As with all renovations, you have to start somewhere! Our step one is the balcony.
Below is a photo of the front windows of our lounge (ie between lounge and balcony). We don't know how old the windows are but the house was built in the early 1950's so it is possible they are that old. The glass in them is 3mm thick which would be illegal if you were now building a house and they aren't safe for our dogs, who jump against them while chasing flies. Not only that but across this 8m stretch, we only have one (very normal) door to access the balcony.
So we have just had a quote to replace these with bi-fold doors that will fold back all the way across to the far side of this picture but we will also be able to simply open one door, the way we do now. They will also have rolling fly screen doors (which sadly, have to meet in the middle).
The reason these are step one? Because the installation of these doors could damage the balcony tiles or lounge floors and both need repairs-we might as well cause any new damage then repair both at the same time. The cost of these doors is approximately $12,000 Australian.
The current problem? Each door will weigh 42kg and there will be about 8 of them and almost all bi-fold doors carry their weight on the top. We have asked an engineer to come by and see what support is above these windows currently and test whether the support (we are hoping there is a steel beam) already in place, can handle 400-500kg of bi-folding doors! If not, we will need to retro-fit before the windows can be ordered and then wait 4-6 weeks for window manufacture.
If you look above our balcony, you see this kind of...pagoda? It is a wooden structure that my MIL put in place (my husband assures me the house looks better with something there so we will need to replace it). I am not sure how many years it has been there (possibly up to 20) but it is now leaning forward. In this picture that means it is leaning towards the right of the photo. It could theoretically fall off and land on a car/person down on our driveway so we've found someone to take it down. He will level it off at the height of the balcony railing/balustrade. His price is $800 and could be done any time, we're waiting to hear when he is free.
We have a few issues to work out in regards to the balcony. Where the pagoda joins the house, is a poorly placed rain gutter. TWICE in its life, it has let water back into the house and caused about $8000 of damage to our wood flooring each time. So we need to find a way of roofing over this balcony that creates a peak (as mentioned above, it suits the house) but draws water further AWAY from the house.
We are planning to acid wash these tiles (as they are still firmly grouted) and tile over the top with a tile that isnt porous nor slippery. To do this properly, the balustrading needs to come off but it is very dangerous to have it off for long (dogs, cats or children could fall off and there is a one story drop to concrete below). So we need to get the tiling and balustrade replaced at the same time (or as close together as possible). But there is one other issue. Right behind where I am standing, is exactly the same as the far end of the balcony you can see. Two panes of balustrade. At the end behind me, we will be putting in a gate instead, because it will soon lead down two steps to our new (soon to go in) pool. So we can't do the tiling/balustrade until we have the plans back from our pool engineer so we know what kind of gate we need there (pool gate/any kind of gate?). Those plans were due in two days ago but haven't arrived.
Are you beginning to see how renovations work? LOTS of timing issues! So let me summarise this post in the way I see this should be happening:
- Structural engineer to assess whether bi-folds can go in the existing support or if we need to retrofit a beam
- (maybe) retrofit beam
- Order bi-fold windows for the lounge (will be Jarrah-a dark red hard wood)
- Pool engineering plans arrive and we: 1. check what kind of gate we need on the end of the balcony and 2. send pool plans to council for approval
- Remove overhead pagoda
- Remove balcony balustrade
- Acid wash and re-tile the balcony
- Replace balustrade with (pool?) gate
- Repair lounge floors (damaged from last gutter leak)
This is the downstairs area of our house. The wood is Jarrah so I'm sharing it with you to give you an idea of the wood we will be using up above it on the second story (for the bi-folds).
