Day 29 - Our First Month

Pete was back today - we ordered the slates for the back of the house having used all the available ones on the front. We need about 500 and they cost us £1 each - the cost of the roof is mounting but it does look well and will come in just about on budget. It was too wet to do much outside today so Dave finished some block work inside - we now have a lounge and a dining room each with their own entrance Dave also did some block work on the outside to prepare for the rendering, - That's it from me - Pete may update the blog next week but I'm off to the sun!

Day 28 - The Ceiling goes Back

Pete took the day off today - he deserves it as I will be away all next week in Tunisia for Nancy's 50th birthday. We got the first part of the bathroom ceiling back today and started on the electrics for the lights. Once again it was a very dirty job. Ben has been grinding the mortar from the brickwork at the back in preparation for the rendering that we will be doing there. This is another very dirty job and there is a lot of dust - I'm sure the neighbours are not very happy but they will eventually get a good building beside them.

Day 27 - Its Dirty Work - So Alan Has to do it!

We started work on the bathroom ceiling today - Dave warned that it would be dirty and he was right as we pulled the ceiling down we were covered in wood chips that had been used for insulation and a lot of soot from years of fires - it was disgusting! Sadly Pete's camera decided that the environment was no longer acceptable for it and has stopped working - we suspect that some dust has got into the lens motor - so apart from this there may be no more pictures for a few days

Day 26 the Front of the Roof Complete

Great to see that the whole of the front of the roof is now back on - Pete has brought the painted wood to go on the front - unfortunately the colour is not quite right so we have decided that it needs to be painted black - this will look more like the original colour and will match the house at the other end of the row.

Day 25 - The Bathroom Becomes a Room

We had a delivery of plaster board today and we were able to start rebuilding the bathroom - once again it was good to be doing some construction and not destruction, We had a kitchen designer call today and he has given us some ideas for the kitchen. - Heres a picture of us rebuilding the room.


and here's the finished wall

Days 23 and 24 The Weekend

This weekend we did no work at the house but Pete has taken some of the wood home for painting - these are the pieces that will go on the from of the house to try and reproduce the original look. I have been bidding on e-bay for fireplaces and I have got two - I travelled to Leigh in North Manchester to pick one up on Sunday and we will get the second delivered

Day 22 - More on the Roof

We made more progress on the chimney and roof today Pete and I nailed the battons on the "chick" roof so that Dave can get on with the slating next week. We walked through the Park for breakfast this morning and had a chance to see how the work is progressing from a distance the picture from the Park will help you to see what a great location the house is in

Day 21 - A it Warmer but the Wind Gets Up

Dave and Ben have more or less completed the work on the Chimneys and we hope to be able to remove the covers and get the chimney scaffolding removed tomorrow. Pete and I spent most of today working on the bathroom and we learned a lot from our mistakes. In the afternoon Dave came and picked up on the block work I started yesterday - he showed us how it should be done.

Day 20 - The Cold Continues

Dave and Ben the builders decided not to even try to start at 8:00 this morning - it was far too cold. They did get a lot of work done on the Chimneys in the afternoon. Pete was able to get some block work done in the kitchen and I started to get the block work built to reform the lounge and dining rooms. In the afternoon Pete and I worked on rebuilding the bathroom walls this will set things up to make the best possible use of Dave's time if the bad weather continues.

Day 19 - The Front Chimney

We picked up more scaffolding today to fit round the front chimney it was very cold and the temperature didn't get much above freezing before 15:00 - this meant that we could not get any building done in case the cement failed to set. - The bitter cold prompted Ben to ask "How did they ever build Moscow"? In order to use up the cement we had already mixed we started to get some block work in place inside - this was my first attempt at laying block - don't worry we will be plastering over it!

Day 18 The Rear Chimney

We started to point the rear chimney today - Ben spent the morning grinding out the old mortar - unfortunately when Dave looked closely at it he realised that it was in such a state we would have to take it down and rebuild it. Pete and I continued as apprentice roofers and started to get the batons on the roof over the bay windows.

Days 16 and 17 The Weekend

Not a lot of work to the house over the weekend but Pete took some of the wood home to paint it - we are planning to reproduce the original look in the apex above the bay windows so this means a lot of wood that needs to be replaced. We are also tring to put back some original features so I spent some tie visiting reclaimation yards and bidding on e-bay for fireplaces - so far I have not been able to get a suitable one.

Day 15 - That's two weeks now

We decided today that it is vital to get as much work as possible done to the front while we have the scaffolding in place so we worked on the apex above the bay windows. It is starting to look well and once again it was good to do some construction. We are keeping a close eye on the budget and although it will be very tight we are still spending less than we projected. Lets hope it continues!

Day 14 - St Valentines

So here we are on St Valentines Day and we get to remove a window and block it up - this brought a certain amount of satisfaction because this is the first real bit of construction instead of destruction - Pete did the block work and he was rigtly proud of his work. Here are a few pictures -

Day 13 - A New Door .., Well a Hole to Walk Through

We can now walk from the hall into the lounge - I will publish some pics of this later. We are still working on the roof this is a week now but we are making progress. Pete has been back working in the bathroom now that we have the asbestos removed.

Day 12 - All of the Old Roof Removed!

Had an interesting diversion this morning - Lindstrand Balloons have a factory in Oswestry (http://www.lindstrand.co.uk/) and this morning they launched an airship that seemed to clip the roofs! I've posted a couple of pictures. - We now have all the felt in place and tomorrow we will start replacing the remaining slates - we will then need to try and match slates to replace the broken ones. We started to remove the plaster to fit the DPC today and we have now uncovered the original door into the lounge. This was bricked up when the house was converted to flats, We now have to brick up the conversion and open up the original door.

Day 11 - The Asbostos Goes

We continued to work on the roof today and this afternoon the guys arrived to remove the asbestos from the bathroom. We had a delivery of sand, cement and bricks today, unfortunately they were delivered to the pavement so we had to shift them all inside by hand, Tomorrow we hope to make a start removing plaster in preparation for the new damp course. The weather has been really kind to us and we hope to get all of the slates removed tomorrow and get all of the new felt fitted. We also decided today to try and replicate the original effect on the front of the house using marine plywood to keep the effect of plaster and wood. Let's hope it works!

Day 10 - Sunday

I didn't make it today took Sunday off! Pete called in to put some water on the tiles in the hall to help us get them off in one piece - we have got most of them off now and we will have a huge jig-saw puzzle to put it all back once we get the hall floor levelled.

Day 9 - Only Half a Day

We have now got about half of the slates on the front of the roof and we used some extra hands (Nancy and Ben) to start removing the flaking paint from the bricks at the rear of the property.

Day 8 - All day on the Roof

We continued to strip the roof and our builder (Dave) has now got the batons on on the main roof at the front of the house - we have agreed to work tomorrow (Saturday) to catch the dry weather and get a move on with the roof. Pete and I will continue to lift scrape and carry anything that needs to be lifted carried or scraped!

Day 7 - Off With the Roof

Our builder started today he has removed the front of the roof and started to replace the felt and batons. The slates are coming off quite well and with a bit of lck we should not have to buy too many additional ones.Work has continued to remove the tiled floor in the hall - as we get closer to the front door more and more of the tiles are breaking I hope that we will have enough tiles to put back at least some of the original floor.

I've posted a few pictures of the roof and the floor

Day 6 - Scaffolding Complete but a Bit of a Problem

The scaffolders finished today and we had the chance to see the roof up close - yes it does need replacing! We moved the old bath out of the bathroom - I didn't realise just how heavy metal baths are!

We then started to knock down the bathroom wall to re-arrange the layout this entailed removing an internal window, once we got it out we realised that the wall was made from asbestos so work ground to a halt while we called a specialist company to check it out. Turns out it is a fairly low risk and although we can't work on it, it will not cost us too much too have it safely removed.

We removed around half of the tiles in the hall we will need to level the floor and then we will clean and re-lay the tiles.

Our builder starts with us tomorrow so we hope to get some good weather!

Day 5 - The Scaffolding Goes Up

The scaffolders had arrived this morning before us. They worked all day in the rain to erect the scaffolding - they still need to return tomorrow to complete the bit by the side of the house.

We started to take the paint from the doors and banister today - it is almost criminal the damage that people did to houses in the seventies covering up original features!

Looks like our builder can't make it tomorrow so it will be Thursday before we start to strip the roof.

Day 4 - The First Whole Day

The scaffolding didn't arrive - but that's no big problem tomorrow will do as our builder can't start till Wednesday.

We pulled out the toilet and tried to pull out the bath - however its a metal bath and very heavy - in the end we decided to leave it where it is until we have built up enough muscle to be able to move it! We knocked down another wall today and I think we have decided to lift the tiles in the entrance hall, level the floor and re-lay them. This will be a mammoth task but I think in the end it will be worth it to have a fully restored and level entrance.

The scaffolding should arrive tomorrow and we are off to the roofing supplier to buy felt, batons and nails

Day 3 - Down in the Dump

Not a lot of work today - well it is Sunday.

We made a few trips to the dump using a trailer Pete borrowed from his neighbour. We hope to be able to use the trailer rather than hire a skip - it could save us about £600! The way our budget is going every penny counts!!!

We spent some time this morning looking for fireplaces, looks like there are some bargins around and we should be able to pick up an original Victorian fireplace from e-bay. We have an early start tomorrow - the scafolding should arrive around 07:45.

Day 2 - The upstairs Water Tank

Today we started to remove the kitchen from the upstairs flat - we intend to turn this into a bedroom. Again there was some very satisfying hammer therapy with a bit of plumbing thrown in! This afternoon we removed some of the jungle that has grown over the outside in preparation for the erecting of the scaffolding on Monday

Day 1 - A bit of sledge hammer therapy

All went through this morning and by the afternoon we had the keys We spent the afternoon knocking down the wall that divided the property into two flats - it was extremely satisfying to see the original house unfold as we opened up the hall and exposed the original flooring. We really hope to be able to restore as many of the original features as possible while making a modern home.