5th July 2003 - The 'demolition' has started!

Kelvin has started the long awaited demolition! Gary (farm worker) dropped the farm trailer down into the driveway for us to fill up with 'burnable' rubbish. The farmer has kindly agreed to let us burn the flammable stuff and has somewhere we can get rid of lots of rubble therefore saving us money on hiring skips. Kelvin's Dad has been clearing wood from the top of our garden (not sure where the wood came from in the first place!) and that has been loaded up in the trailer now. Kelvin spent this afternoon removing doors, skirtings, architraves and bannisters! (The stairs are definately unsafe now!). A bit worrying electricity wise was when Kelvin pulled down the architrave in the dining room and the ceiling light came on ..... with the light switch in the off position! Mmmmm very worrying. Hopefully on Monday the electricity is going to be completely disconnected. If the dining room is anything to go by the rest of the house could be incredibly dodgy!

6th July 2003 - Windows measuring.

The carpenter who is making our front windows came out today and took all the measurements needed. He is only making the three front ones (lounge, our bedroom and spare room). We have gone for hardwood sliding single glazed sash to keep in with what is already there.

10th July 2003 - Building regulation plans at last!

We went to meet with the architect today and inspected the building regulation plans. We are very impressed with what the architect has drawn, they are very comprehensive and cover everything. The amount of detail included is amazing and nothing is left to the imagination! They are being submitted to the council tonight and from the middle of next week the builder is able to start!

Week beginning 14th July 2003

Kelvin took this week off work to demolish anything that stood still long enough! He has removed 1) the wall between the lounge/hallway, 2) the wall under the stairs, 3) the wall beneath the dining room/hallway, 4) the kitchen (yippee!) and 5) the bathroom (WAHAY!!!!!). All rubble has been dragged through the house, loaded up on the trailer and duly carted away. The space in the house is amazing - I cannot believe the difference!

This was the first wall to start being removed - the one between the lounge and the hallway.

 

Lounge - Kelvin knew there were alcoves either side of the fireplace so he knocked the walls down and it was quite surprising how big the alcove near the window is. We decided that the fireplace would be removed and we would see what was behind the wall. After chipping some of the wall away it turns out there is a fantastic Inglenook behind the wall with a massive, perfectly straight granite lintel. Kelvin has removed all of the wall plus all the rubble/bricks/granite etc that had been used to block the fireplace up originally!

Dining room - We knew there was at least one alcove by the fireplace as it had been used as a cupboard - we were going to have it turned into an airing cupboard with a radiator in the bottom. Kelvin started removing the fireplace but couldn't find the lintel, however, when removing bits of wall to the left he found it! Very strange the lintel is to the side of the fireplace rather than being in the centre! Kelvin is now going to remove the fireplace and the old cupboard making a large alcove and is turning the area under the lintel into an airing cupboard (a huge one!). Kelvin also removed the 'false' wall that had been built over the original granite wall which separated the lounge from the dining room. This also gained a few extra inches!

Kitchen - The kitchen came down fairly easily although the roof part of it wasn't as obliging. Kelvin removed the walls first in the hope the roof would fall down but it didn't! It has been taken down now though.

The kitchen meets it's end!

Bathroom - This was the room I couldn't wait to see come down - it was sooo satisfying knowing that there is no way it can be used as a toilet any more!! It was very hard work removing the blocks as the walls were very thick.

 

The floors in the dining room and the old bathroom have to be lowered - this will now be left to the builders to do as Kelvin has run out of time! We cannot believe how the rooms seem to be increasing in size - the lounge and dining room look huge and I really can see the potential for when we move back.

25th July 2003 - THE BUILDERS HAVE STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woke up this morning and the rain was pouring down - figured we wouldn't be seeing the builders at all today! However, after a phone call to Kelvin it appears they were going to the house at 11.30am to start! They have started clearing the garden where the kitchen is going to be. All was going well until ...... they hit the mains water pipe! Good start (not!). Brents were duly called out (service agents for South West Water) and it has turned out quite well, when we are ready they are coming out to relocate the mains water pipe and update it as it is very old.

July - a conclusion

At last something is going on, now the builders have started it gives us immense pleasure to see bits coming down and hopefully next months walls going up! Kelvin worked very hard all week knocking down walls and removing rubble, I wouldn't have thought it possible to achieve so much in four days. We are very pleased with the way the alcoves and lintels turns out in the lounge and dining room, the rooms have both increased in size quite dramatically and of course all space is gratefully received. Lauren is very excited and quite taken by the builders and loves to stand and watch them (safely of course!) and has decided that she wants to be a builder when she grows up (different!). Onwards to August and hopefully more to be reported...