Bedroom 2

This room is sadly neglected. It is upstairs on the church end of the house and is awaiting a lot of work being done to it to bring it up to date. The Velux window has been replaced and other people's clutter has been replaced with our clutter. 

Two granddaughters have used it when it has been cleared out before, as has a brother but it is back to being a clutter as we are trying not to use the eaves to hide boxes away and then forget they are there. Once all the work has been done and the boxes unpacked this should be a lovely room.

What does it need? It needs a view out to the Kyles for a start. It has a window looking out to the church, nice enough but needing replacing as really old double glazing. It needs heating as old storage heater. It has had a new Velux window looking out to the garden at the rear. It needs the darkroom next door, also a storage cupboard, being knocked into it and it also needs the upstairs shower room to be made into Ensuite 2 to be used when this room is in use. 

We had thought about putting a balcony overlooking the shore on this room but the cost of everything has so increased that we are not doing the lounge extension so there is no roof to put a balcony on. We then thought about Velux windows out to the front but our builder reckons a dormer window, like on Bedroom 1, would make the house more symmetrical and would not cost much more than the Velux windows we were planning.

Watch this space!

Week beginning 16 Sep: Before the lounge and dining room can be put back together some work needs to be done in the bedroom above them. This bedroom is having a set of Velux windows put into the roof to enable additional light and a view from the bedroom across the Kyles. At the moment it has views to the rear, through a Velux window, and across to the church through a secondary glazed window.

The bedroom has now been stripped of all plasterboard and reinforced with steel and wood to support the additional windows. We can now see through the eaves of the house to the roof. The wall between the bedroom and the darkroom had been stripped and Ray dismantled the coverings of the walls of the darkroom. Sandy and Neil then removed the nearest darkroom wall to enlarge this bedroom and they also widened the entrance to the room by removing the door and surrounds, in preparation for putting the door further into the hallway. We made a choice not to remove the other wall of the darkroom as that was due to come down and be moved just a tiny amount into the landing. Saved some money by keeping it where it is and the room is large enough without this extra space. All bendy trusses have been doubled up and so much extra wood put into this end of the house. The insulation is see-through on the external walls so that is being removed and replaced too.

Robert, the electrician also came in this week and removed all the live wires that were dangling with nothing on them. He left the church end of the house with no electricity so the builders had to come and ask to run a cable from our end through to theirs so they could work. He also stopped electricity reaching our one remaining infrared heater in our now tiny lounge so Ray was moaning he was freezing! Moved a panel heater in now!

Week beginning 23 Sep: A transformational week for this room. Sandy and Neil waited for a period of good weather to be forecasted and then started cutting through the roof of this second eaves room in order to install 4 Velux windows that are installed together to create a large picture window and a view of the Kyles. Tiles were removed and carefully stacked and then the internal structure started to be removed. They had already installed steel and doubled up joists to ensure that the roof didn't collapse under the weight of the windows. The eaves has had areas of the flooring removed so that the builders could move materials up and down more easily from the end of the lounge below and this means the machinery can be left on the ground floor whilst they are working. The windows were in within a (long) day and then the surrounds mostly finished off the next day. There was a hiccup when two pieces of flashing were found to be missing from the kits and they are due to arrive to be installed next week. 

The huge difference these windows make from the inside of the room has to be seen. The light and the view, plus the eaves being opened out as well as the darkroom incorporated into it make it a completely changed space. There's even talk about making it into the Master Bedroom now although the ensuite for it will be serviceable but quite small.

The whole end of the house has been stripped back to the bare bones of the timber frame, render and rooftiles. They are brandering the bedroom, adding slithers of wood battening cut to size to square up the room, as the trusses and walls have moved throughout the years and the plasterboard would accentuate the differences across the spaces. Brandering is usually installed on the underside of the truss bottom chord (thanks google) to strengthen the building and provide a surface for the roof to sit on. Sandy is always keen to show me how out of true the building actually is using laser and spirit level to ensure that I know why he is advocating the additional work and he ensures that we are happy with that before proceeding. It seems to make sense to do these things as we find them as we are taking away so many walls and struts. It may be that the house was built as a bungalow and then the rooms put in the roof later without the building regulations that we now have so it makes sense to do this. 

Sandy and Neil are now starting to rebuild the rooms from the outside in. The exceedingly thin insulation (see-through) is being replaced with either Kingspan or glass wool that is very much thicker. They are then overlaying that with foil-backed plasterboard, to give a vapour barrier. The side window wall cannot be finished until the window arrives and the wall opposite it cannot be finished until the plumber removes some pipes and repositions them for the basin in the new ensuite, which was the upstairs bathroom. The rest of the room is coming together though and the woodchip, which covers EVERY surface in the house, is gradually disappearing by being removed or covered. Exciting times.

Week beginning 21 Oct: Windows all now replaced and insulation plus plasterboard in place all ready for the plasterer. The doorways have been created to give access to the ensuite (when updated) and the new upper landing or hallway. Doors are yet to be put on and ensuite built. It makes a huge difference that the darkroom has been incorporated into this bedroom. Looking forward to having the ensuite completed.

Week beginning 11 Nov: The plasterer was in this week and then Ray has started putting a mist coat of paint on, once it was dry of course.