Purchasing & Renovating a BISF House - Help Needed.

Great set of pictures Ed, your project definitely deserves a page of its own.

It's very interesting to see inside the walls, do you have a picture of the boards you removed?

I've also started to wreck my BISF house and it would seem my walls are completely different to yours. The upstairs walls to the outside of the building are not plasterboard as I originally thought, instead they are a thick compressed straw material that looks like a real fire hazard. Unfortunately that means it doesn't seem to have studwork like your house, which will mean more work & expense when re-boarding and insulating.

On a positive note, the previous owners had the upper level of the property covered in uPVC cladding which may well be insulated.

Will post a few pics on this page.

Hi Denton

They are a great set of images arn't they!

I'm surprised to hear you have fibreboard on the walls Denton, I Know it is often used on the ceilings of BISF house constructions but I've never heard of it on the walls.

Is it on the side wall of the staircase or on the party wall?

Hi all, here are a few pictures of my house. The upload function on bisfhouse.com doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment - a single image seems to take an infinite amount of time to upload.

Here is the original unit above the staircase:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/851/20120309...

This is a picture of an exterior wall:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/24/201203111...

The little room at the front was going to be a spare bedroom, but the project has snowballed. Now I'm going to scrap the spare bed and turn the room into a 'dressing room'. It will make use of a wasted room, remove the 'comfort' from my friends' stop-overs and allow me to remove both wardrobes in the master bedroom (I planned to replace both wardrobes with a large and modern sliding unit, concealing a TV attached to the chimney breast). Attaching a television to anything attached to the party wall isn't ideal due to noise.

Here's what I want to do:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/bisflittl...

Here is the other side of my staircase, I'll replace the supporting pieces I've removed -
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/20120311...

Dropping through the above by accident would be painful to say the least.

Here is the corner, you can see an upright for the wardrobe in this pic:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/190/20120311...

JC

Thanks Marc, that's fine! I have made a few changes as I went along, so I might need to change a few things or just say in the post where I have changed from my original plan.

In case you're wondering, I used an ultra-wide angle lens to fit everything in but it does make the room look enormous.

Thanks Denton! I didn't take photos of the board I removed as it was just ordinary hardboard, identical to the stuff you can buy today with a shiny front and rough patterned back (it said made in Canada actually).

I'll take photos of the ceiling board when I get some down as it's more unusual, it's low density fibreboard, so quite a bit thicker and softer and spongier than the hardboard.

Your drawers in the small bedroom are identical to mine right down to the handles, but I don't have a cupboard underneath, though it looks as though there is little room in there.

Thanks Ed I did wonder how you got all the room in the frame, I struggle with my mine as it has a large telephoto lens and not at all good for room shots.
I will try out a small compact that I had for Christmas and see how it goes.

That's a really strange material Denton, I've never seen anything like it. It's not at all like the LDF on the upstairs ceiling of my house either. Can you tell what it is? Could it actually be straw or is it wood shavings?

It looks very much like straw although it appears to be compressed together making for a strong wall. Ill try to remember my camera tomorrow and get a clearer picture.

Hi all, got a bit more done on the house today. Just woodwork and decoration type stuff at the moment. Most of the little room is now papered in 2000 grade lining paper painted in magnolia & I've got some feature wall paper on order for the wall with the window (hopefully it will draw the eye from some of the defects on the walls).

I've never really worked with wood so this is a bit of a first for me. I managed to get the door test fitted to see how it works & apart from the bit of wood it's attached to being as straight as a dog's hind leg, it seems to work.

What do you guys think of the structure so far? Do you think there are any improvements I could make at this point?

I still need to add a few support pieces to the partitions either side of the door opening to support the fascia. Hopefully that will be done tomorrow so the decorating can be finished

Here's a picture of my loft area. Once again it's different to your BISF house Ed. Notice the welding rod poking up through the ceiling? I was trying to find something solid to screw through to but unfortunately it would seem the joists up there are thick but very far apart.

Hi Denton
I'm amazed at how quick your project is developing, it's looking really good. I'm just on my way out of the office for most of the day but I hope to have a good look through your images later. The straw in the cavity is a first for me, I did wonder if it was nesting mateial but you say it's very thick. I know straw has been used in the past for insulation because it has good insulation properties but I have never seen it used in a BISF house.

I think your project could also do with a page of its own so that it is easier to track your progress, that's if you don't mind.
I should be able to sort it out on my return tonight.

Hope you have another productive day!

Marc