Rebuiding "The Box"

With the structural wall re-framed and the floor extended, the entry and walls to the bedroom are mostly framed out and we're almost ready to have the plasterboard (called Sheetrock in the US) replace the temporary plywood walls. It's because of these plywood walls that we call the bedroom "the Box" - since we moved in, the "bedroom" has been enclosed by plywood, making it look like a "box". But today...that's going to change!

The re-framed structural wall and extended floor in-front of "the Box"

The first thing that needs to be done is some additional minor re-framing of the structural wall (also one of the bedroom walls) to create an opening where the new staircase will pass as it goes upto the loft (2nd floor). This work was left until today because in order to do it, I'll need to remove all the plywood. Taking down the plywood was technically easy to do, but psychologically, this is a very big deal for us - we've been living with it for over a year, and this is the first step to returning to some level of normalcy.

Temporary plywood walls of "the Box" (photo on the left) - a few minutes later, the first few panels removed (on the right)

All the temporary plywood removed from the re-framed structural wall along the bedroom

With the plywood removed, I was able to easily cut out the opening and set a new wall-plate that will act as a structural anchor for the new staircase. This completed all the re-framing work and I could now begin re-sheathing the walls.

Cutting out studs to make an opening for the staircase

The completed opening

 The re-sheathing of the bedroom began with adding plywood - but this time it's permanently attached to the exterior face of the structural wall. This plywood is being required by our official from Building Control (the equivalent of the Department of Buildings in NYC) to make the wall extra strong and stiff so that it acts as what's known structurally as a diaphragm system. The entire wall is sheathed in structural plywood and fastened every few inches with screws. Later, this will be covered with plasterboard and painted - eventually it will be blended in and hidden.

The first piece of structural plywood added

A few more pieces of plywood seen from inside the bedroom. The opening for the staircase is on the right side

The completed plywood seen from outside the bedroom - the door opening is again visible.

Once the plywood was completed, I shifted my attention to the other walls so as to hang the plasterboard. Before any plasterboard could be hung, the wall that separates the kitchen from the bedroom needed to have the final studs installed. These were quickly cut, placed and leveled.

The remaining studs installed at the side bedroom wall

Once the studs were in place, it was finally time to start hanging the plasterboard. I hung one board on the side wall just to see how everything fit together, and then quickly insulated the structural wall before covering it with plasterboard. All the walls will be insulated to help with sound dampening and to retain heat within the bedroom during the winter.

The first piece of plasterboard in the bedroom!

Insulating the structural wall.

Hanging plasterboard is quite not as basic as it sounds. Building control requires us to maintain a 1 hour fire rating around the bedroom, which can be achieved with either 2 layers of regular 12.5mm (5/8") plasterboard or one layer of special fire-rated plasterboard - which in the UK is, funnily, colored pink (to make it obvious the board is rated). Here I decided to use the pink (rated) plasterboard along the structural wall (because it won't have much traffic/abuse) but two layers of regular board on all the other walls (so they are stronger and can take more abuse & traffic).

A few more boards up - the pink (fire-rated) plasterboard on the front wall with regular board on the side wall.

Most of the plasterboard hung

The plasterboard went up rather quickly - but by this point it was late, and I was getting tired after a 12-hour day of labor. But the plasterboard made a huge difference in how the room felt - the plywood is gone, and our bedroom is finally starting to feel like a real room rather than a plywood box!

End of the day - the bedroom re-sheathed in plasterboard

Bathroom:Waterproofing the floor

The final push to finish the bathroom waterproofing has come down to today, which is a Sunday - my flight back to NYC is late tomorrow afternoon, so anything I need to do has to get done by the end of the day today.

 This will include affixing the waterproof tile backer boards (Marmox boards) to the walls and floor that will be tiled (outside of the shower). These are the final bits of waterproofing, and this will allow our tiler (Sean) to complete his work. Since I'm leaving tomorrow and he's still going, it's become apparent that his work will (unfortunately) only be finished after I've gone. This makes the perfectionist/architect in me nervous, but I've seen over the past week that Sean is very meticulous and we've spent a lot of time going over all the details and issues...so hopefully it will be OK. But "Aglaya" is going to have to step up and take charge after tomorrow!

Marmox boards lining the bathroom walls

Once the waterproofing on the bathroom walls had dried for 24 hours, I was able to apply the waterproof tile backer boards (Marmox boards) Sunday afternoon. Similar to the shower, after the boards are fixed to the waterproofed plywood, the joints are sealed with a waterproof silicone bead, followed by waterproof tape.

After removing the loo

After the walls were completed, it was time to focus on the floor - I had been nervous about this, as it involved removing our loo (toilet) in order to fully waterproof the floor below. Fortunately it went relatively smoothly and was easy to remove (with a little help from "Aglaya").

The plywood under the loo waterproofed, and the 1st batch of flexible tile adhesive ready to go

With the loo out of the way, I quickly applied the waterproof membrane to the plywood and after it was dry enough (could not wait the 24 hours this time!), I prepped for putting the Marmox boards on the floor. This involved pre-cutting all the boards so they would fit, and then mixing smaller buckets of the tile adhesive.

The first batch of the flexible tile adhesive spread out on the floor

It's worth pointing out here that I had ordered a special type of tile adhesive for the floors. Wood joists with a plywood sub-floor are not the best base for tile because they have a tendency to subtly move due to expansions/contractions in the heat/cold. In an old Victorian building like ours, movement could even be caused by large truck driving by outseide. These very small  movements have a tendency to make tiles -- or the grout lines between them -- crack, so one has to minimize the possibility of movement, while still accommodating for some movement. Here I had fixed the plywood with as many screws as possible to make the subfloor as rigid as it could be, and will then apply a flexible tile adhesive that is designed to go over wood subfloors. The adhesive will fasten the Marmox boards to the floor (minimizing the transfer of any vibrations or movement) while the Marmox board itself will provide a very rigid and inflexible base for the tile. The hope is that this carefully thought out system will minimize any cracking of our large, beautiful limestone tiles...

The 1st Marmox board in place on the floor - using some sacks to hold down the boards in a few areas

Yours truly placing the 2nd Marmox board in place

Spreading the next batch of adhesive

A close-up view of the adhesive - one uses a notched trowel so the adhesive grabs the boards better

Mixing smaller amount of the adhesive made it easier to work with, and within two hours I had all of the Marmox boards in place. Similar to the walls, beads of silicone are placed bewteen the joints, and then taped over with a waterproof tape.

The silicone between the joints (on the left); the silicone covered by waterproof tape (on the right)

After the work is completed, the loo is fixed back in place

By the end of the day (10pm!) the bathroom floors and walls were completed, and ready for the tiler to carry on with his work in the morning...

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!

The Shower: Waterpoofing (part 2)

Once the initial layer of waterproofing was dry, I moved on to complete the installation of the 2nd layer of waterproofing: the Marmox board (an insulated & waterproof tile backer board). Because this had to go onto the rough masonry walls, I was definitely not looking forward to this - not only because of my lack of ability with a trowel, but also because I always manage to make a huge mess whenever mortar is involved. This work was similar to dry-lining plasterboard and installing the first few Marmox boards, except here I had to also deal with the arch...

The masonry arch and wall - in a rough state

A Marmox board ready to be installed - the adhesive is dabbed onto it to help level it out properly once up on the wall

Pounding in the plastic "spankers" that provide additional support with masonry

More spankers ready to be nailed

Closing up the arch using small pieces of Marmox board - the white is silicone caulk which is used to seal any joints and make them waterproof.

Applying a small piece of Marmox to the arch

The completed arch

Starting to apply the waterproof tape at the joints (additional layer of waterproofing)

The completed arch. The area on the right will be built out with plywood as part of the ledge design.

The Shower: Initial Build-out

While the plumber was installing the radiators, I was able to start focusing my attention (finally) on the shower. It (along with the rest of the bathroom) is going to be completely new - when we did demolition we pulled out all the old fixtures, so for the moment, the bathroom is just an empty space except for the toilet and the boiler. So the entire shower enclosure has to built from scratch: framing, walls, floors, waterproofing, tiles and new plumbing...in other words, "the works".

I had previously installed the bathroom sub-floor, working out the initial layout when we had the boiler installed. During that period, the wall separating the shower from the boiler was put up - so when everything is finally done, that wall will become the front of the shower (where the shower head and valve go).

Morning of October 17th - the previously framed-out is visible on the left.

After clearing everything out - the starting point for the shower!

The first task will be to start installing the tile backer boards - I had done quite a bit of research on the various options and decided to go with a product made by Marmox - a waterproof, insulated cement board. Not only will this be the proper surface to which the tiles can be attached, but it can be used as part of a waterproof system for building showers - I liked that this product accomplished several things at the same time. The Marmox boards can either be screwed into framing, adhered to masonry with adhesive, or nailed in place with plastic "spankers". I opted for using the "spankers" and the adhesive due to the very uneven surfaces of both brick and plaster - this was similar to dry-lining plasterboard in the living room. The adhesive itself is waterproof, but it also adds strength to the installation which will be necessary if we use heavier stone tiles.

Applying adhesive to the wall and the back of the Marmox board

The first Marmox board installed

The design for the bathroom (and specifically the shower) ended up becoming quite complicated as there are many "spanners" in the works here. You may have noticed there's a large arch in the brick wall - this was only discovered during demolition as it was hidden behind the old walls. This arch resulted in a steel post going in to reinforce the steel beam - which (of course) pockets into the brick wall directly above the arch. This post ended up in the shower, and the post is sitting on a heavy steel beam to help distribute the forces and weight (or to be more precise, the point load) of the post across a few floor joists below. As a result, the floor of our shower will sit on-top of the steel beam. I also added a ledge that wraps around two sides of the bathroom - this was initially done to help hide the concealed cistern from our loo, but i carried the ledge around to give a ledge over the sink and in the shower where we can put things. The final design of the bathroom incorporates all these elements and (hopefully) will seamlessly tie everything together for a clean and simple appearance.

Second Marmox board installed and starting to frame out the base of the shower. The ledge is also starting to be framed on the right side of the picture

The shower base fully framed out - sitting on top of the steel beam.

The shower floor's plywood substrate

The Marmox system includes an insulated and waterproofed floor board that is pre-sloped for water drainage. I ordered one that was closest to the size of our shower and then cut it down to fit. One of the other things I liked about the Marmox system is that is has been designed around a specific drain - the floor board is pre-cut to receive the drain, so the entire system is integrated and should come together easily.

The Marmox floor board

We had worked out that as the plumber finished working on the heating, he would do the "roughing", or first fixing, of the shower pipes and fixtures. We had previously selected and ordered the shower head and valve, but that evening "Aglaya" and I had to choose exactly where they should be installed the following day - she really enjoyed this part!

Locating the shower valve - which height feels right?

Locating the shower head.

So the next day our plumber installed the pipes and fixtures based on the locations we selected the previous evening.

October 20th - Overall view of the shower plumbing

Detail view of the shower valve in the wall

The floor drain anticipating the future floor height due the steel beam (visible in the backgound). The white pipe is a condensate drain coming from the boiler

With the initial plumbing completed, it was finally time to sheath the shower with plywood, covering the pipes (on one side). As part of the waterproofing I decided to use WPBP (waterproof boil proof) plywood that would later be covered with a waterproof tanking kit (to be explained in the next post), followed by the Marmox board.

Installing the plywood substrate

Most of the plywood installed

With the floor, plywood, plumbing and Marmox in place...the outlines of a shower are finally starting to be visible!