Gordons Bay Project

This project was to be a new kitchen and dining add on to the entrance ground floor level of about 2.7m x 7m.

After closer inspection the external walls of the home were founded on a good 5 m of sand whick overlaid a sloping rock bed.

 

Water had been running under ground over the years causing walls to sink and crack. A number of bodgee repairs had been carried out over the many incarnations of this of this building which had been part of the original Banker Gordons estate in the days when it was quicker to take a boat from the back door to Sydney cove as opposed to riding a horse direct.

To be sure there was going to be no further subsidence of existing walls it was necessary to underpin these. As such it was decided that a screw pier underpinning slab was the best solution to handle this problem at the same time adding further function to the place as this space could now be used as an external shower area. Getting into it ! You can see what a screw pier looks like here. This is one of the advantages of an early morning start.....the million dollar view..Getting slab ready to pour

Pump getting set up for pour.

 

Slab poured

Bricking up to support the wall

Steel frame being erected.

Floor framing taking place

View from under floor..timber joists painted for extra protection

Kitchen walls ready to be knocked out.

 

Wall framing happening

 

Roof framing

Extra Steel beam going in to support existing over flexed beams.

Existing beam ends cut off and replaced with supporting plates as these were totally corroded in the brickwork.

Internal beams fixed in place before the rest of brick wall is demolished for safety

Three layers of construction here...ceiling , old roof, newer deck which had leaked

unchecked except for the doggist in ceiling guttering and leak trays.

Leak trays with hoses...boy that deck must have been a leak night mare to go to the effort to build an in ceiling leak catch system.

Copper guttering rotted away..the sea side is a harsh environment...forget colorbond...stainless the only way to go.

More dodgee workmanship of the worst kind....under strength framing leading to dangerous deflections.

Proping the ceiling framing up so we can get some extra support in there with metal angles.

Inserted angles of steel

Old beams and new beams...quite a trick to get them in without fracturing upstairs glazing over head whilst jacking them up with hydraulics

Kitchen going in

Starting to take some shape

Concrete cancer...a devil by the sea

Dissecting some cancer from the deck edge as an affordable solution to replacement.