Floor Insulation & Pigeon Patch

After we realized that there was no way we were going to finish the bathroom construction before my return to New York (because of the time needed to order and deliver the stone tiles), I decided to take a day to deal with a few small tasks that were becoming more and more pressing...particularly as the weather was getting colder and colder.

Back when we leveled the floors at the beginning of the year, we did not install insulation. But now I feel strongly that we need to start making the flat more comfortable - not just bare-minimum livable - so with the temperature dropping and some drafts becoming apparent, it should be done soon. Plus - with the radiator plumbing completed in the bedroom we no longer need access to the floor, so it's good time to do it. After some research, I ordered several very large bags of insulation...

The insulation being delivered

The bags of insulation are quite large!

In addition to the insulation, we also needed to patch a hole in the rear exterior brick wall. This hole was the result of removing the old waste pipe from the original bathroom - it was removed during the plumbing's first fixing - right before the scaffolding was taken down at the end of July.

The "hole"

Not only did the hole let cold air into the cavity of the floor (a big source of drafts in between the joists), but we learned very quickly that a pair of pigeons had moved in! The pigeons did not bother us at all (they were under the floor and off to the side)...in fact "Aglaya" thought it was quite sweet to wake up every morning to the sound of their cooing (and they were LOUD!) But they really bothered a few of our neighbors. Because this would be a messy job (with the bricks & mortar), I figured it would make sense to patch the hole on the same day the floor was insulated.

After removing part of the closet and cutting away the floor boards

The view from the hole (you can see one of the floor joists on the left)

Patching the hole involved making mortar and fitting pieces of brick which meant cutting them individually. What made this difficult was having to work from the inside as there was a 3 story drop below. I should point out that this could not have been done when the scaffolding was up as it did not reach this far over...

The patched hole - sloppy but done

Once the patch was completed, I moved onto the insulation. This was a relatively easy task, but (as usual) it took a bit more time than expected. Having recently been involved in a sound proofing project in New York, I wanted to be sure our floor also provided a decent amount of sound dampening between us and our neighbor below. A key element in sound dampening is to have insulation, but it's better if there's an air gap, so I decided to raise the insulation a few inches above the plaster ceiling using chicken wire to prevent it from slipping. The chicken wire was what took a little time, but within a few hours I had it completed...

Removing the plywood sub-floor to expose the cavity between the joists

Installing the chicken wire between each joist (prevents the insulation from slipping)

Half the insulation installed

The completed insulation

That night we noticed that "the Box" was significantly warmer and the drafts had been minimized...mission accomplished!

Heat!!!

After 10 months we finally have heat!

Sunday night we finished spackling and painting the newly hung plasterboard and our long push to be ready for the plumber yesterday is finally over. He arrived in the morning and set about unpacking the new radiators and setting them into position.

Morning of October 17th - unpacking the radiators

The first radiator in position

He then started fastening the brackets into the walls and soon we had our first radiator up on the wall. After all the others were up he decided to come back today to connect the pipes and valves...

Attaching the radiator brackets

A hung radiator

That evening - the living room's radiators awaiting connection to the boiler

So this morning he arrived early to begin connecting the radiators to the boiler via the copper pipes he had previously installed just below the floor during the "first fixing" back in June. The connection from the copper pipes to the radiator are done with chrome piping - those chrome pipes connect to the radiator via a valve that controls the flow of hot water.  These valves are thermostatic, which means that each radiator has its own individual control that automatically turns off when the radiator hits the desired temperature - this will save energy and heating costs.

Morning of October 18th - where the valve and pipes will attach

Our plumber connecting one of the valves

 The plumber moved very quickly and by the end of the afternoon he had all of the radiators connected and starting filling, testing and balancing the system. Soon everything was working properly...so we finally have heat! It's definitely another major milestone - and one we reached just in time, since the temperature started dropping this week and there's a distinct chill in the air in the evenings. Regardless of whatever else happens as we try to finish this project, it's such a relief to know that at least we won't have to go through another winter without heat.

A completed radiator in the living room

Heating Up: Leveling the floor

The second task on our heating list is to level the floor where the grotty old kitchen used to be. The reason for this is that one of the radiators will go below the window in this area, and in order to start dry-lining the walls, the floor needs to be level (see next post).

The nasty old kitchen used to be in this corner...

The original wood planks below the window (surrounded by the new leveled sub-floor)

 As noted in our previous posts on leveling floors, the first step is to remove the old planks, then establish level lines using strings with a spirit level. With the strings level, a piece if wood is scribed and cut to match the level line - once those are fastened into place plywood is cut to fit on top, becoming the level sub-floor...

Old planks removed

The string line

Setting the second string line

Cutting the plywood to size

The completed and level floor

Powering Up!

The first task on our heating list is to provide power for the boiler. Since this requires having our trusty electrician onsite, it makes sense to have him do the initial work to rewire the flat at the same time. This will require us to relocate and replace our old breaker box (also known as a distribution panel or a circuit breaker panel) with a new one - not only to meet the current building regulations, but because the old one is super sketchy! The breaker box is where the power comes into the flat and is then distributed to all the various areas - that's why it's a big job to replace and relocate it - there's a ton of cables going to and from it.

The existing breaker box (in the orange bag) with the jumble of wires going to/from it

The day started by meeting up with our electrician and going shopping. We ended up spending half the day getting all the electrical materials in Park Royal - an industrial area in northwest London with many supply houses. We went from shop to shop ordering the various components and comparing prices because we could not believe how expensive the cabling was - particularly the very heavy lines that were needed to carry power to the breaker box.

Eventually we made it back to flat - while I was rushing to frame the wall where the new breaker box will go, the electricians were removing the sub-floors, disconnecting the old power lines (after shutting off the power!), and running new the cables.

Disconnecting the old breaker box

The new heavy duty cables to relocate the breaker box - so much color!

Removing all the old cables & connecting the new ones

The new breaker box installed in the wall framing

Almost done rewiring the main lines

The old breaker box

The actual work at the flat went very quickly - we probably spent more time picking up the materials than rewiring the flat. In the end, the final result was a subtle red line that indicated the boiler had power. I had not realized the old wiring & breaker box was in such a poor state, but I now appreciate how much safer the flat has become - the new wiring and breaker box now meet the current building regulations which are very, very tough.  Without seeing firsthand the differences between the old and the new, it would have been hard to truly understand and appreciate.

The boiler with power (on the left); and the jumble of old wires gone

The Next Two Weeks...

So with our new focus on getting the heat working, that will be the goal of my next two weeks here in London.

It turns out that it's not just a question of getting the plumber here to finish his work - there are a ton of things to do before all the different parts of the system can become operational (déjà vu...). Each of those parts requires work that goes beyond the plumber - and so falls to yours truly.

One of the key issues will be to have the new radiators installed on the walls. The not so obvious problem here is that we don't have walls...yet. Well, not the final, finished ones, anyway. To get those up means hanging new plasterboard on the grotty old perimeter walls, plastering and painting - because once those radiators are connected to the plumbing we won't be able to get behind them ever again.

Initially, I had no inkling of how much would have to be done to get the heat working, but here's a quick list:

• Rewire the entire flat with new electrical wiring and a breaker box - needed to power the boiler (and everything else)
• Install the last section of the boiler's flue pipe (that vents to the outside)
• Level the floor where the old kitchen used to be (one of the radiators goes there)
• Order plasterboard, plaster, fasteners, etc. Then carry everything upstairs  :-(
• Dry-line portions of the old walls with new plasterboard (a lot more work than it sounds!)
• Spackle the joints of the plasterboard (for now, only behind where the radiators go)
• Paint the plasterboard (also only behind where the radiators will go)
• Finalize the heat calculations and sizing of the radiators - then order the radiators along with the valves and pipes
• Hang the radiators onto the walls
• Connect the radiators to the pipes along with the thermostatic valves
• Fill and balance the system
• Turn the boiler on!