Kauri character and a master bedroom oasis
The renovation of this 100-year-old villa in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby is part of the HRV Pure Invironment Project.
Downstairs in the basement master bedroom, the original windows and doors have been removed and the rear yard landscaped to provide a private courtyard.
A lack of a damp-proof course meant part of the rear wall needed to be removed and proper damp proofing installed.
The basement room prior to renovation works beginning.
In the upstairs open-plan living area, 60square metres of kauri flooring was sourced to provide a seamless floor throughout.
The ‘new’ kauri flooring integrated with the existing.
Real estate agent Antonia Baker from The Property Market is involved in the HRV Pure Invrionment Project and in the third of an on-going series she looks at the hunt to find kauri floorboards and turning the master bedroom into an oasis
The kauri floors are complete – but it was a battle.
Around 60 square meters of beautifully distressed and well worn kauri boards had to be found to match the original floor of the house in order to continue the 110-year-old timber theme throughout the living, dining and kitchen flooring area.
But while there was plenty of the greyer, swamp kauri around, there was a shortage of the older, vintage variety with dings, scrapes, and treated bora holes that give them character.
However, after much searching by Freedom Flooring, the Albany-based company managed to find enough kauri boards to stretch the length of the house at 45 Lincoln St in Ponsonby.
Although not as beaten up and aged as designer and project manager Zayne Francis would have liked, he says they will come up looking authentic and in keeping with the era of the house.
And now that the upstairs floorboards are finished the lads from New Dimension Construction have moved downstairs where the new master bedroom is located.
It’s possibly one of the most difficult parts of the renovation because the design objective is to create an oasis even though it is effectively in the basement of the house.
The plan is to install two sets of French doors to let in the all-day sun; and even more key to opening up the space was excavating the backyard and taking out two large trees that shaded the area. The ground was dropped more than half a meter, down to the original level with the doors opening out on to a private paved area and lawn.
However, one of the first jobs was to address dangerous moisture levels in a corner of the room which was in contact with the ground outside and had not been water proofed properly. A nasty black-looking mould, had started to form in the corner because of the dampness coming in from outside.
Instead of patching up the affected area the whole wall has been taken out, a concrete wall built and extensive waterproofing installed before the inside wall is rebuilt.
Meanwhile, in the downstairs bathroom condensation used to drip off the lamp shade and down walls, and as a result it had mould and dampness issues. But it will be fitted with a HRV Vortex wet area extractor fan to stop these issues.
It’s these sorts of improvements, along with the addition of HRV’s most advanced ventilation, heating and cooling products throughout the house, and the company’s innovative whole-home water filtration system, that are key to the HRV Pure Invironment Project, which is about demonstrating how to create a healthy and liveable home.
Once the project has been completed the property will be sold by The Property Market at an on-site auction on May 18.
To follow the renovation and view the house go to hrvhouse.co.nz, which redirects to a special Trade Me page and dedicated You Tube channel and check back on ArchitectureNow for ongoing updates.
