Seven-bedroom new build on Dowen Hill Avenue, Croydon
Our biggest house to date: a 1950s four-bed replaced with a seven-bedroom home, built on clay that had been heaving after mature trees were felled.
- Project
- Demolition and new build
- Location
- Croydon, CR0
- Build time
- 30 weeks
- Size
- Seven bedrooms, seven en-suites
The ground was the challenge
Some mature trees had been taken down before we arrived, and the blue clay underneath was swelling and lifting the old house. Build straight onto that and you're asking for cracks within a couple of years. So the footings went very deep, with an anti-heave system to stop the clay pushing the new structure around. A lot of structural steel went in, including a full steel roof structure, all to our structural engineer's design.
The house
Once the 1950s four-bedroom house was down, we built a seven-bedroom home in its place. Every bedroom has an en-suite, and there's a family bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and bidet. Downstairs there's a cinema room, a sauna, a big utility room and an open-plan kitchen-diner under a large roof lantern, so the room is full of daylight. The lounge has a feature fireplace and two sets of aluminium bi-folds out to the garden.
Other bits the owners asked for:
- A 600-litre marine fish tank built into the ground floor
- Underfloor heating and a sound system throughout
- A 300-litre Megaflo hot water system
- A garage big enough for two cars and three motorbikes
- Smooth render to the outside
The whole job took 30 weeks.
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