More Demolition with family and friends

Today Saturday Feb 21st was a good day for those of the demolition persuasion.  The day started very will with the arrival of Simon who had volunteered for a day of torture.  We unloaded the already laden trailer of metal objects before we started to attack the upstairs rooms and landing.  We warmed up with the removal of several doors and frames, which did not want to give up easily.  I likened them to impacted wisdom teeth.  Simon and myself then then tackled the parquet flooring and the glued down carpet beneath.  Now if anyone out there can offer tips to easily remove carpet that has been glued down, then Simon and myself would like to know the secret.  The energy that we expended was apparent as we steamed like burley rugby players on a winters day.  Having removed the carpet in one room we broke for lunch, and were joined after lunch by Reggie and Benny.  Reggie was not content with scraping paper off the wall so she took to demolishing the remaining wall to be demolished.  She was very surprised to make such an impact, but we all know that she is a power frau.  Benny attacked the upstairs bathroom, reducing the wall to rubble and removing wall tiles.  Simon not to be outdone, then attacked the the stairwell with gusto.  I managed to remove the false ceiling in the bathroom towards the close of day revealing a lovely big wasps nest.  In summary.  A great day.  It is just amazing how much you can achieve when family and friends pitch in.  Thanks go to Simon and Benny.  

Update... No photo

Just a quick update.  No work this past week plus as a severe bout of bronchitis has put paid to any physical work.  This has not stopped the planning phase which is moving forward.  We met with the architect (who is impressing us) on Friday eve, and we discussed refinements to the plan.  

We have decided to locate the laundry into the cellar, which means a journey outside, and down some stairs.  This will require us to build an addition to the rear of the house to cover the journey.  This will then enable us to have a more luxurious guest room.

I now have a complete list of tasks to complete, before building begins in April.  This is essentially more demolition.

Reggie has been busy buying appliances for the kitchen.  We only require an extractor hood and an induction cook top, and we will be complete.  We have opted for a double drawer dishwasher which should be interesting.

On the logistics front, we have been informed that we can hook up the house heating system to the community network.  This is essentially a network of hot water pipes that run under the village.  This will cut down on expense and ensure we have a small unit in the house to feed the under floor heating.

We have also been told that we need to build a new sewer connection, which is a negative on one hand, but will ensure us problem free flushes in future.

Back Breaking

Do not be alarmed.  No one is injured. Today was a tough day.  Simon could not make it as he has come down with the flu.  Not surprising considering the cold weather we have had these past weeks.

Ilya arrived at 10.30 and Uwe soon after.  The goals today were to load the skip with all of the debris from the chunst.  Yes it will be finally gone.  The second goal was to demolish the wall between the laundry and guest room as well as the brick shower unit, and the third goal was to remove the upstairs combination boiler, cooker- sink unit. Reggie and Raphael supplied hot coffee and sandwiches.

Ilya tackled the upstairs unit on his own, and Uwe and myself tackled the debris.  We managed our component by 13.30 when we all knocked off for lunch.  Uwe had the bright idea to take the scrap metal to the scrap metal bin in village on the way to lunch.  This we did, and then settled into a lovely lunch (cooked by Reggie)of risotto veggies and stew on the menu.  After a couple of pain killers (glasses of wine) we headed back to work.

Ilya continued upstairs with great success and Uwe and myself continued with the demolition and debris removal tasks.  We all completed our jobs as the light started to fail. The skip holds 7 tons, and it is full to the brim.  We will sleep well tonight for sure.

A huge thanks to Ilya and Uwe.  And Simon.  Do not worry there is lots more to do.

Pre-Work Blog

No pic today.  Good news.  The trailer is now registered and should work hard over the coming months and years.  I have got some help again tomorrow with Iilya returning and Simon and Uwe getting involved.  

We have had a large skip delivered, and this should prove most useful when we load all of the stone and brick debris into it.

I look forward to posting new pics and details on this blog on Saturday.

A productive day

Today was a very good day.  Ilya (a friend) came around and offered his services. We decided to tackle the laundry, which entailed draining and removing the boiler, removing the bath, and demolishing the shower.  We achieved these tasks, along with removing the fitted cupboard and door plus its frame from the room which will become the guest bedroom.

I then started on the kitchen cupboards upstairs.  These I removed in quick time, and threw them down the stairs to soften them up.  IIya was busy in the kitchen.  We had some detective work tracing the plumbing back to the mains, but after some time we drained the kitchen boiler and removed the sink and boiler unit together.  

We are making sound progress, and next Saturday will allow us to remove the upstairs bath, and the stove and boiler unit.  This should leave our demolition tasks to rubbish removal and wood chopping.

Away with it

Well we are really getting on top of the huge green beast.  It really has been hard work, with the incredibly hard stones that have been baked even harder.  Another week or so and it should be gone.  We have decided to call in a skip, so that I can offload the rubble out of the window and directly into it.

It is incredible how the soot travels through your clothing turning everything black.  I managed to scare the neighbor when I returned home today.

Well what else has happened this week?  The fact that I am now back in the office has slowed us down, but we still managed to get the 380 volt supply wired in, along with some high amp 230 V.  

This morning we have received another set of drawings from the architect, and we will be meeting in the week of Jan 26th.  This should see us pretty close to final layout and ideas.

Tonight we will take a long look at these when the prince is asleep.

It just has to go

OK OK, some people would say keep it, but we just did not want to have the huge chunst in the middle of the family room.  I started to take it down today, and removed the first level.  It is pretty easy going, and I will just chip away at it over the coming two weeks.

So what else did I manage today.  Well I removed the food smoking cabinet from the first floor landing with the help of Marcus a friend from the village.  This cabinet is made of cast concrete all round, apart from the from doors and frame which are steel.  I think we both needed  to rest after removing the object in several pieces to the workshop where it will be rebuilt and put to a savory use.

I moved a few doors and the cast iron stove from the laundry.  This will end up at Phils' cabin in France.

So another progressive day, and we are still looking forward to the the Tiba cast iron stove being sent on its way on Sunday.