Reclaimed Timber

Reclaimed wood is a processed wood prepared for a subsequent amount of use, and can be used over and over again depends on the condition of the wood. The part that has finished its life can be easily degraded.

The practice of using reclaimed wood as a building material started in the United States of America ages ago because it was strong, present in an abundant amount, and relatively inexpensive. Longleaf pine played a huge role during the period of the industrial revolution, many factories and warehouses were built using that wood.

Other earlier structures used redwood and chestnut blight, and even after dismantling of those structures in recent times, those reclaimed wood were welcomed for different uses.

Reclaimed wood possesses many properties some of which are,

·       Strength

·       Quality

·       Unique Appearance

·       Durability

Industry

The practice of reusing wood is quite old but the industries for reclaimed lumber gained the momentum in the 1980s mostly and since then it has been growing as environmental concerns play an important role in the modern world in the construction sector.

The world is slowly moving towards the green construction practices and wood especially plays an important role in that because of its durable qualities and abundancy in existence.

Reclaimed Wood Council, that is a trade association of reclaimed lumber was established in May 2003 but dissolved soon in early 2008 because of the lack of participation among the distributors.

Recently the certain industry was valued at USD 11.22 billion in 2017 in the global market and its ease of availability and properties just show the growth in the market in the future. The majority of the wood is regained from the old constructions and those contractors owe a huge part to the increasing demand for reclaimed wood.

The above bar chart justifies the statement of future growth of this industry plus it shows that where these lumbers are mostly used in construction, flooring, and furniture occupies the bigger parts in that.

The drastic increase in usage of the reclaimed timber is mostly due to reducing the carbon footprint of the toxic materials which are either very hard  to recycle or can’t be recycled at all, which ends up in the landfill and due to their no bio-degrading properties can be harmful for the environment.

But when it comes to timber the resources can be limited to some extent because the industry is highly dependent on the demolishing activities that are leading to higher uncertainty in the growth. The easier and simpler solution for this will be artificial forests to attain more wood in the future.

 In early 2017, the furniture industry emerged as the second-largest application segment. There was a high demand by the consumers especially for furniture including chairs, tables, and cabinets mostly.

Average graded lumber can be used for paneling mostly, although they further need treatments like weatherproofing etc. but can be very durable whereas, higher-grade lumber is mostly used for flooring and the best ones are used for furniture. The industry provides variety of options to the consumers in each department in terms of color, quality, application, and finish.

Nurse's Station

     Nurse’s station is the main hub of all activities in a hospital or nursing home. All the activities directly or indirectly intersects with the station.

     The station needs to be semi enclosed so there is a sense of privacy and work progresses in a neat and effective manner too. It should be considered a very important space in any care unit and should be considered part of patient care and a functional workspace too.

    It needs to centralized, so the best practice is to place a nurse’s station in the center of the space so it will be a part of flowing work at all time.

   Keeping it centralized have its pros and cons:

·       Pros:  As it being in the center of the space, it can be coinciding with different work routines and all the paper work can be neatly placed in it.

·       Cons: Due to its location it can be very noisy and can be annoying for the patients.

Belomont House (Condition Survey)

ROOMS

    

   Room placements in Georgian era was very proportional and symmetrical as trend of symmetry played a huge role in that period. That has been carried forward widely as this is highly appreciated by people of any age group. Belmont House have same features carried through the room as well and all the rooms are either square or rectangular in shape.

    Belmont House seems to be in a very good shape structurally, keeping its age in mind. It has aged fairly well and thanks to the building material that were being used during Georgian era.

     Even in modern age there is no proper replacement for stone or bricks when it comes to strength and these materials are still highly popular when it comes to the structure. The common finish used for the structure in Georgian era which was quite common in Victorian era as well was pebble dash and roughcast.

     Structure of the Belmont house is also finished in pebble dash which is quite rough and has very low impacts from the conditions that is the reason why, after decades the façade looks so clean and in good condition while the traces of age can be found by the woodwork present for example doors and windows.

                    

     The building inside has aged a lot and not in a shape at all wearing of all the woodwork is quite visible, but staircases seems to be in very good condition and most of them just need to be renovated and fixed.

                                 

    The main staircase shows the elaborative artwork of Georgian period and is still in great condition which need to be conserved and taken care of same is with handrails as well.

     The walls show a great amount of damages, the dampness and moulds a visible almost in most of the rooms. Over the ages, humidity, condensation has led to these conditions.

    

While renovating once the paint coat is scraped off the walls needs to fumingate thoroughly and disinfected as well, demoulder or bleach can be used to get rid of the mould permanently and finally a coat of paint over it.

    Moreover, due to the brickwork walls are quite porous which has led to the growth of different weeds in walls as well.

     This seems to be a one major task but luckily that’s the problem in only basement which can be taken care as whole building needs a renovation. The process is quite same as moulds but the use of different chemicals and herbicides is involved to get rid of them permanently.

     The floors and ceilings have deteriorated quite visibly over decades and need to be taken out throughout and installed in. It is some particular places which needs an attention whereas, rest can be renovated but needs to be taken out for the renovation purposes too and needs to be done plank by plank.

    The building materials that were used in the first place were high in quality based and so is the thing with wooden floor and ceiling as well. The wood is still standing strong after years and need to be re-installed and renovated which will be time consuming but less expensive then getting rid of entire thing.

     The door and windows which are in the building are not in a very shape the windows can be easily renovated but the outer door shows their ages due to weather effects but interior doors seems pretty fine and they can be easily renovated. Whereas most of the interior doors are missing but there are some present which help in replicating the same period design in the other doors.

                            

   The above images shows that door are in good condition and doesn’t need much attention and can be very helpful in replicating the missing ones in the building. As the other components and building itself the Georgian focuses on symmetry as well there can be an obvious pattern in the Georgian doors can be squares or rectangles.

    Some of the components in the house seems fairly newer than the other ones which means they have been replaced, renovated or altered during the period.

    The windows in the building seems pretty new considering that how old the building is and the metal frame seems to be in a pretty good shape.

Preserving Old Structure

MODERN AMENETIES

   

       Ensuring the building is able to support the modern repairs or modern features and it matches with the character of building otherwise it will just ruin the period structure. In this particular building the structure is standing strong, so only small amount of repairs are required from outside to the structure which should be matching period characteristics of the building.

       From inside the walls just need a simple plaster after the treatment and further on feature walls wallpapers should be installed from same period as we can still see the traces of them which can help a lot in replicating the same interior.

      Flooring needs to be removed and re fitted after restoring the same wood that will be the best in the Belmont house’s case as the flooring seems to be in good shape and mostly needs to be restored rather than changing entirely.                  

    Pictures above shows some good examples of addition of modern amenities in the old structure which doesn’t affect the character of the building and compliments its age as well.

CHARACTER OF BUILDING

   

    Retaining the character of the building is most important step as much inclusion of materials, things or elements can ruin that and destroy the look as well as character of the structure.

     Belmont House is period structure and will be renovated or restored in a nursing home building which can be bit tricky but easy as well, because the owners are looking to give elderly users a homely environment in a semi-private space. Thanks to the Georgian architecture there is enough space for every room and in my opinion nothing needs to be demolished or destroyed, after restoration the place can be made fit for the nursing home environment just by the help of interior designing it properly.

      All the rest amenities like laundry, sluice or medication storages should be moved in the basement and keep the character of the building alive by making it as homely as possible.

Treating Dampness

    Damp can be one of the major causes of deterioration of plaster or block masonry. It can badly hurt the physical appearance of the building as well. Due to dampness timber decay can occur as well, which is thoroughly used in the Belmont house structure. The decaying of timber can be visible most of the time but it needs to get rid of properly otherwise this can lead to unhealthy living environment for the occupants of the building.

    Electrical moisture meters are used to checked the dampness in any of the space which can then further be treated with the help of professionals.

     Old building must be allowed to breathe as most of them are made of solid stone walls or bricks without any usage of the damp proof course which helps in building up the dampness in walls, floor or ceilings.

     First step and the thing need to focus on most is allowing more ventilation to the building which will get rid of most of the dampness in the building further while renovation DCPs must be used throughout the structure for any further dampness in the building.

CONDENSATION

    

   Dampness may lead to condensation or mould if not taken care of in the first place which is the problem with Belmont house the two main reasons of the condensation are:

·       Surface Temperature

·       Increase in Moisture Level

    Getting rid of them permanently is what required and for that first step is damp proofing the structure further to prevent the structure from condensation and mould it need to have a cavity wall insulation, needs to be draught proofed and double glazing should be installed in the windows.

    The mould that is already present can be taken care of with disinfectants and demoulders to give the structure a nice and clean look.

     The easy way to prevent this in future are allowing to building to breathe and wall or installation of air vents can be very helpful for that as it is an old structure so it needs more of them. Extractor fans can be useful too in these conditions.

Chemical Room

    Chemical room in the nursing home is used to store all chemical equipment that is mostly used for sterilizing and cleaning of the place.

      Chemicals can be hazardous for the residents and visitors too, so it needs to be taken care of properly.

     Chemicals can enter the body and can cause serious damages, there are a number of ways which can make chemicals enter the body.

• inhalation: fumes might get in through breathing
• absorption: splash in the eye or through skin contact
• ingestion: can be contaminated food or hands
• inoculation: the use of needles when it penetrates the skin

  Chemical room need to be well built, insulated and far away from the activity region especially far away from the patients or the kitchen area.