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All completed work

The roof off. A storey added.

A villa in Brussels that had become too small. We took the roof off and built a full storey on top — with the house open underneath, so with a schedule in which weathertightness and pace were not wishes but conditions. Fourteen months later the finishing was done as well.

January–February 2022

Stripping out

Ceilings opened, screed removed. Under the plaster sat a reed-lath ceiling — the age of the house, visible on the day it came out.

  • A room with the ceiling taken down to the reed lath, and plaster rubble across the whole floor.
    Villa Brussels · Reed-lath ceiling stripped · 28.01.2022
  • The old roof structure exposed, with a stack of insulation against the gable.
    Villa Brussels · Old roof structure · 01.02.2022

February–March 2022

Structure

First the reinforcement on membrane at ground level, two weeks later the mesh deck of the new upper floor. What goes in here never comes out again: it is the phase that shows least and decides most.

  • Reinforcement mesh over building membrane, with an armed trench in formwork running along the edge.
    Villa Brussels · Reinforcement on membrane · 19.02.2022
  • Reinforcement mesh laid over the beam-and-block deck of the new upper floor.
    Villa Brussels · Floor reinforcement · 05.03.2022

March–April 2022

Roof off, new roof on

The old roof off, with the house open underneath. Seventeen days later the battens were up on the new roof structure, and by early April the tiles were on.

  • Open roof structure with trusses, purlins and a masonry chimney.
    Villa Brussels · Old roof off · 14.03.2022
  • Counter battens and tiling battens on the sarking, aerated-block gable.
    Villa Brussels · New roof structure · 31.03.2022
  • The new roof from below: tiled roof half laid on treated battens, with a roof window, a glulam beam and a steel lintel above an aerated concrete wall.
    Villa Brussels · Tiles on the new roof · 01.04.2022
  • New tiled roof with roof window and aluminium verge profile.
    Villa Brussels · New tiled roof · 02.04.2022

May–June 2022

Services and finishing

The floor structure in the attic, underfloor heating across the whole floor, the stair poured. The layer between shell and finish, where most of the decisions are made.

  • Attic with plastered slopes and roof windows, and an open floor structure of timber joists bearing on a steel beam.
    Villa Brussels · Attic floor structure · 19.05.2022
  • Underfloor heating loops across the full floor of a room, with a ribbon window behind.
    Villa Brussels · Underfloor heating laid · 20.06.2022
  • Raw cast concrete staircase with cantilevered treads.
    Villa Brussels · Staircase cast · 23.06.2022

July 2022 – September 2023

The outside, finished

The facade stood in July 2022, more than a year before the inside was done. The solar panels sit on the roof structure put up in March 2022.

  • Finished facade in yellow brick, with arched windows, dark grey external joinery and a black tiled roof with a gable.
    Villa Brussels · Facade finished · 16.07.2022
  • The new roof with solar panels and roof windows, above the brick facade.
    Villa Brussels · Roof with solar panels · 13.09.2023

13 September 2023

As it is now

All photographed on a single day, between 13.43 and 14.03: bathroom, kitchen, hall, stair and room.

  • Bathroom finished entirely in marble, with a walk-in shower behind glass and a shuttered window.
    Villa Brussels · Bathroom after handover · 13.09.2023
  • Kitchen with walnut fronts, composite worktop and sink.
    Villa Brussels · Kitchen · 13.09.2023
  • Chandelier beneath a wooden ceiling medallion, with the marble stair behind a glass balustrade.
    Villa Brussels · Hall after handover · 13.09.2023
  • Finished marble staircase with glass balustrade on stainless point fixings.
    Villa Brussels · Staircase finished · 13.09.2023
  • Finished room with marble floor, indirect ceiling lighting and two windows onto greenery.
    Villa Brussels · Room finished · 13.09.2023

The site log

Fourteen months, day by day

The dates below come from the EXIF data of the site photographs. They were not reconstructed afterwards: every line is a day on which photographs were taken.

Site log

  1. 25.01.2022

    Survey and measurement

  2. 28.01.2022

    Ceilings and screed stripped

  3. 19.02.2022

    Reinforcement

  4. 02.03.2022

    Steel structure, ground floor

  5. 05.03.2022

    Storey slab cast

  6. 12.03.2022

    Old roof stripped

  7. 14.03.2022

    New roof trusses

  8. 01.04.2022

    Roof closed

  9. 21.05.2022

    Staircase cast

  10. 20.06.2022

    Underfloor heating laid

  11. 13.09.2023

    Final state documented

Dates from the EXIF data of the site photographs.

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Before and after

The garden, before and after

Same viewpoint, same path. The dates are under the photographs.

Bare garden soil with a winding natural-stone path and visible service ducts.
Villa Brussels · Garden before · 28.01.2022
The garden seen from the upper floor: lawn, winding natural stone path, hedges and a garden shed.
Villa Brussels · Garden after · 01.06.2022

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