteen tonnes of the muck was disposed of differently.

I was not able to dig the trench for my footing up to the site boundary, as I feared that my neighbour's garage didn't have much foundation. For this reason, my structural engineer specified a cantilevered foundation, where a deep trench is next to where the walls are bearing down. When excavating the footings, my worst fears were confirmed (better than being surprised) and it was apparent that the garage in question had no foundation to speak of. If I hadn't pre-empted this, it is extremely probable that in digging a trench nearer the boundary, their garage would have slipped and collapsed. Thankfully, there is now my foundation also pinning their garage in place. It has been a constant source of amazement that their garage which is so abysmally built (no foundation, horrendous brickwork, poor pointing) continues to stand as it has for more than 45 years. The foundations are 1200mm deep, largely to avoid any kind of frost, as well as protection against tree root subsidence etc. In total about 120 tonnes of muck was taken out of the ground, only to be replaced by a load of concrete and steel reinforcing mesh (A252- 8mm).

A couple of days after the concrete had been poured (I got Ready-Mix pumped in as it would have been a nightmare to do it any other way), we were able to get the first bricks down. In a day, the majority of the site was up to DPC (damp-proof level). Once that was the case, it was then possible to put in the cavity insulation and just get the bricks and blocks up to ground-floor ceiling height.

When that had been reached, some of the outside wall had to be removed from the kitchen, in order to insert the larger 4800mm steel (USJ 203mm 46kg/m c/w 250x6mm plate) of the T to be installed. We manhandled it into place, despite it weighing about half a tonne. A padstone was then made in situ at either end. Once some plumbing issues had been resolved, the padstone at the existing wall end was extended. On the far end, the beam was placed on a pier of engineers bricks. On top of that steel, it was then possible to build up to ceiling height on the first floor. Inserting spaces for windows and lintels as required. Later, the second steel to make up the T (USJ 150mm c/w 250x6mm plate) was inserted and bolted using the cleat and M20 bolts.

Floor joists for the first floor were put in and the roof of the rear single storey extension was waterproofed, battened and tiled.

In the garage / utility area, the soil pipe had to be rerouted from upstairs, the soil stack for the extension also had to be brought in. The drainage for the utility room also needed to be plumbed, as well as the water supply brought in before the concrete floor was poured. This was done on top of some insulation to keep the floor warmer, a DPC to keep the damp out and some more A252 steel mesh to keep the thing as hard as nails. A box was made for the manhole in the middle of the floor, where a second manway is installed above. This was reached in three and a half weeks from starting excavating the footings.

Whilst waiting on getting the roof done, I laid the majority of a new patio and dug a big soakaway, in order to cope with the added water I'd be getting on my bigger roof. As the soakaway had to be some distance from the building, it also meant digging a long trench to take the pipe which would take the water away. Once it was all done, a concrete cap was put on the soakaway and some weeks later the lawn was returfed.

Once I got some people to do the roof work, I got the scaffold put up, which gave not only good access, but also nice views of the area and my neighbours.

The first thing the roof people did was take away my existing chimneys, whilst wearing rubbish bags. That should have been a portent of things to come, however we soldiered on through the worst August rainfall since Noah went for a sail. At times this meant that as their waterproofing was far from adequate, it would rain inside as well as out. Not ideal to be woken up by rain when you're in bed, especially when the rain is in the bedroom.

As the roof was being built, I got to work preparing the first floor. we knocked out the existing single toilet, which made the landing bigger and created an access to the extension upstairs. After knocking it out, I had to rebuild some walls in block and other new walls to divide the new bedroom and bathroom. As I was doing this Wieshek who had been doing some electrical work for me turned up wearing a plastic bag for a hat - I'm still not sure why.

The roof was insulated with some very effective solid insulation, which was later put under the kitchen floor too. It was very satisfying to finally see the shape of the new roof come together, despite the various false starts, when the guys building it got the measurements so wrong, it would have been completely pointless.

Once they were done, the roofers were able to come along to felt, baton and tile the thing as well as making the dormer waterproof and making a very nice valley gutter.

It was nice to be able to get the upstairs plastered and painted. The landing also needed levelling as there was a step down from the steel beam. With some sheets of plywood taken off the driveway, the whole thing got a lot more level.

A big impetus for having all the work done was to replace what had been a very small kitchen with a much larger one. It actually became four times the size of the original, with an adjoining utility room / garage and conservatory.

The Finished Rooms

The Kitchen units were supplied by the very helpful folk at Casa Cucina in Cockfosters, tell them I sent you and I'm sure they'll be nice to you too. The electrical appliances and sink were mainly acquired from an internet shop. The hob, splashback and extractor were from the previous kitchen. The kitchen was assembled by me. The worktops are Maron Cohiba granite and the floor is tiled in Giallo Imperial granite, supplied by good friends at UK Stone Ltd. They installed the worktops and their precision in getting the sink positioned was accurate to a tolerance of one millimetre, an impressive job indeed. There are two single ovens next to each other, this is for several reasons. I think it is a good aesthetic, it also gives much more cooking space than a double oven and is more efficient. They are also side opening ovens (difficult to get hold of) which makes it safer for those of lesser stature to get things in and out of the oven. The dishwasher is a two drawer Fisher & Paykel (next to the sink). The microwave is a standard one, which is actually inside one of the lower units, as I don't particularly like most of the integrated microwaves and they are also extremely expensive with less internal volume. I also don't much like the integrated coffee machines, which is why I have a free standing one. The waste (three bins: organic, recycling and general waste) are all under the sink. All the doors and drawers have Blum soft close mechanisms (pistons for the doors, blumotion for the drawers).

The conservatory was supplied and erected by Everest. I preferred their design and also wanted to go with an established brand as the life expectancy of most conservatory companies is less than for a motorcycle courier. All the windows open fully, with egress hinges, which means that they go perpendicular to the building line. I built the base and walls, they simply supplied the conservatory. The French doors threshold is at a level so that there is no step when stepping out, something the designers found peculiar but accepted the merits of. I may for the first time concede that I put too many power sockets in the conservatory, as there are seven doubles. This doesn't have any negative effect and was a minimal extra expense and effort. The lights were sourced to throw the light across the room without creating a glare. It it surprisingly difficult to find wall mounted lights that do this. The wall mounted air-con is also a heater that was particularly cheap at my local wholesaler. The glass is argon filled, double glazed, energy efficient, self-cleaning glass. The floor is tiled with the same Giallo Imperial granite as in the kitchen. The fire pit in the third photo has a removable centre-piece and is also Maron Cohiba granite to match the kitchen worktops. This was also supplied by my friends at UK Stone Ltd.

I built the pond with excess bricks, it has a waterproof render inside. The Tiling on the wall is the same as the patio, Indian Sandstone. The stone on the wall has a different sealant on it, which gives it a slightly different appearance. The pond has different types of carp in it (koi and butterfly). The water is pumped to a filter behind the wall (which is also a storage area and where all the electrics are). From the filter it goes up two metres to the water feature which is a form of weir that creates a sheet of water falling down to the pond, helping to aerate it and looking very nice. This was made from a sheet of aluminium my father had in his shed for many years, it was shaped, riveted, sealed and had hose attachments fixed to it before it was mounted. There are timed lights in it to illuminate the pond and water feature at night and prevent it freezing in winter.

The utility room adjoins the kitchen. The majority of the units were from the previous kitchen. A few additions were made and acquired during a sale. The door and drawer fronts were all replaced with genuine solid maple in a shaker style. With the additional space, a larder freezer and tumble dryer were added. The washing machine was from the previous kitchen. A Kinetico water softener was added. To comply with fire codes there is a fire door with a self-closer, between the kitchen and utility room. It also makes it more secure. The front of the utility room is a shuttered, secure, roller door. This gives easier access for bulky items as well as making it possible to take the wheelie bins all the way through to the garden when necessary. The floor is tiled the same as the kitchen and conservatory. There is a modest step to comply with regulations.

The window in the downstairs toilet was bricked up, as it was facing into what became the utility room. This was replaced with mirrors on two sides, which helps create a sense of more space in quite a cosy room.

A landing was created at the top of the stairs. A balustrade was put in place to comply with building regulations. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to find a similar balustrade to the existing one. What was previously a window was turned into a niche for some of my art and artefacts.

The landing leads around to the new bathroom and an additional bedroom. As I already have one spare bedroom, this is currently the Massage Room. Where my friendly masseuse sorts out my back when it gets troublesome.

The bathroom is tiled with natural limestone. Supplied once again by my friends at UK Stone. The floor has the same stone but with a 'leather' finish, to minimise slipping if it is wet. There is a teardrop bath to maximise the space in it, particularly when showering. It also doesn't have any taps in it but fills from the overflow. The shower has jets as well as a large rose, so that even the filthiest person can be cleaned with minimal effort. It was decided that a wall cabinet wouldn't have looked right in this bathroom, so a simple square mirror is placed above the vanity unit.

From the back garden, one can see the extent of the extension. This included creating a patio and repaving the path all the way up to the shed. The house has effectively doubled in size with the additional space in the loft created by the dormer. I forgot to change the colour of the bricks at the rear of the building, as they are different to the front. This makes it easier to see the extension at the rear than the front, where the brick style more closely matches.

Now what would be nice, is some decent weather when I can enjoy the fruits of my labour.