At the moment, there is a lot of building work going on in my new flat. These pictures show what it looked like before I started (3rd April), and the current state of it (as of 8th September). Or you can go here for a simplified page (just showing the current state).
Original layout:
Future layout:
In these maps, north is on the right hand side. (You may want to open them in separate windows, so that you can use them to work out where the photos fit in.)
RoomPlan software (requires .NET Framework v1.1). This is the program I've been using (written by me) to work out where my furniture will go.
All one L-shaped room with sliding door:
Gap where north wall (to kitchen) used to be, and hole above sink (east wall to landing):
Sliding door and south wall removed:
New north wall for shower section under construction, now next to the existing north wall for loo section:
North and east walls now have plasterboard on far side:
Dividing wall put up between loo and shower sections, new south wall for shower section:
No actual changes, but some close-ups of the current state, showing where the pipes/cables are:
Note the cut-out holes in the beams in the back wall, to allow the water pipes to get through.
The toilet and shower room now have separate lighting cables in the ceiling, replacing the shared central cable (as shown above):
Toilet and fan removed, pipes extended to where basin will go and to new shower processor, shaver socket prepared, shower tray installed:
Note that shower tray is raised above floor level, to allow future access to waste pipe in case it gets blocked.
Toilet has walls covered in plasterboard and floor covered in tiles, shower has ceiling lowered (for safety reasons involving electricity and water) and front wall section removed, fan is run through toilet (boxed in) to shower:
Plasterboard removed from lower part of walls in toilet and extra pipes added, mermaid panel fixed to back wall of shower and plasterboard fixed to other sides:
One piece of plasterboard reattached to a toilet wall, mermaid panels put on other walls of shower room and data cable run from processor to just above the water pipe:
Other piece of plasterboard reattached to toilet wall above the waste pipe, with a sticking out section, floor tiles grouted:
Extra plasterboard up around the doorways to shower and toilet:
WC, basin, and shower installed (basin and body jets non-functional):
More plastering:
(The top of the second picture is above the doorway.)
Hole in shower wall to plug in extractor fan:
(See picture from 31st July for the tunnel behind the hole.)
Lights and fans in toilet and shower, shaver socket in toilet, switches for fans in toilet:
(Note small holes above fan in toilet in the second picture, where builder tried to find the big hole.)
Looking north/east/south/west in turn (wardrobe doors closed and open in south view):
Wardrobes have been removed, along with the carpet and most of the woodchip wallpaper (old connecting door between bedroom and lounge now visible in north wall):
Bedroom is now dumping ground for rubble from rest of flat:
Rubble removed, alarm sensors installed in windows:
Old power sockets removed:
Curtains, skirting boards, and some floorboards removed, new cables run to walls:
South wall plastered:
Other walls plastered:
Floorboards sanded and varnished, power socket on north wall:
Wall plates on all sockets (no socket for Sky cables yet):
Wall socket for Sky cables (no face plate yet):
(Sorry for poor quality of east wall pictures.)
Looking north/east/south/west in turn:
Carpet and woodchip removed, and door/nearby wall demolished to make this open-plan with kitchen (old connecting door to bedroom now visible on south wall):
Chimney exposed:
New fireplace installed, alarm system connected to windows (cable visible in wall under windowsill if you look closely):
Doorway widened further by removal of studs:
The wall on the right is built using "lathe and plaster" construction - the horizontal wooden stripes are lathes, and the green surface in front of that is plasterboard.
Plaster removed from wall next to doorway, exposing the lathes behind it, and new wooden beams put around doorway:
Curtains and skirting boards removed, new plasterboard put around doorway, some walls plastered:
Note that fireplace is covered with cardboard to protect it.
Area around doorway plastered:
Some plastering done on east wall, face plates fitted to power sockets on finished walls:
(Second picture is the north wall to the left of the fireplace, where the power socket is hidden behind boxes.)
Floorboards sanded and varnished:
(The Cat6 termination cables will be coming out of the floor to the right of the fireplace, but are currently buried underneath the floorboards.)
More plastering:
Wall plates on all sockets (no socket for Sky cables yet):
(Note that after the plastering, the Cat6 socket on the east wall has been completely hidden.)
Cat6 terminations retrieved from under floorboards, Cat6 cables on east wall dug out, wall socket for Sky cables (no face plate yet):
View of kitchen from lounge (basically a close-up on west wall of lounge):
Turning in a clockwise circle (with overlap between photos), we have sink and window (west), north wall (including immersion heater cupboard), doorway (looking into lounge), and shelves/cupboards on south wall between doorway and sink:
Vinyl flooring removed, doorway and surrounding diagonal wall demolished, cupboards removed, and plasterboard removed from the sticking out section of the south wall:
Gas boiler replaces immersion heater, protruding section of south wall is moved back, and varying ceiling heights between rooms become obvious:
Part of security system put on north wall (will end up inside a cupboard), east wall gets extra studs to support plasterboard, south wall gets plasterboard on kitchen side:
Plasterboard on the edge of the east wall:
Old power sockets removed:
Sky cables put through wall (under sink) and then under floorboards, new sockets on north and south walls:
East wall covered in plasterboard, and new beams put around doorway to lounge:
Power socket put next to boiler, plasterboard put around doorway to lounge, sockets moved on south wall (the old ones would have been behind the fridge/freezer), some plasterboard removed from south wall to fit shower processor in:
Most of kitchen plastered (walls/ceiling), ceiling lowered to be level with hallway, floor tiles laid (but not grouted yet):
Face plates put on some wall sockets, data cable run from shower's external on/off switch, ceiling light installed:
Floor tiles grouted and sealed:
More plastering:
New units fitted:
(Note that plug sockets moved on 28th July are still partly behind fridge/freezer.)
Wall plates on all sockets (sockets behind fridge/freezer moved again), oven and hob wired up, sink exposed:
(Note that the high-up plug socket on the north wall should actually be connected to the fan.)
Better support for taps:
Looking west from bedroom (area between entrance door and bathroom), and then looking north/south along the strip between kitchen and lounge:
Carpet removed from floor, kitchen doorway removed, gap in bathroom wall:
New plasterboard on outside of bathroom and kitchen (looking south from lounge doorway):
More plasterboard on outside of bathroom and kitchen to fill the gaps at top/bottom, new burglar alarm control panel and video entryphone installed:
New light switch connected up next to entrance (old switch was on the demolished bathroom wall):
Note the holes in the ceiling to get the cables to the overhead light, and the hole above the switch to get the cables downwards.
Temporary power socket run to kitchen, to keep the burglar alarm supplied:
New MCB circuitboard to replace old fusebox, and Cat6 cables coming out of that wall:
Plasterboard removed from east wall next to lounge doorway, exposing lathes behind, and new sockets put on west wall:
New plasterboard put on east wall, most of hallway plastered:
Face plates put on some wall sockets and light switches, external on/off switch for shower installed:
Floorboards sanded and varnished:
More plastering:
Wall plate for Cat6 socket above fusebox:
(Compare this to the picture from 26th July)
I was originally intending to get carpets put down in the bedroom/lounge/landing, since "that's what you do in a house". However, I then decided to restore the original floorboards. Here's what's underneath...
Bathroom floor (now part of kitchen), showing where shower pipe emerged:
Kitchen floor (formerly part of hallway), showing gas pipes:
Lounge floor, showing gas pipes near east wall (the second image is a close-up of the first one):
More of lounge floor, going clockwise from north-east to north-west corner:
North-east corner of lounge:
Landing floor, starting at fuse box, going east towards bedroom, then north towards kitchen:
(Second picture is landing outside shower, effectively a close-up of part of the first picture.)
Bedroom floor:
Moving from the top of the stairs (standing in the bathroom), round the corner and downwards towards the front door:
I'm planning to put a Sky dish on the back wall, between the landing and kitchen windows.
View from landing window (looking north), and from kitchen window (looking south):
This page was last updated on 2004-09-08 by John C. Kirk
