Renovations in Surbiton

Proportion is the thing about a Surbiton villa. Ceilings well above two and a half metres, deep joists spanning generously, bays running through two storeys, wide landings and windows made for rooms of that height. Those proportions are also what makes renovating them different: everything is bigger, from the ceilings to be replastered to the volume to be heated. A great many of these houses off Victoria Road and towards the river were divided into flats decades ago, so in KT6 we work as often inside one floor of a villa as through the whole of one.

Renovating To The Scale Of The House

Large rooms punish shortcuts. A ceiling of this size shows every deflection in a skim, cornices need running and mitring rather than sticking up in lengths, and a lighting scheme designed for a standard modern room leaves the corners of a Victorian reception in gloom. Sash boxes are built into the wall thickness here, which makes overhauling the original windows a more rewarding option than replacing them, since the boxes and weights are already doing their job and only the sashes, cords and seals typically need attention. Repairs of that kind keep the elevation intact.

Comfort takes more thought than it does in a smaller house. Heating sized to the actual volume and heat loss, not to the radiators already present, is the starting point, and where solid walls are being lined internally the build-up has to be detailed so moisture is not trapped against cold masonry. Floors deserve the same attention while they are open, since insulating between deep joists and reinstating ventilation to the void beneath makes a marked difference to how the ground floor feels underfoot in January. That work is straightforward while the boards are up and awkward to revisit once they are screwed back down again.

When Your Home Is One Floor Of Somebody Else's House

A flat inside a converted villa comes with a lease, and the lease sets the boundaries of your project before any designer does. Your demise generally stops at the plaster and the floor surface, which means structural elements, the roof, the communal stair and the main drainage belong to the freeholder and need a licence to alter before they are touched. Structural openings therefore require both the freeholder's written consent and a structural engineer's design, and we obtain the first and build to the second rather than proceeding on the assumption that nobody will notice.

The communal stair is also the only route for every sheet of plasterboard and every bag of waste, so it is protected before the first delivery and cleaned daily while the job runs. Water is the risk that concerns other residents most, and rightly, so a bathroom above another home is tanked in full before tiling begins. Notifiable work is registered with Kingston Council building control, we book the inspections at the defined stages, and the certification is handed over with the completion paperwork, which the freeholder will often want to see as well as you. Working hours and access through the communal parts are agreed with the other residents before we begin.

Where most Surbiton projects start: whole-house refurbishment in Surbiton, everything we cover across Kingston upon Thames, renovations in New Malden and building regulations explained.