MARRICKVILLE HOUSE 1

LOCATION – Marrickville / Sydney
YEAR – 2023
AREA – 220 sqm
CONSTRUCTION – 6 Months
PHOTOGRAPHS – Justin Alexander

SUMMARY

The house renovation in Marrickville was by necessity a strict exercise in material re-use. The strict project budget meant the majority of the material removed from the project was re-used either for a new use or restoring existing uses.

The original house was in poor condition and the existing layout needed major reconfiguration to maximise the site, building footprint and to meet current building standards. Existing timber floors and roof members were partially rotted, major cracks in the brickwork and roof tiles were not secure.

The works began by stripping the building to its bones and removing sections of the existing house that needed reconfiguration. The generous site area allowed for existing materials to be stored, cleaned and made good for re-use in the new works.

Every brick that came out of old house was cleaned, washed and re-layed for new walls. Existing brickwork had old render removed and painted white as a marker of what was original and existing while new walls were built with re-used bricks and left raw as a marker for new work. Likewise, timber was re-used in new floor and roof structures and in combination with new timber members to meet current standards. Other removed materials like roof sheet, old roof tiles where used in ground prep for new concrete slabs and ground retaining. The rubble generated in demolition was spread and compacted to form new site levels and sub structure preparation.

In addition to the re-use of existing materials, a major component of new works is laminated plywood which is used for all joinery, doors, internal wall cladding and some ceiling lining. A material which is developed from sustainable sources can in future also by easily re-used and re-purposed in countless ways.