Progress at a pace

Progress has been at a rapid pace as we have been working through the whole house, all at the same time, at our project in South East London. In the loft, the roof was being constructed, and down below, the rear of the house was being rebuilt, simultaneously.

Once again, attention to detail is always a priority… right down, or up… to the chimney pots!

As well as a bedroom, the new loft space includes a bathroom, constructed from a timber frame at the rear of the house.

On the first floor level, there are three more bedrooms and another bathroom.

Even outside, the home office is now well under way, and bamboo plants will provide a screen from the busy road that the house backs on to.

 

 

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Exciting progress and the dizzy heights of our work!

A head for heights is a no question ‘must’, when you’re creating a loft conversion… this photo reveals it all (and no, that isn’t my foot in the pic!) Look at the road, so far below…

As well as progressing with the timber work for the loft, we have, once again, been making great progress with our latest project.

Last week, I talked about the helical bars that we would be using to strenghten the brickwork. The bars are inserted into the wall, across the cracks, at 300mm intervals, and then they are bonded into place.

As well as stabilising the brickwork, we have continued digging out for the lower kitchen floor, and, we’ve also poured concrete for the kitchen extension and home office foundations.

We’ll be putting new windows into the whole house, these have now been delivered. 

There is regularly a team of six or seven on site at any one time, and, as well as our building team and other tradesmen, we are investing in the future by employing apprentices to work and learn alongside our experienced crew. Here at Create, we are  committed to developing and supporting our younger team members, so that we are continually able to deliver a service that is designed to exceed your expectations. We know that the building industry has not always been credited for reliability and attention to detail. At Create, we are committed to a standard of excellence and transparency in all our work. Also, if you are curious to see how our latest project might look when we’re all finished, you can view our portfolio of past creations by clicking HERE. There are photographs showing many of our projects, stage by stage, from start through to completion.

Til soon!

From top to bottom

Here at Create, we’ve had a busy 6 months, and we’ve completed some exciting work! We’ve also, very recently, begun a large project to refurbish the whole house, add a loft conversion, a kitchen extension, AND a home office in the garden, to a home in South East London. We’re looking forward to sharing updates and photos as we go along!

To begin, we stripped out the interior, including the kitchen, bathroom and some of the plaster, ceilings and internal doors. Next, the scaffolding went up, and we began to remove the roof tiles, ready to begin the loft works. We’re also starting to dig out for the footings to the extension, the sub floor to the kitchen and the base for the home office.

For the duration of this project, our client has moved out. It means we can work on the whole house all at once, rather than room by room, if they were still living in the space. It is making for good progress and an exciting pace of work!

The work so far…

Before the scaffolding

What’s left of the bathroom

From the bedroom up to the existing vellum

The scaffolding going up at the back

With scaffolding

The scaffolding from inside

Scaffolding complete

Stairs and landing

The stairs from the dining/living room

Digging the extension footings

Digging out for the sub floor in the kitchen

The beginnings of the home office

 

 

 

Going back to where it all began

How time flies when we’re having fun! Since our last post in late June, we really are in the final stages of work at the kitchen extension. It’s coming together and looking great. Also, there’s been some learnings for us along the way.

We’ve seen very clearly the challenge of not being involved in a project right at the start. Our clients employed their own architect and we weren’t part of the design process. We are certainly happy to work in this way, and there have been times when the drawings haven’t quite given us sufficient information to work with or have not reflected the truth of what the job required. Of course, now, at the end of the process, everyone is happy and all the challenges can easily be forgotten. We think it’s important we take our learnings and ensure we are constantly working to make the process an ever easier experience for our clients. We know that having major building work in your home can be stressful, we aim to make it as stress-free as possible always.

In contrast, we are well on the way with a loft conversion, again in South East London, and we are seeing the benefits of having a great, open and honest relationship with our client right from the outset. We have been involved from the beginning, and, as such, have a complete and clear picture of what is wanted and how that has been translated into drawings we know reflect the required work accurately. It’s making for a smoother and more enjoyable experience for everyone, particularly our client.

So the message here is, please do come and talk with us as soon as you know you would like to extend or improve your home in some way. The sooner we can start the conversation and understand exactly what you would like, the better, for everyone.

As well as our building projects, we have completed a loft conversion in our project management capacity. Here’s little sneak preview of the finished result…more photos will follow

We’ve also started a luxury bathroom refurbishment, again working as project managers. Again, we’ll be posting photos soon.

And now for our final news of the month, we are back where it all began! Our first big project was a stunning extension in Hither Green. We’re now working across the road, on a loft conversion. This is the extension we did three years ago and here’s a photo of the start of their neighbours loft conversion.

It’s always nice to be home don’t you think?! 🙂

 

 

 

 

Tales from the kitchen extension

Three weeks on since our last blog post, there’s lots to talk about with our kitchen extension.

We’ve finished the cedar cladding to the outside. We think it’s looking good, what do you think?

We fixed timber to provide a solid wall for the curtain tracks.

For the ceiling, we have put 100mm thick Celotex between the roof joists. This is covered with Airguard, a membrane designed to increase energy efficiency. Another 50mm layer of Celotex will then be covered with 12.5mm plasterboard.

Our clients are having a woodburning stove as a finishing touch to their newly extended home. This means we have included a complete Vitcas fireproof system for the wall behind the stove.

It’s amazing the difference three weeks can make, we’ve also installed the underfloor heating system. Corex was laid to protect the damp proof membrane from the concrete.

Next, we put down 150mm Celotex.

The polypipe system connects to the boiler.

On top, we laid a chicken wire mesh to help the screed stay in one piece. The screed is also mixed with fibres to stop it splitting, increase its wear and make it stronger.

So that our client knows where the cables are in their home, we’ve taken photographs we’ll pass on to them to show the position.

 

Til next time, we hope we are going some way to inspire you to make plans for any building works you are considering. To get your creative juices flowing even more, here’s a few photos of the finished kitchen extension we featured in our blog earlier in the year.

    

A loft with style and a photo update of our kitchen extension

We’ve been project managing a loft conversion in South London and are excited to share the ‘almost finished’ photos. Our clients have taken care over the details and the result is stunning. They have chosen Senso resin flooring for both the shower room and bedroom. Roof lights flood the space with light, and carefully selected sanitary ware and bathroom fittings add to the wow factor. A neat, space saving, oak pocket door leads from the shower room into the bedroom.

     

Our creative clients have finished scaffold boards with wax and they now make for a feature wall in the bedroom. It’s always a pleasure to be part of making someone’s home even more beautiful, and this new loft is certainly one that our clients will enjoy.

At our extension, again in South London, we’ve fixed the timber batons ready for the external cedar cladding.

 

The doors are going in.

We have Velux windows too.

And we’re even making sure the family pet has a cat flap to come and go through!

Diary of an extension – the work is almost complete

In the past month, since our last post, we’ve almost completed work at the kitchen extension in South East London.

The kitchen is in and the room is almost ready to be enjoyed. The final jobs have also included work on the garden.

Before we share some of our latest photos, here’s a quick re-cap of the project, from start to finish…

            

 

And here’s the latest photos…

   

 

Outside, there is blue-black granite paving from Nustone. Inside, it’s oak flooring and the kitchen we fitted is from Rooms.

We’re looking forward to showing you the final finished work soon!

Diary of an extension – fitting the kitchen

We know it can sometimes feel like things are moving slowly when you’re in the middle of an extension or other building works. There’s so much that’s not seen and is hidden behind smooth plastered walls and beautiful decoration and finishing when the work is complete. We hope our blog is giving you an insight into all the work that’s involved.

So, at our extension in South East London, you’ll soon begin to see how the finished kitchen will look. However, before we show you some of the latest interior photos, here’s a view of the folding sliding doors that lead out into the garden, connecting the outside with the inside. This is going to be a great place to live when the weather hots up and those doors are open and our clients can enjoy the full benefit of their outside space. If you’d like to find out more about the doors we’ve used here, the link to our supplier is The Folding Sliding Door Company. The company has lots of information on their website and a gallery of photographs showing a wide range of settings that these doors can work in.

So that’s the view looking in, and now, here’s some photos of the kitchen being fitted. It always feels great to see the room really taking shape.

 

If you’d like to see more of what we do, we’re on Facebook, ‘like’ our page and you’ll receive more ideas, tips and inspiration.

Diary of an extension – view from the inside

It’s two weeks since our last post, in the following photos you’ll see how the inside of the kitchen is beginning to take shape. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve built the timber studwork that supports the plasterboard. This is how the majority of modern internal walls and ceilings are constructed. The semi-hollow nature means that pipes and wires can be run within the wall to feed water and electricity where needed. We’ve used Celotex boards to insulate the ceiling and internal walls before nailing the plasterboard in place.

   

We applied two coats of render on the inside of the external block walls. The render is scratched using a trowel or some type of serrated blade while still wet. The creation of a web of surface scratches helps the final coat of plaster adhere properly by allowing the overcoat of plaster to enter the scratches and create a bond between the layers.

And here’s how the kitchen is looking now, with the walls all plastered.

 

We’ll be back here soon with more news on the extension. In the meantime, if you’d like to see some photos of our finished projects, please follow this link.

Diary of an extension – before we insulate and plasterboard

Happy new year to you from all of us at Create. We’re excited to be back to work after our Christmas break and here’s one of the most recent photographs of the extension we’re building in South East London.

As you can see, we’ve built the main structure of the building and so now it’s time for us to make sure all the jobs that need completing before we start to plasterboard, are done.

We’ve laid a timber floor in the kitchen.

We’ve levelled the ceiling.

Also, we are ensuring all the pipes are in place for the heating and plumbing. The same applies for the cables. It’s really important for us to check that we have everything done that we need to do before we start to insulate and plasterboard.

In addition, we’ve prepared to lay concrete at the back of the house to give a solid bed for our Aco drain that will catch the rain water that will run off the doors.

Soon you’ll start to see how the inside of the extension begins to really take shape. We’re looking forward to sharing more photos and telling you about the next part of the build.