Kicked off a fair few years ago now, and has been the subject of many a discussion and complaint ever since. It's been mulled, mused, considered, argued about, drawn, re-drawn, scrapped and re-planned but finally, I been an' gone an' done it ................. but a bit of background first.
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| Summer 2007 |
Where we were
We had loads of ideas and plans when we first came to Bulgaria, pretty much all of which surrounded the belief that we could 'sell' the dream by inviting guests into our home to experience the 'Good Life'.
To cut a long and tedious story very short, the upshot was that we partially renovated our two storey house with the aim of developing two seperate accommodations on ground and first floor, each with its own access and with no connecting stairway. The grand plan as above, to invite people to holiday with us in a self contained area, and to enjoy rural life in Bulgaria in exchange for bags of cash which would help fund our dream.
Seemed like a good one [plan] at the time, but we were quick to learn that most people visiting Bulgaria from the UK were here to party on the cheap booze at Sunny Beach, also that our money wasn't going to go as far as expected, and our 'helpers' weren't as efficient or, in some ways, as honest as they might have been, and (maybe selfishly) did we really want to share our 'space' with people we may not have known (or wanted to know). These and other circumstances forced us to concentrate on surviving. On to plan 'B'.
Our living space was spread across two floors, day 'lounge' area on the ground floor with outside summer kitchen, which should have been an extension. Bedrooms, shower-rooms (both en-suite), kitchen and dining room on the first floor. Progressively, though novel at first, no connection between ground and first floor became a complete and utter pain in the arse, particularly when it was pouring down with rain or snow, and in the depths of winter at -20oC.
The situation required a major rethink ...... which we've been doing ever since ...... 'til now!
We considered pumping a hole in the upstairs 'lobby' floor, building an outside stairwell, excavating under the first floor and various other mad-cap ideas until eventually we found a way forward, phew! We have sacrificed a shower-room and plan to re-work the other as a 'family' bathroom to provide us our biggest luxury to date .................
An Internal Staircase
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| As it should be ......... |
The Plan and Action
The plan was simple, it had to look like the diagram to the left, the action was a bit more of a physical trial. The diagram was a bit of a test but Google Sketchup made it so much simpler, it has my thumbs-up but it took a while to get used to its nuances. It took a little time to figure out how to accommodate the water meter, which is now built into a housing in the first step, and the winder caused a few revisions but I got there. The action was sooooo much simpler, they don't call me 'demolition man' for nothing.
The first step in the destruction was to re-instate the old bathroom doorway (right). Marked out to an arch to match the entry to the 'study' (currently the first floor kitchen), this wasn't as simple as it sounds because I used sand and cement mortar to brick it up. That said, it didn't take a fantastic amount of time and happily, the old lintle was still in place which supported the new opening nicely. Jac wasn't best pleased with all the dust but heh ho, she can't have everything :)
The next stage was an amount of marking out, a lot of consideration and a number of revisions to the original plan because the paper didn't quite match reality.
It became clear after drilling a few exploritory holes in the ground floor ceiling that if I were to remove the bathroom floor it would leave the chimney stack unsupported. Who builds a chimney stack on a 50mm thick suspended bathroom floor ..... only in Bulgaria. There was a short delay while I built a supporting wall under the stack.
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| I'm such a tidy worker :) |
The next chunk of work was to form and fabricate the lower flight of steps. The form-work was put in around a central timber support, not for any particular reason apart from the prospect that the bathroom floor may not be tied into the walls and might fall when I cut away the floor, possibly because it looks the part, and certainly because it follows the plan. The pic left shows the completed lower steps with fire box for delicate docs and a cover over the water meter housing. The ladders take you through a hole through the floor to the archway above.
Next job! Let's trash the bathroom floor. I removed three quarters of the shower-room floor (see right), the final quarter will form the base of my solar water heater cupboard, another intended project. This was pretty straight-forward albeit a bit messy - Sorry Jac!
Happily the floor was tied into the walls on three sides, unfortunately on only one of the sides of my heater cupboard base. That now needs additional support but wasn't a show stopper. As is usual, it took longer to clear up than it did to do the dirty deed.
Time for a breather now, and a revision of the plan. After marking out the second flight it quickly became apparent that there was a bit of riser adjustment required but again, not a show stopper. The biggest concern for me was that a joist appeared right in the middle of my top step, an unfortunate oversight on my part, one needing a degree of thought not being a pro. stair builder. Two heads did the trick ..... I sought advice from Chris, a mate and neighbour, and without hesitation he came up with the solution. Stitch a second timber to the existing supporting joist. Most of the weight from the protruding floor joist is taken by the floor anyway. This meant that the end could be nipped out of my top step and it would still be supported ... result!! The new timber will be secured by half a dozen hidden hexagonal head coach screws, also known as Lag Screws.
Right, back to work! Next, form-work and reinforcement for the upper flight. I installed three lengths of 15mm armatura from the top step of the lower flight to the supporting joist. The idea was to drill the bar into the supporting joist but it didn't quite work out that way and I had to make some hangers. No worries there though, each step was also supported by 15mm and this was tied into the wall. You could swing on it when I had finished, these stairs aren't going anywhere.
The form-work went in reasonably well and I was determined that it would be really well supported. Each riser was tied together, the wall batons were secured with heavy screws and the step sides and underside were double shuttered. Now to get some muck in those steps ....... NASKO!!!!!!
Nasko, you've met him before if you've read any stuff on here, is my very able helper without whom my construction projects past present and in the future would be so much harder. Thanks 'Near Enough'!! He mixed while I mucked in and knocked down. It took a couple of hours, drew sweat but otherwise was a doddle. My only concern was the top step because it wrapped the front and bottom of the floor support joist. It was a bit awkward to get the concrete into the step but a bit of tamping and knocking down did the trick.
I intend leaving it alone now for a week or so, just to be absolutely sure that the concrete has cured properly, before removing the form-work.
There's a considerable amount of work left to complete the project but it's almost at the point where it can be put into use, and today we've done just that but I'm going to save that for episode 2 which should follow shortly.
More pictures here: Upstairs, Downstairs - A Saga!
N.B. To my 'Green' friends, please accept the sincerest of apologies for not using sustainable materials in this project. Timber was considered but ................. I'm buggered if I'm going to go through this heartache again when the woodworm have had their fill. I promise to do better in the future.
