| The Ecohome : First floor kitchen | |
| | | The Ecohome : First floor kitchen
This room was formerly a separate bathroom and WC. The partition which separated the two was made of original studwork and wood lath plastered with hair-reinforced lime plaster.
The old bath was situated in the far corner with a basin between the window an the partition. The full British 7.5 litre flush WC was situated against the back wall facing the corridor. An old steel header tank was supported off the partition and connected to the old hot water cylinder with lead pipes. The floor was carpeted and the walls papered and painted.
Firstly, the window reveals were rebuilt in the same manner as most others throughout the house. The doors were moved long before the partition was knocked down because of the header tank it supported. This tank could not be removed until the new hot water system was operational, otherwise there would have been no hot water. Once the tank was taken down, the lathes were stripped off carefully for reuse. The roof received the substructure for the insulation, 300mm (12") thick on the slope. The flat portion of the ceiling was left in place throughout the landing and received 400mm (16") of the same above it, installed from the loft hatch in Bathroom 1.
As in the Family Room directly below, the junction between the party wall and the exterior wall has been clad in zero ozone depleting phenolic foam backed plasterboard, to reduce the cold bridge.
The newly constructed ceiling structure was underclad with the recovered wood lathes, matching the existing construction on the flat part.
Claytec Undercoat was used as the base coat directly onto these lathes, a process similar to traditional wattle and daub, so that the performance and suitability of the material could be observed. As the lathes are absorbent, cracking in the plaster occurred as they dried - overall, the technique was found to be effective, if more labour-intensive. Tierrafino was used once again as the finish coat - this time sponged. The fourth and final heat recovery fan was installed and the dipped skirtings put back up.
Penney and Gil's old fridge/freezer was fitted with a SavaPlug and set up in here for use by the lodgers. The only remaining gas appliance in the house - the cooker which came with the house - was connected in here.
The sink has been reused from the former kitchen next door as a temporary measure, while the plywood worktop was put together from site surplus - again for temporary use.
The floor will be covered with linoleum as in the bathrooms and the sink and worktop units will be renewed. Continue the tour >> | | | |
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