The K-Zone: A porch too far: Interior fitting

Nearly there now

Once the porch was watertight and there was a temporary floor in place, I could relax a bit, because most the rest of the work could be done even if it poured with freezing rain every day (which it did).

The interior fitting was pretty routine. The first job was to replace the existing exterior light -- a pretty feeble affair -- with a huge, bright, one up in the roof. Not only would that make the porch more practical in use, it would allow to work when it was dark (and it gets dark by about 4pm in November).

The porch is dry-lined with plasterboard mounted on relatively thin studs, to avoid reducing the interior size any more than necessary. Quite a lot of the plasterboard went to waste, because they boards were an inconvenient size compared to the size of the walls. But, happily, pasterboard is inexpensive. I fastened the boards to the studs using screws, rather than nails, so that I could screw them down below the level of the plaster. I did consider putting a thin skim of real plaster over the wallboards -- usually this is necessary -- but once I'd filled the screw holes and the gaps between the boards the finish looked pretty good already, so I didn't bother.
The walls are finished in washable, waterproof emulsion. This is expensive, but I've learned that any place where children take off their shows very rapidly ends up covered in mud, and I didn't fancy painting the porch again any time soon. So I think this was money well spent.

Finishing touches

Then it's just a case of installing the skirting board, interior window cill, and wooden trim around the door and window, and at the top edge of the wallboards which would otherwise be exposed. This is a straightforward, but unexciting, job. I also made custom shelving to store boxes of hats and scarves, etc., and mount the coathooks, and a big wooden bench to sit on and store shoes in. But that's not really part of the construction job, so I won't bore you with the details.

Everything neat and tidy... so far

Approximate costs

Flourescent lamp and electrical parts	£100
Stud battens	£40
Wallboards	£30
Door and window trim	£20
Skirting board	£20
Plasterboard sealant	£20 (ouch!)
Washable emulsion pain	£20
Screws, nails, filler, and sundries	£20
Planed timber for fitted shelving	£20
Brassware (coat hooks, etc)	£20
Screws, nails, filler, and sundries	£20

Total	£330