Phase 1 – initial works
For the first few weeks after our move out of our old home our furniture was in storage and we were living in a local B&B whilst the initial work was carried out. It was much easier to be on, or very close to, the site so that the work could be overseen and checked or corrected in real time. Because of the hiccoughs in the purchasing process our carefully choreographed timetable had to be abandoned and then re-instated, a process that ended up costing us about a week. Not as bad as it could have been.
The first act was to remove all the carpets that were purchased with the bungalow and place them in storage.
Next was the treatment of the wood boring beetle and the replacement of the perished cavity wall ties. This took almost a week as the loft area had loose ‘micafil’ insulation laid which had to be removed by vacuum cleaner. If this was undertaken in North America then asbestos prevention measures would have been required.
Then the builders arrived. The floorboards came up (all numbered and stacked so they could be replaced insequence). Now we could see what was underneath.
The joists were all 2″ x 4″ as suspected and the decision to use 125mm rigid foam insulation was confirmed.
The electrician arrived, removed the non compliant sockets that had been installed by others and added the new sockets required as well as fitting low power CFL uplighters. These new luminaires allowed us to improve the overall illumination levels, reduce shadows, reduce lighting running costs and seal the holes in the ceilings.
The plumber then arrived. In one bedroom we had two radiators fitted on opposite walls with surface mounted plumbing connections – that had to be sorted out. To his dismay he found that the central heating pipes had been connected so that the radiator is in parallel to a section of pipe, a most peculiar method, and routed strangely. the underfloor pipes were re-routed and a new high efficiency raditor fitted under the window with a TRV control.
Apart from a degree of difficulty getting the air out of the system it has run well enough to provide warmth over the following winter, but the heating is patchy and cannot be refined as there are no TRVs on the rest of the radiators. Many of them are fitted tight into corners making retrofit difficult and of an old design that are not compatible with modernsTRVs. as the system is not intended to be the main source of heating once the full works are completed then it was decided to let sleeping dogs lie undisturbed.
As work progressed cutting the insulation to a snug fit and tapping it into place we realised that the dwarf walls under the floor that supported the joists were solid and so, with the between joints spaces now being filled, there would be virtually no real underfloor air circulation. So bricks were emoved from these dwarf walls in teh spaces between jists where they were not load bearing to aid that circulation.
In the bathroom the builder recommended removing the toilet and basing and he would work roung the bath when installing the insulation. Seeing the confined space and how they were workingin other rooms we decided that hte batch should also be reomved. This was a good decision because, as the floorboards were lifted extensive damage from wood boring beetle was discovered. After an on-site discussion we decided to remove the entire floor, boards and joists, and replace with new, treated, timbers.