York House
Project: Private Residence
Location: York
Duration: 10 Weeks
Form of Contract: Main Contractor
The York house project was a four story dwelling that required extensively updating and extending. Once the property was purchased by the client Benchline demolished the two small existing extensions and built one large extension utilizing both garden boundary walls as flanking walls. A hipped roof with perimeter lead guttering was formed over the extension in timber joists and steel work; this was covered in its entirety in lead – approximately 5 tones. While constructing the roof an opening was created for a roof lantern light. The other main part of the project was lowering the floor level in the basement to make this a useable space by creating extra head room and damp proofing.
When the original extensions were demolished some of the bricks etc were saved and cleaned up for use on other areas of the project to ensure a perfect match when patching up. The garden was used to store most of the building materials for the extension and the basement works as space in the house was limited due to all the renovation works being on going at the same time.
This extension required 9 pieces of steel to form the roof / stanchion supports which were bolted securely into position The foundations and concrete for the floor make-up in the extension and the basement was pumped in from approx 30 meters away, it was also necessary for access, to boom the pump pipe over the top of the out building at the bottom of the garden.
As you can see from the photos the completed extension with its three identical double door sets and lathed turned timber columns all hand made in our factory. Also note the lantern light on top of the roof complete with opening windows and self-cleaning roof glass. All was made water tight by the 5 ton of lead work this can be seen rapping over the front edge of the custom designed and manufactured cornice detail. This area was completed by the introduction of a York stone paved area in front of the double door sets, the York stone flags used were salvaged from earlier in the project.
The construction of the lantern was completely designed by our in house setting out team. The lantern is made completely from solid Iroko hardwood, it has two opening windows on slide catches and is 100% water tight. The whole design is formulated round the support from the central king post – this being the key element in its construction. This is a truly unique piece of joinery, completely designed and manufactured in Benchline’s factory before being transported to site in manageable pieces.
The kitchen area required extensive works including a complete new floor and supporting steelwork which also carried into the newly completed garden room, the top of the new walnut and glass staircase can be seen along with the opening in the ceiling where the lantern sits. With the lantern being positioned directly over the stairwell this whole area floods with light making it one of the central focal points of the house. All of the above is complemented with the addition of plaster coving and recessed spot lights.
The balustrade on this bespoke manufactured staircase is made from 12mm toughened glass supported only at the ground level with no wall ties at all. The glass is finished with an 80mm diameter solid walnut handrail rebated over the glass. The glass is fixed with designer hex head bolts, stainless steel shrouds and pins. All the stair treads are 20mm thick solid American black walnut, finished with a minimum of three top coats of two parts hard wearing lacquer.
Garden room extension – completed and furnished with floating effect walnut shelving. This room is heated by the plumbed “wet” underfloor heating system that was installed prior to screeding. The underfloor heating penetrates through the stylish travertine polished flooring slabs – at 900mm x 600mm these large stunning natural stone tiles complete this room and turn what was a simple extension into a contemporary family room.
Basement – with Indian stone flooring over a new damp proof membrane and electric underfloor heating to maximise head space. The flooring level was lowered by approximately 600mm all of which was extracted by hand, all wall coverings removed to expose the brickwork which was then sandblasted. All the original ceiling beams were exposed and re-fixed. The gas main required moving to create more space and two new condensing boilers were fitted to heat water and power the rest of the houses radiators.