Mixing Marvin elevate and essential.
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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What windows should we choose?
Comments (56)Hi Folks. The windows are in and I love them. I chose black slim profile aluminium chamfered profile. I've been delaying posting a picture because, as you can see the front drive isn't done yet so the house isn't set off very well in its surroundings. To be clear, the windows we replaced were already Everest replacement windows from the late 70's early 80's I'd guess. The only original glazing we had being external Crittal doors that were ffffreezing, so they have gone and the Crittal stained glass windows by the front door and chimney breast, which we've kept, though they need painting black to match the new windows. We haven't replaced all the other non-original windows, but will aim to do so over the years, when the cash flow improves. I managed to persuade my husband to at least agree to all the first floor front elevation windows being replaced, so now they are all the same when you view the house from the street. The windows of a brick built sun room, front right, that you can partly see, are probably going to be removed, to make that area part of the garden rather than the house. One thing I would say is that we are having a bit of trouble with condensation on the outside of the new windows, which was unexpected and made me quite miserable at first. It turns out we're a bit unlucky, it's a known, but not extremely common, issue with such good thermal insulation in modern double glazing and it depends on the aspect of your house and the dew point. Our front elevation is west and exposed, so cold in the morning resulting in condensation and our view being foggy until the air temperature rises. I've attached a poor photo to show a mild version of what I mean, it can be a lot denser and we have far reaching views from the upstairs windows, so disappointing. But I've got over it. The main plus point is that the rooms with new replacement windows are so much warmer than the ones which still have the old ill fitting wood and aluminium windows. I'm also really pleased that we chose the windows to be black on the inside too. A neighbour up the road has black on the outside, white on the inside and I think it looks really odd when the windows are open. Finally, all the houses on our road are completely different, so there is no uniting feature that ties them together, our windows couldn't clash with the windows in the other houses as they are all individuals, though I suppose you could say they are all clashing, but as we are fortunate enough to be in a big plot with the houses set well apart I don't get that sense. Thanks for looking and all the advice. It was really helpful....See MoreLive Chat Series with George Clarke - January 19, at 3pm
Comments (100)Dear @judibutler I assume you are referring to a wall which is wholly above ground and that you have completely ruled out damp tracking into the wall from above. A lot depends on the size and thickness of the wall and other factors, such as if the building is listed. Damp penetration (driving rain) through granite walls has been an ongoing problem in church towers in the southwest of England for some time. Ironically the problem often seems to get worse after re-pointing in lime. Granite is fairly impervious and was often in laid in large blocks meaning trapped water has little chance of getting out through thin mortar joints. Historic England held an excellent conference on the subject in 2013; the transcript of proceedings can be found at: http://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/damp-towers-conf2013-programme-transcripts.pdf A roughcast lime render coat may help, but there could equally be voids in the wall which are holding damp and may need grouting. However, grouting is a very tricky and expensive technique which should not be undertaken lightly, and only works if one knows exactly where the voids are. Over-cladding the whole wall with semi-sacrificial weather boarding may be a last resort. This and rendering are likely to require planning consent. Depending on where you are located, a company like ArchiMetric (www.archimetrics.co.uk) could insert some interstitial moisture monitors into the wall to try and find out exactly where and when the damp is getting in and how it is moving through the wall, but this may be expensive. Some localised investigation by dismantling pockets of stone may be useful. The Society of Ancient Buildings helpline (mornings only on 020 7456 0916) may be able to help with specialists in your area. Most importantly try to get an understanding of how water is getting into and moving through your wall before you embark on anything. If your problems relate to below-ground damp then a different response will be needed....See MoreSliding doors or bi folds for 8m expanse
Comments (56)Excellent. Thanks for the visual. Always helps as builders are only at the foundation stage at the moment! 28m3 of concrete pumped on the site last week as our house built on higher ground so extension has to match ground level and we're adding a first level extension too. A long way to go but take each day at a time. No more projects for you then?!...See MoreUtility/Kitchen design feedback
Comments (23)@arc3d I dug out the very first design we had drawn up for the ground floor and interestingly the kitchen space isn't too dissimilar from your proposal, with some adjustment to door placement. It would be very nice to have enough room to clearly separate seating from dining furniture and I'm not sure it's possible in the current plans without doing as you suggest. Referring to our existing plans, my thinking was to move bench seating with dining table (extendable 6-8 person) to the party wall and seating to bay window area as @rinked suggested. Hopefully that would free up space for a small 2-seater sofa facing windows and couple of chairs with a side/coffee table. Note, the reason we introduced a double step-in to the external wall was because although not captured in the plans, the passageway tapers towards the house and we want to maintain a 700mm to run bicycles and wheelie bins to the rear. I think a side window in the kitchen wall was omitted because it faces our neighbours brick wall; maybe we could add one retrospectively at head height to the planning application, to reflect the side window in the extension: @rosemonde Below are the submitted plans for the other floors and external elevations for comparison to your house (- ignore the stair direction on 1st floor; this will be flipped but there's a separate application for the loft under PD so the plan here shows the current stairs). I should also add that we plan to change the walk-in wardrobe in 2nd floor plans so that the entrance is opposite the en-suit, with drawers along length of eaves and wardrobes along length of partition; we feel this will give us more bed placement options (e.g. facing the rear window) and make the walk-in section less cluttered. Our current layout is awful (we recently purchased the house knowing we'd do this work); the kitchen is where utility is planned, there's a horrible lean-to conservatory where extension is planned and a similarly nasty lean-to utility to the side, the current bathroom is oddly split into a bath and separate shower room (with two adjacent toilets split by the partition) and loft space is a bedroom with non-reg stairs, floor joists and ropey dormer window. We're making the study 2m wide as well to make it a more practical size (it's currently 1.4m) and potentially use it as an overspill 5th single bedroom if necessary: Hope this helps you with your own plans and feel free to PM me if you want further info :-)...See More
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6 years agoHere's a picture of my Elevate with pine interior. We painted the interior SW Urbane Bronze. sorry bad quality but get idea.
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amanda_beshearsOriginal Author