Meeting The Renovation Builder On-Site
Our renovation builder and his team have started working on the site. He checked to see what the demolition has uncovered since the floor in the bathroom is rotted out and needs replacement.
Two Steel Beams Delivered and Ready To Install
The steel beams arrived and they are fairly substantial. These will be used in the open plan design:
- Rear wall – To support the roof where the 4-meter wide aluminium doors will be placed.
- Internal beam – To take out the kitchen wall, going right through to the laundry in the main living area
Have you listened to our podcast episode about our Class Renovation Project?
Here is the whole episode and article by Bernadette Janson.
LVL Timber Beams For More Ceiling Support: Laminated Veneer Lumber
Timber beams will be placed and they will use a member called an LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber). It makes it larger than any natural timber beam you could get. An LVL is laminated because it allows you to get larger sections and stronger support than what you could get otherwise.
Natural timber wouldn’t be available in those sorts of dimensions. You can get beams up to 300 to 400 millimetres deep, which you will not get in regular timber.
The Big Idea For Using Beams In The Reno Plan
No bulkheads across the ceiling is the goal.
In other words, there will be no step in the ceiling around the beams. The beams will be completely concealed up in the ceiling space and you’ll have a completely flush ceiling right through the whole area.
When this large living space opens up, it opens up the lounge, the kitchen and the dining area, and it will have a nice, clean and flat ceiling.
Our Reno Builder Will Create The Open-Plan Living Space
Working with the renovation builder, our plan is to create a more livable space by opening those three rooms up. We need to put a beam in to hold up the roof. Particularly as this roof is tiled, you need a solid beam in the reno plan to do that.
Right now we’ve ripped all the ceilings down and we’re going to be pushing the beam up into the ceiling space. So we’ll have a clear, clean line of sight.
Great Opportunity To Be Onsite After A Few Months
It’s great to be here to review the progress on the site and work directly with the renovation builder. It’s an important relationship to keep on-track. It’s also great to be here because it’s really hard to think about how things are going to work when you are not onsite.
We are about to order the stacker doors for the back of the house. We previously thought It wouldn’t work because of the positioning of the garage, which is not shown accurately on the site plan. Now we know we can make it all work, by getting accurate dimensions and discussing the install with the reno builder.
We are glad we have come to visit – we love the actual renovation. It’s really good to get the opportunity to come, touch, feel and imagine how beautiful it’s going to look. ~ Bernadette Janson
