Intro
Table of Contents
Cottage Deep Retrofit - This article is part of a series.
The cottage #
This cedar-clad cottage was built in 1989 by a business called Super Rooms. The floorplan is 4.8m by 3.0m with truncated front corners. It is one room with a small ensuite.
It has a suspended timber floor, a “flat” metal roof at 2ยบ, and cedar weatherboard cladding.
Here is a photo of the inside. The original carpet was removed after a water leak; instead the plywood beneath was simply painted. Also the walls were painted white; previously they were raw plywood.
Here is the ensuite. The exhaust fan on the wall (opposite shower) hardly works at all. Mould is a problem.
The cottage is uncomfortable in hot and cold weather. (A previous resident recalls having to “break the ice on the toilet in the morning”.) Insects are a persistent problem: they get in at various wall, window, floor, and ceiling junctions.
Plan #
Time to bring the cottage into the modern era. Protection from outside conditions. That means serious insulation in the roof, floor, and walls, and well-performing windows. To vanquish mould in the bathroom: a good exhaust fan, and clay plaster to regulate humidity.
To shelter the building from summer sun and rain, the new roof would extend 600mm eaves to the front and sides. New posts and beams would help support the bigger and thicker roof.
