Snow hit the UK last weekend and we got our fair share here in West Yorkshire. Combined with the cold conditions, it effectively ruled out any dry stone walling this weekend – with snow on the ground you would have had to have found the stones in the first place!
Snow stops play on the dry stone walling
With planning permission granted a couple of weeks ago, our attention turned to stripping out the smaller of the two cottages. We started upstairs. Removing all the partition walls, central heating, electrics (all the sockets and lights), carpets and then finally pulling down the old ceiling. In old properties, the wiring can be a nightmare and the labels on the fuse box can often bear very little resemblance to what they really control. The safest approach is to turn the electric off all together and make sure that you double-check that the wiring isn’t live (using an electrician’s screwdriver) before removing it. Since the electric is now turned off, the central heating no long works. This is just as well as it give using the opportunity to drain the system and remove the upstairs radiators.
All of the plasterboard and carpets went into the skip. However, we separated out all the wood that is now forming part of a large bonfire where we burnt the sheds from a week or so ago. With the cost of skips being so expensive, you only want to throw away material that you can’t dispose of otherwise. Timber can be burnt and old stone can be used as hardcore with the foundations of the new extension are built.
The only thing left upstairs is the bathroom and we will remove that next weekend. Some of the ceiling also need to come down too as we didn’t have time to complete pulling down all of the ceiling. This is a difficult and awkward job as you inevitably end up with your hands above your head for large periods of time. It is one of those jobs that will take longer than you think. We will see!
Plasterboard removed from one side of the partition showing the wooden stud work
Both sides of the plasterboard removed, next job to remove the stud work
Stud work gone revealing quite a large space
Another shot from inside the stripped out upstairs
Once the ceiling was removed, pine cladding was revealed. This forms the floor in the loft space and would have been the original ceiling i the farmhouse.