During this winter my sister asked me to help her complete her house. It is an apartment that is located in the city of Rhodes on the fourth floor of a 40 year old building.
Vicky told me that the house was in a bad shape (I expected it to be so...) but I had to go there and see for my self....
I was in for a great surprise!
The house stood open (without any doors or windows) while the apartments below and above it were complete. It stood like that for 30 years worn by the elements at a point where I realised that my choices were very limited...
I had to take most of it out!
To top all that, all the electrics and plumbing that were installed at the time were outdated and had to be removed as well.
...so I called in the cavalry...
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| Not the best condition at all.... |
Three days and 25 cubic meters of debris later the house looked like a convertible car. However, my problems were just beginning.
We realized that humidity had attacked the ceiling going even to the rebar of the concrete slab so I had to take action. After cleaning the rust out, I used some high end sealer and high capacity fiber reinforced concrete to seal the bars that were cleaned. This will add some more strength to the area even if the problem is located on the tensile part of the slab.
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| Before |
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| After. The first layer that is applied locally is the fiber reinforced concrete |
Having that gone out of the way I could now focus on the layout of spaces. Despite the fact that its a 190 sq. meter house, it looked very small because of a narrow corridor leading to the bedrooms and the bathroom. I took that out as well.... Vicky asked me to take out the two living room balcony doors and create a big one (wise choice considering the view she has from there...). I took out three ugly and narrow windows located in her future kitchen, some parts of the balcony that were seriously cracked from corrosion and the bathroom's concrete pseudo ceiling. I also widened her bathroom by 4 sq. meters by taking out a wall and reducing the space of a large secondary bedroom...
No wonder why she calls me now "the demolition man"....
After all that, I realized that only seven walls remained in place out of which 5 were "slightly" modified!
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| The mess I made... |
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| The two balcony doors that we took out |
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| My uncle Yannis at work |
The only thing I made sure was to center and redistribute everything in the new layout (for good feng shui...). It was then time to leave these fine gentlemen at work and I was out for some photo rendering.
Three weeks later and after two major arguments with Vicky, I decided to do the drawings uninterrupted and let her modify them. Apparently it worked....
Here are some renderings of the house...
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| The TV wall... |
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| A built sofa on the balcony. Lovely gathering point... |
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| Fireplace on the balcony... |
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| The kitchen and living room layout... |
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| The master bedroom |
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| The master bedroom |
Of course that's way too far from were we are at the moment!
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October and November have been quite busy for the project mostly regarding the infrastructure of the house.
All the plumbing has been redone and an all new electrical installation running from the floor have been completed. In addition the general plumbing of the building have been overhauled, all the balcony floors have been layed getting ready for tiling and the facades have been smoothed down getting the place ready for external renovation.
Here are some pictures from all the work done....
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| Electrical and plumbing installation |
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| All the control points of the house are placed next to the entrance. Electrical pipes are in black, floor heating in grey and plumbing in red and blue |
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| Balcony floors are prepared slowly for tiling.... |
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| Detail left unfinished on the balcony. Sewage, watering, electrical and drainage pipes are run inside this pseudo column and await completion. |
I am in the process of finishing all the infrastructure of the house within the next month and I will be placing the order for the doors and windows within the last weeks of November. Hopefully the house will be ready for flooring before Christmas....
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The house is behind schedule at the moment but still progressing. All floors are laid and awaiting for floor heating installation and the second layer while the external doors and windows are still in manufacturing state. In order not to lose any more time on the project all the walls have been plastered in order to save some time towards the deadline....
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Floor heating was installed and the thermal concrete on top was laid. We are now ready for the sills and then the doors and windows will be installed....
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| Heating zones were formed according to their relevant location and use |
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| Central control unit the top (blue) caps will be removed later on and electric control valves will be installed. |
Floor heating has been completed and the top layer of thermal concrete is done
After a thorough clean of all surfaces the place was ready for tiling. Here's a photo of the new tiles. In the meantime doors and windows were installed so we had to be extra careful in order not to damage the aluminum systems. It is starting ton look like a home now....!
I recently proceeded in redesigning the living room after a looooong session between me and Vicky (design circle.... well I've lost count....) Here are the final renderings so I am now planning the crews to start working on it.
I started to extrude white volumes in order to initiate a shadow game since all surfaces will be white. I then added more volumes made of wood in natural color and in a light beige tone. The look is completed by adding natural stone in beige to add warmth and texture and some Matisse paintings in blue just to show off...
In order to ''break'' the near white canvas that is created, colorful decoration and books will be added and everything will pop out in a controlled manner. The general concept is a retro - collonial chic style with ethnik influences as the majority of decoration will have an ethnik touch
More photos to come from the completion of the bathrooms and the living room...
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| The gap between the slab and the sliding door will be filled with a fillet of marble and a special silicon-based filler in order to neutralize the slab's expansion when the floor heating is on |
I recently proceeded in redesigning the living room after a looooong session between me and Vicky (design circle.... well I've lost count....) Here are the final renderings so I am now planning the crews to start working on it.
I started to extrude white volumes in order to initiate a shadow game since all surfaces will be white. I then added more volumes made of wood in natural color and in a light beige tone. The look is completed by adding natural stone in beige to add warmth and texture and some Matisse paintings in blue just to show off...
In order to ''break'' the near white canvas that is created, colorful decoration and books will be added and everything will pop out in a controlled manner. The general concept is a retro - collonial chic style with ethnik influences as the majority of decoration will have an ethnik touch
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| The electrical board and the central heating control units will be covered with wooden panels that will allow access when needed. The carpenter is already in a lot of trouble.... |
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| A bioethanol fireplace adds the presence of fire in the living room and adds even more of the desired warmth. |
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