Demolition Derby

Today was an early start for a day of demolition (early start due to bathroom being delivered at 8am, how early?!)

Chris started on the front bedroom where he removed the skirting boards trying to save as much wall as possible. On his travels around the room he unearthed an original fireplace, shame it wont be kept tho as its not in the centre of the chimney breast :o(

Original off-centre feature

Moody arty shot (nice floors!)

Jac worked on the bathroom and continued the demoliton work she started a few weeks ago. Back to brick! Still a fair bit to do still but definitely getting there.

Like father like daughter again!

and again!

Winter wonderland

It snowed here and Jac got giddy...

Weekend update

Well things are getting a little more there now. Gaz came round again and him and Chris have now finished plasterboarding the ceilings of the bedrooms. That and the new windows being installed means we're just a few small tidy up jobs away from replastering them.

This weekend saw the electricians come round to rewire the upstairs with a first fit on the sockets and lights, as well as fitting a new fuseboard. It meant we got to have a nosey under the floorboards for the first time, 'citing...!




This means that the next big job is really just the bathroom. The new suite is being delivered this week, but still a little way off getting the room ready for it. Well, we say a little way off, we really mean it needs gutting and rebuilding yet.

New Windows!!

This week saw windows phase 1 completed. Front living room, front bedroom, back bedroom and bathroom. All looking good, 4 windows down, 10 to go!

Front windows


Bathroom window

Just one last thing...anyone know where we can get our hands on a dozen 1935 engineering bricks :o)

Bleeding radiators!

It's (probably) the biggest double radiator in the world at over 8ft long and took over 3 bowls to empty.

Pyrex, not just for pies

The rebuild starts, but the demolition continues...

End of the third weekend and Saturday saw us call in the favours of our friend Gaz for the first round of plaster boarding duties. Myself and Gaz started on the front bedroom ceiling - Jac's a bit gutted she can't help here, but we're both 6 foot+ and she's only a short arse who can't even touch the ceiling (on steps!).

The rebuild...

She made up for it though by making a start on getting the tiles off the bathroom walls...

Looking good, but safety first!

We only left her alone for a short while and look what happens...did I mentioned her dad is a demolition man...

Like father like daughter

Another find!

Today Jac found a surprise lurking in the very back of the airing cupboard! Behind many rolls of old old wallpaper was a roll of old newspapers. After carefully unrolling them we found a selection of memorial issues from most of the major newspapers covering the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in January 1965. They all seem to be in pretty good condition, they just need carefully flattening out and storing.

Pics to follow...

Three Strippers

Well it's the 2nd weekend of work on the house. Jac's dad Norm' came along with his steamer and him and Jac both got a start on the upstairs of the house. I spent most of Saturday working on the front bedroom, knocking back more of the loose plaster around the crack and ridding the ceiling of its polystyrene tiles - which incidentally were glued and pinned in place, meaning after the tiles came down I had about 300 pins to remove by hand :o(

Some of Norm's handy work

Some of Chris's handy work

Some of Jac's handy work

This weekend we also had 'Phil The Builder' come round and look at the crack in the wall in the front bedroom/bathroom. He has given it a "yeah, it's no problem" so good news there. He's going to do a bit of work replacing some bricks and interlocking them again to re-strengthen it before it can be plastered over the top and forgotten about.

All in all a good weekend. Pretty much the whole upstairs stripped and the big worry over the wall relieved a little.