Week 5 demolition goes on

Kitchen moves on with some setbacks - there was a brain-fail during installation of drawer handles that will require new drawer fronts. Annoying considering how much effort has gone in to getting the kitchen this far. Still, the chimney is down to ground floor level.

Karen is proved right again - the room does seem much wider than the 12 inches we gained.

K tries out the sun room during a sunny interval

I climbed up the scaffolding to get an idea of the view we will get from our bedroom - the windows should be here within two weeks! It is a stonking view. We have to wade through the next six weeks of pain to get our reward.

click to get full impression

Week 5 - more holes

The house is really being bashed around now, and we are having to move furniture daily to stay ahead of the work.

New door to the sunroom - one leaf of brick cut through. You can see the white blown-in cavity insulation and the boiler flue.

Our bedroom window cut through outer leaf - it's big!

Windows east and west are getting smaller

Chimney now down to the first floor

Needling above the bedroom window to allow the insertion of new (big) lintel

Family bathroom taking shape - Martin has tiled the walls and the bathtub is under the dropsheet. Paint job by yours truly.

Week 4 - Day 1

Things are moving apace, and Karen and I are trying to keep up.

Scaffolding is going up

EPDM seal for the WC waste pipe in the back bathroom - this will be plastered in and make an airtight seal

This rusted lintel will come out to allow the door height to be increased ( new wall under plastic)

Slightly mis-named "pinning" to hold the wall up when the old lintel comes out

Rose vs scaffolding.

Karen's mum rang and asked if Karen was in the garden. I said no, due to a heavy shower and other things going on indoors. I didn't realise that the climbing rose at the back corner of the house was in conflict with the scaffolding. We plan to train this rose back on to the portico over the kitchen door, so it is worth preserving as much as possible.

Week 3 - part 1

Backing up to last week, I sealed the plywood subfloor to the plaster walls for airtightness before the kitchen carcases went in. We will also tape the joints between the sheets of plywood. The floor will be dark slate.

Simon and Sean have been re-filling the big hole with the foundation walls of the porch and sunroom so you can get an idea of what they will be like - they will get a grey-green slate finish.