Day 1924 -ISH: A view from inside

This post technically spans a couple of days but just a minor technicality .. 

Some great photos of the framing to get an idea of size. The floorplan looks quite roomy however the height is a bit low - only so much you can really do without a massive change in the structure after all.

The view from the front with the massive steel I-Beam in place to hold up the roof rafters. This is bedded into the brick work against the party wall and follows the existing roof line at the front with a combination of the original joists and extensions towards the gable side. On the other side 50 x 150 mm (2x6 inch) roof joists to hold the dormer with a some wedges to get the right slope. The insulation is placed on top of this.

I have no idea how they managed to lift this thing up there .. other videos show some wooden platforms or pulley systems (see here). I didn't see either happening in our loft so I imagine it must either have been 1) magic and/or 2) a pack of stealth, ninja weightlifters. Either way, it's up there now an looks pretty solid.

And the front steel beam across the front to support the floor joists. Given that the joists can't extend right to the front load bearing wall due to the slope of the rafters, this intermediary beam is needed to take the weight.

    

A video from a similar install to show how it's done (here). This was a 3 part beam vs our one piece so I can only wonder how they managed to move this in our house. My guess is ninja weightlifters. 

The photo below shows the new 2x6 floor joists sitting above the old 2x4 ceiling joists. There is a gap to ensure any flex (if even possible) of the 2x6's won't translate into cracked plaster ceilings. The insulation was kept in between to 1) save our heating bills - as it's &#@&^ cold at the moment and 2) noise dampening from the kids down below - we'll be thankful for that I'm sure.

And here is the joists for the bathroom. Great to see the size of everything to get a feel for the space. We're busy trying to figure out bathroom layouts and sanitary-ware - but that feels like the subject of another blog post. Stay tuned. 

Finally, the bedroom/bathroom wall framed in. To the right will be the doors to the Juliet balcony which should let plenty of light through.

Day 1924: The first tour

After watching eagerly from down below, we finally got to head up into the loft and see things first hand. You can imagine how difficult it was for me to sit idly while all this work was taking place. The one blessing on the poor weather was that I really didn't want to venture up there in the cold rain/snow. 

Carolyn was ready with her trusty mini tape measure to make sure everything was done correctly. Mind you .. not sure what you can really accomplish with a 2m max measurement.

And I took the time to take some selfies. That's the floor joists for the bathroom behind me.

It's a nice view from up here with the church in the background. What we'll see from out the window in our new bedroom in the morning, 

Day 1922: Some better pictures now

Given how lousy my photos were from the day before I asked Stacy if he could send some better ones that I could show to my millions of followers around the world. Have a look ...

The one lonely house across the way yet to do a loft conversion. 

Top of the world!

Definitely not for people afraid of heights.

My cabin looks so small from there. 

A view from the inside ..  starting to look like a room now.

Day 1921: Another busy day

Today was a bit warmer for the guys. England had already exceeded our 1 day quota for sunshine this month but at least it stayed mostly dry.

We had 4 guys on site today and lots going on (sorry neighbours). The guys finished building the rest of the main dormer frame, installing ply on the dormer roof, ripping out more of the previous roof structure and start insulating it. Plus many more things I just couldn't see from the ground. As you can imagine, lots of activity and things were moving fast. I realise now that time lapse photography would have been nice. Something for the next house conversion I guess.

120mm Celotex insulation. That looks pretty warm to me. Especially compared to the pretty-much-nothing that's on at the moment.

Close up of the roof joists and frame.

And all tucked away for the evening.

Apologies for the lousy photos, it's just going up too quick and my vantage point isn't the greatest. I'll see if I can get the guys to send some better pictures tomorrow.

Day 1920: A dddd-ormer-rrrrrr

When a snowperson welcomes you to work, you know it's going to be a cold day. The weather dipped below 0 overnight and managed to stay there for most of the morning. Good thing I was working in a somewhat heated cabin (I could still see my breath). 

For the guys outside working on the loft, they weren't so lucky. No amount of teas or coffees we offered could block out the cold. Brrrr.

However the day was fortunately dry, sunny and with low wind. So it could have been worse.

In spite of the less than ideal temperature, the crew persevered on and made good progress on framing up the dormer.

The steel up on the ridge. And look at the beautiful blue sky - forgot what that looked like. 

And the frame for the dormer .. You can start to get a feel for the overall size of the new bedroom now.

The girls decided to leave some messages to thank the guys for working so hard in the cold weather today.

Day 1920: The Destroyer of Cities

An article forwarded to me by Christian this morning talking about how garden 'sheds' threaten to destroy our cities. Guess I'm a bit of a trend setter .. and a bit of a threat. Sounds about right.

 How the Spread of Sheds Threatens Cities

Kind of looks a bit like me .. Nice beard.

 

Day 1919: Oh no, we got snow

In London in rarely snows .. days where we get much of the white stuff you can count on your hands. So when it does happen, it's a pretty big deal. We still reminisce about the great snowfall of 2009 ... 

We had a sled that survived the move but was last used when Caitlin was a baby. So you can imagine our surprise to look out our window this morning to see the image below .. 

Of course the once in decade snowfall just happens to come in the one week that we don't have a roof on the house ... Hello Karma, thanks for dropping in.

So despite our slight concern about the state of the roof, we made the most of the snowfall (and the neglected little green sled)

And we weren't the only ones. It seemed like all of Surbiton was out in the street and in the park today. Within hours, Alexandria Park had become a field full of socially distanced snow people. 

Others apparently had taken out their unused sleds as well.

So the snow has finished and mostly melted now - and the temp roof looks to have held up (hopefully). We should be getting more of a roof back starting tomorrow. Phew!

Day 1915: Almost a roof again

The guys from MTL were back at it again today to get the roof ready for tiling. In spite of our little issue with the leaning stack, everything else seemed to be going OK. 

The felt underlay was placed on the new rafters and battens for the roof tiles placed on top. It will look sharp with the new tiles in place. These should hopefully go on starting Monday. 

And good thing as the forecast is showing more rain (and possibly even snow) ... Oh dear.

Day 1914: The Leaning Stack of Surbiton

Some architectural landmarks exist because they are old, some because they are beautiful and then there is a handful that are famous because they are slightly off camber. 

The Tower of Pisa comes first to mind.

However, there are quite a few other great examples of buildings that are not exactly plumb. See here

My personal favourite isn't really a tower, but it also really isn't straight either .. The Crooked House pub in South Staffordshire. Built in 1765 and condemned in 1940 for obvious reasons. It was rescued from getting torn down by a brewery with a really sick sense of humour. They reinforced the structure but kept the 'character' feature. Patrons now are subjected to pints that look like they are about to slide off the table and hallways that lean one way or the other .. and that's before consuming a few beverages!

We had no idea that we had another landmark right here at home .. The Leaning Stack of Surbiton. 

The photos came over WhattsApp from MTL with a message that we need to talk. Exactly what you don't want to hear. What does this mean? Are we in for a nasty surprise? Does it need to be rebuilt?!

It turns out that the leaning-ness wasn't really the issue. It was the height. As you can see from the photo below, it's slightly below the pitch of the new roofline so it needs to be raised slightly. Not that big a deal. The rest is just aesthetics and will be covered up in the new layout anyway. Phew!

But in the meantime, come see the latest architectural attraction in Surbiton .. for a limited time only though as this one will be shortly covered up.

Day 1913: It's hip to have a gable

Today the weather was glorious .. cold, cloudy - but finally no rain. Hey, they way things have been recently, you take what you can get.

As promised, the carpenters came today to start putting the roof back. The key task was to get the hip to gable conversion started. Impressive how much the guys were able to accomplish in one day as you can see in the photos below. 

The centre beam and roof joists seemed to go up in no time at all. 

Not a job for those who are afraid of heights. The guys had a proper workshop setup at the top of the scaffolding. 

Stacy from MTL was inquiring re the chimney as they would have knocked it out to get a smoother roofline. Since we have a log burner in semi-frequent use (especially recently) this needed to stay. Ashleigh also reminded me that we couldn't take it out or Santa would have no place to go next year - a very important point.

All neatly buttoned up at the end of the day. 

So weather permitting .. they should be back at it tomorrow working on the dormer. If things go well, and weather permitting, we may have a roof back by the end of the week.