12th November

Well, there’s been quite a bit of activity this week as John and his team have been there. We now have a fully functional front door although it is only temporary, the lintels in the front room have been replaced front and back, the fireplace in the kitchen and the bedroom have been bricked up and all the beams in the living room have been replaced. Most of the charred wood has now been removed apart from the odd doorframe and door and a few other bits and bobs.

So yesterday Sharon and I went up and my task was to remove the dividing wall between the 2 smaller bedrooms, remove all the plaster from them and remove the ceilings. I also needed to replace the tap in the toilet for an outside one so that we can connect a pressure washer to it when we get the chance. I started off by sorting the tap, we didn’t get to put it to use with the pressure washer as we ran out of time but a good simple job done. As I made a start removing the dividing wall in the bedroom, Sharon started picking up all of the bits of wood around the garden that were left and put them on the fire site ready for the next fire. The side wall came out easy enough and I then came down to remove the acro’s so they didn’t fall when I started to knock the main wall down. I was just pointing out to Sharon what the next step was when there was an almighty crash and the whole breeze block wall came crashing down. Fortunately we were near the door and shot out at a fair rate of knots. Sharon was a bit shaken, I just saw it as a bonus as I no longer had to knock it down. We were lucky though, could have been quite nasty.

Sharon’s Mum and Dad paid us a visit, fetched us a bottle of milk and a connector for the tap, Spok and Denise followed shortly after with cakes 👍

I proceeded to remove all the plaster from the walls before heading up to the loft to kick the ceiling down. Spok returned to offer some help. He helped Sharon whilst I finished the demolishing of the bedroom ceilings. I have to say it knackered me, I kept getting cramp in my leg and it was a very long way down. But I managed it.

The mess in the living room was huge. About 2 foot of plasterboard, lattes and plaster. Team effort to bag it all and clean up. Spok left about 4ish and Sharon and I worked on a bit and managed to get it all bagged, cleared and swept. We both left last night absolutely knackered but a good days graft and left in a nice state ready for us to get in and clean up today.

This morning, clearing up was the aim of the game. We wanted to be home for just after lunch and we managed that. We managed to clear out the large bedroom, de nail all the beams in that room and sweep them all down so that when the plasterboard goes on the ceiling, debris wont fall down in to our eyes, although that’s a way off yet. We also cleared up the rest of the downstairs. Spok and Denise came up for a site inspection, really nice they are so interested and keep coming up, also John came and took a trailer full of rubble away.Read more