From Chianti to Brunello Tuscan wines to taste this summer

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From spotting wild elephants in Udawalawe National Park to experiencing one of the world’s most beautiful train rides, Sri Lanka is the new must-go destination.

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It began as a four bedroom semi detached Victorian house in Hertfordshire. Indoors, the kitchen was dark and disconnected from the living spaces and the conservatory was cold and under utilised. The homeowners enlisted the help of an architect to totally transform the space.

By their very nature of being underground, basement ideas lack light. But with the help from the professionals – and in this case, introducing a glazed wraparound extension – you can transform the dark and dingy to light and bright.

The glazed wraparound extension

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

‘Bringing natural light into the property presented a great challenge,’ explains Christine Peever from Sheldon Peever Architects. ‘The south facing flank wall faces directly onto the street, so the option of adding windows was limited in order to prevent overlooking. The solution to bringing in more natural light was to install rooflights.’

‘The first large rooflight,’ continues Christine, ‘was positioned in the side return extension following a similar footprint to the existing conservatory. It’s shielded from direct sunlight, which greatly increases light levels while reducing any potential solar gain.

A smaller extension was also added with a thin strip of frameless glass to the south elevation of the house. This arrangement gave us the opportunity to raise the ceiling height in these new extensions, enhancing the sense of space and light.’

‘Smaller windows to the south elevation provide natural light to the existing stairwell and hallway,’ adds Christine. ‘They also frame views of the new external landscaping. The back of the house has glazing wrapped around which allows the internal spaces to fully open up onto the garden.’

The new extension

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

In the new wraparound glazed extension, sliding doors open up around the corner eliminating the need for bulky rails. Flush thresholds and opting for the same flooring throughout creates a seamless relationship between the indoor and outdoor zones.

Inside the property, the glazing was designed to go up to ceiling height. This maximises light coming into the space. The light coloured limestone kitchen flooring ideas reflect the light in this north facing garden and compliments the rendered finish to the external walls.

The kitchen diner

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

A glazed roof floods the kitchen with natural light, but being north east facing ensures the space will not overheat. The light-coloured kitchen cabinets and flooring help to bounce light around the room. 

Crittall-style glazing in this area creates a different feel in the kitchen from the rest of the space. This can be useful in large open plan spaces as a tool to zone spaces.

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

The position of the two rooflights provide a contrast to the natural lighting of the overall space. The rooflight over the kitchen adds height to the space and floods the kitchen with ambient natural light.

The glazing on the rear creates a direct visual and physical relationship with the garden that it previously lacked. The use of light coloured flooring, and kitchen cabinetry lightens this subterranean space.

The kitchen area

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

They homeowners specifically chose a frameless roof light in the kitchen. This was to introduce the largest area of glass possible to maximise the sunlight from the south elevation. The top light provides diffused lighting to this section of the room and as the roof light is positioned higher than the ceiling it is hidden from view.

By positioning this roof light higher up it protects the room from direct solar gain in the summer months but provides beautiful diffused light throughout the year. They decided against windows here due to the position of the level of the street and overlooking issues.

The coloured tiled kitchen splashback idea provides a pop of colour to an otherwise neutral colour scheme. The timber worktop to the island gives a feeling of warmth against the neutral colours scheme. The neutral kitchen colour scheme contrasts with the sharpness of the black framed glazing.

The extension glazing

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

Flush thresholds create a better flow and blur the line between indoors and outdoors. They designed the glazing to open up from the corner to create a seamless relationship with the different outdoor spaces. The use of the same flooring in the outdoor spaces blurs the indoor outdoor boundary and makes the interior feel bigger.

The glazing goes all the way up to the ceiling to make the space feel bigger and reinforce the concept of blurring the boundary with the outdoors.

The property before works began

Image credit: FuturePLC/Chris Snook

Focus on: Sliding doors

Architect Christine Peever from Sheldon Peever Studio gives us the lowdown…

• Choose your number: Consider how many doors and tracks you want to install, bearing in mind there’s always going to be a percentage of the glazing that can’t open. For example, introducing four doors sliding on two tracks means a maximum of 50% of the area can be opened.
• Stay flush: Create flush thresholds as this makes a difference to moving between the indoors and outdoors. You will need to include some drainage along the flush threshold to drain rainwater away. This drainage can also be flush and either made a feature of or minimised visually.
• Stretch it up: Taking glazing to the ceiling elongates a space, maximises views out of the internal spaces and lets more light in.
• Go for slim frames: Consider using slim frames so that when the sliding doors are closed you will have as thin as possible frames and a more uninterrupted view to the outdoors. These types of systems are not as expensive as they once were.
• Aluminium is hassle free: Apart from cleaning out tracks and the threshold drainage every once in a while, aluminium sliding doors are maintenance free.

Additional words by Caroline Foster

The post See how a glazed wraparound extension adds space and light to this semi-detached basement appeared first on Ideal Home.

Looking for bathroom lighting ideas to change up your bathing space? You need to know your stuff when it comes to IP ratings explained. It’s all about the importance of bathroom electrical zones, so you can be sure that the lighting and fixtures you plan to use comply with safety regulations.

You may have your heart set on a bathroom pendant or bathroom wall lights but these bathroom lighting idea aren’t as appealing if they turn out to be dangerous! Jo Plant, head of design at Pooky says, ‘Personal taste and stylistic flourishes aside, the main thing to consider in a bathroom is always safety.’ That’s where the IP rating system comes in. It’s a guide to help you make sure that safety doesn’t become a matter of guesswork.

We’ll guide you through what the different bathroom electrical zones are, what IP ratings are and how they relate to bathroom electrical safety.

What is the IP rating chart?

Image credit: Future PLC/David Giles

Bathrooms by their nature are rooms that are going to get wet and where moisture is likely to be an issue. As everyone knows, exposing electrics to moisture is something that should be avoided, unless they’re designed to withstand it. There’s a system in place to make sure lighting and electrics are installed safely in such an environment. So, for IP ratings explained, lights and electrics are given an IP rating.

IP stands for ‘Ingress Protection’. Giuseppe Capanna, Product Safety Engineer at Electrical Safety First explains ‘An IP rating is a number applied to appliances or installation products relating to their level of protection against the ingress of water and or solid foreign objects.’

A standard IP rating is made up of two numbers. The first character, between 0-6, relates to the level of protection against solid foreign objects, like dust. The second number, between 0-9, tells you how much protection is offered against contact with moisture.

It can seem confusing, but once you have had IP ratings explained, it’s pretty self-explanatory. Put simply by Jo Plant, Head of Design at Pooky: ’The higher the number, the more resistant it is.’

What are the different zones in a bathroom?

Image credit: Future PLC/Simon Whitmore

Of course, not everywhere in a bathroom is exposed to the same amount water and moisture. Some places, like inside the shower or beside the bath are likely to get wet all the time. Other areas – such as above the sink – may only get occasional condensation. For IP ratings explained there are places in a bathroom where there will be very little or no contact with moisture at all. To reflect these differences, bathrooms are split into different IP zones.

ZONE 0

This covers the space inside a shower cubicle or basin or within a bath itself. In this area, any light fitting is likely to come into contact with or be submerged in water. Any fitting used in this bathroom zone must be low voltage (max 12V) and be rated at least IP67 which means it’s immersion proof.

‘Mains powered, that is. 240V products, should never be used in zone 0,’ explains Giuseppe from Electrical Safety First. ‘They are likely to be submerged and there is a much greater risk of electrocution.’

ZONE 1

This covers the walls in and above a shower, or the wall next to a bath. While these areas might not be submerged to the same degree as inside a bathtub or shower basin, they may still be exposed to significant amounts of water splashes and condensation.

ZONE 2

An area stretching out 60cm from a sink, bath or shower enclosure, as well as any area within 60cm of a washbasin or tap. This area covers places where there might be lighter or very occasional splashes or spraying of water.

ZONE 3

These are also known as ‘outside zones’. They cover any area that is not in contact with collecting water or exposed to water jets.

What IP rating should bathroom lighting be?

Image credit: Future PLC/David Parmiter

What lights are safe for bathrooms? ‘For most lighting in a bathroom – lighting mounted on the ceiling of a bathroom or recessed into the ceiling – there is generally no requirement for the lighting to be protected against the ingress of water,’ advises Giuseppe from Electrical Safety First.

This is as long as the ceiling or the light mounted on the ceiling is more than 2.25m above floor level. If the light doesn’t hang down below the 2.25m level, it does not have to be IP rated. ‘Although there is no requirement for the light to be IP rated, I would always recommend a rating of IP44’ says Giuseppe.

‘If a light is within 60cm from a sink, bath or shower enclosure – or in zone 2,’ explains Charlie Bowles, Director at Original BTC, ‘then choose a light rated IP44 or above to guard against spray and condensation. If further than 60cm from a bath or shower enclosure (un-zoned), you won’t need higher than IP20. If the lights will be located over or in the shower (zone 1), they’ll need to be at least IP55.’

Bathroom-specific lights will be labeled as such, along with their IP rating. ‘Our bathroom range is IP44 rated and suitable in zones 2, 3 and above,’ explains Niki Wright, founder of Lights&lamps.com. ‘A main ceiling light is recommended and flush lighting usually works best to stay within the zones. A statement wall light by a mirror or single pendants either side add an additional practical light as well as a considered design element.’

Where do you put a shaver socket in a bathroom?

‘Ideally a shaver socket should be located outside of the zones,’ says Giuseppe from Electrical Safety First. ‘However, they are allowed in zone 2; as long as they comply with BS EN 61558-2-5 and are installed where spray is unlikely to occur.’

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