Hagg Leys Farm

Tag: stripping out (Page 2 of 3)

Removing the fireplace in No. 10

March 18, 2013 /

Before we start, the fireplace in No. 10 is very similar to the fireplace in No. 8, so this time we know what to expect.  The fireplace surround is made up of stone blocks.  Very 1970’s, although I suspect it isn’t that old.  The fireplaces are actually small inglenook type fireplaces which have been bricked up so that the opening is much smaller.  Small enough to fit a gas fire.  So the job at hand is to remove the stone fireplace surround and then dig out all the rubble in the fireplace.  This good news is that No. 10 is closer to the skip than No. 8, so we don’t have to take the rubble as far.  The other good news is that we have some planks that means that we can barrow the rubble straight into the skip rather than using plastic tubs.  But it is still time-consuming and it is amazing how much comes out of a smaller opening.  The rubble is mainly old bricks, mortar, some rather nice Victorian tiles and a smashed up cast iron fireplace that had been put up the sides of the chimney to make it smaller.  All mixed in with a fair amount of soot.  What I didn’t inhale, I wore.  Yuck.  It took two baths on Sunday night to get rid of it all!  Still, it was a job well done and a job that we don’t have to do again – that was the last of the old fireplaces that need to be removed.

The fireplace in No. 10. This was probably all the rage 30-40 years ago, but it has to go. There is a TV stand constructed from the same material to camera left. It comes apart fairly easily (with the aid of a sledge hammer) and all of the stone will make it's way into the dry stone wall in the orchard. As long as the sawn edges of the stone do not face outwards, no one will know. Except you, of course, as you read it on this blog.

The fireplace in No. 10. This was probably all the rage 30-40 years ago, but it has to go. There is a TV stand constructed from the same material to camera left. It comes apart fairly easily (with the aid of a sledge hammer) and all of the stone will make it’s way into the dry stone wall in the orchard. As long as the sawn edges of the stone do not face outwards, no one will know. Except you, of course, as you read it on this blog.

The fireplace surround all gone and the contents of the inglenook emptied out. There must have been 10 or more barrows of rubble in there. All mixed up with 200 years of soot.

The fireplace surround all gone and the contents of the inglenook emptied out. There must have been 10 or more barrows of rubble in there. All mixed up with 200 years of soot.

The original fireplace revealed. The two sides are stone slabs on end. The top is a stone slab laid vertical between them. The hearth is made up of flagstones. Like the rest of the floor, although much of it has been covered up with a sort of asphalt material. Presumably, to keep the damp out.

The original fireplace revealed. The two sides are stone slabs on end. The top is a stone slab laid vertical between them. The hearth is made up of flagstones. Like the rest of the floor, although much of it has been covered up with a sort of asphalt material. Presumably, to keep the damp out.

Stripping out the larger cottage

February 26, 2013 /

I am off work this week which means more time to spend on the renovation

Day 2 of stripping out the larger cottage.  I was going to work on the dry stone wall, but rain soon put an end to that idea. So inside working is the order of the day.

Today it was all about removing the bathroom and partitions upstairs.  We are getting quite good at this now.  By the end of the day, the upstairs are cleared out.

This cottage is much nearer to the skip and this makes life a lot easier (not to mention much quicker).

Temporary sockets in the cottages

February 26, 2013 /

With work now starting on the larger of the two cottages, we simply can’t turn the electricity off as we did in the other cottage.  Otherwise, we would have now electricity on site at all.  The solution is to fix a single temporary socket in each of the cottages.  The socket is right next to the meter so that there is no danger that you can accidentally cut through the cable as it is only 20cms long.  This will provide us with the opportunity to power lights, kettles, or the occasional cement mixer.

This is definitely a job for a qualified electrician and we were lucky enough to find someone locally that was available same day! It only took an hour or so!  Thank you Dave!

Stripping out – starting on the larger cottage

February 25, 2013 /

With the smaller cottage all but bare, it is time to start turning our attention to the larger of the two cottages.  As we are still using the kitchen for making cups of tea, we will leave this til last.  First things to go are to remove all of the doors.  These are solid pine and our initial thoughts were to put them on eBay, but frankly they are all odd sizes and unlikely to fit anyone else’s house.  I removed all the brass fittings (for scrap) but unfortunately, the doors are destined for the bonfire.

Next came the carpets up the staircase and on the landing.  Then the bathroom.  Shower cubicle was quickly removed and then onto the other fixings.  The water is turned off here, but the electric is still on.  To be able to proceed with the stripping out much further will require the electric to be turned off, but then this will mean no electric on site.  Therefore the next job is to get a temporary spur set up off the meter, so that we have one live socket in each house, but the rest of the electric is turned off.  This is a job for a proper electrician!

With the carpet and the underlay removed, you can see the original stone staircase. The edges have been painted (many times) as there would have be a narrow "stair carpet" that would have run up the middle.

With the carpet and the underlay removed, you can see the original stone staircase. The edges have been painted (many times) as there would have be a narrow “stair carpet” that would have run up the middle.

The only thing left of the shower cubicle is the shower tray. The wall behind the sink is a partition wall, however the electrics need to be sorted out (i.e. turned off) before we do too much stripping out here.

The only thing left of the shower cubicle is the shower tray. The wall behind the sink is a partition wall, however the electrics need to be sorted out (i.e. turned off) before we do too much stripping out here.

Scrap metal

February 24, 2013 /

With all the work on the smaller cottage, we removed quite a bit of old wire and copper pipe.  All in all, there were 3 rubble bags of copper and 2 bags of wire.  I took these to the scrap merchant today, along with a kitchen sink and a mixer tap.  Total value £117.  Much more than I thought.  Looking at the receipt, it looks like I got around £30 for each of the rubble sacks of copper and £10 for each sack of electrical wire (with the plastic casing still left on, but any plugs or junction boxes removed).

Stripping out – the upstairs in the smaller cottage

February 11, 2013 /

There was a stud partition on the end wall containing rockwool.  Since this end of the building faces onto the prevailing wind, I assume that there had had problems with either cold or damp (or both) penetrating this wall.  As soon as we stripped off the plasterboard, you could tell that it was damp.  Although the rockwool and the outer plasterboard were fine, the stone wall was damp to the touch.  Many years ago, it seems to have had a coat of black bitumen paint which had then been wall-papered over (many times).  There was even a football poster still pasted to the wall – Denis Law and Gordon Banks – looks like it is from the 1970’s.  It was damp, but still in one piece.

We took the last remnants of plasterboard over the main beams up stairs, we took the remaining ceilings down downstairs and then finally took up the chipboard floor upstairs.  It had been very poorly laid in the first place, but a plumber had then cut the boards to install central heating.  It was a complete mess.  It took longer than we thought to take it up, but less time that we thought to burn it on the bonfire!

Last job of the day was to remove as much of the pipework and wires for scrap and have a generally tidy up.

The stud work and the rockwool removed to reveail a rather damp end wall that had be painted (long ago) with black bitumen paint.

The stud work and the rockwool removed to reveal a rather damp end wall that had be painted (long ago) with black bitumen paint.

Football stars from the 1970s pasted to the wall behind the partition.

Football stars from the 1970s pasted to the wall behind the partition.

The floor has now be removed. Horrible tongue and groove chipboard that had been very badly treated by whoever put in the central heating.

The floor has now be removed. Horrible tongue and groove chipboard that had been very badly treated by whoever put in the central heating.

The wooden from the floor and the ceilings ends up on a bonfire at the end of the day.

The wooden from the floor and the ceilings ends up on a bonfire at the end of the day.

Shed #3 bites the dust

February 9, 2013 /

The weather today was ok.  No rain, no snow and just about 3 degrees Centigrade.  So it was time to start looking at removing the two sheds in the orchard.  The large shed behind the outbuildings needs to go as this is where the polytunnel is going to go.  This shed is twice the size as those that we removed previously, so we knew that it was going to be a bigger job than before.

This is the third one that we have taken down, so we have worked out the best approach.  Firstly, you need to remove all of the metal and glass before attempting to dismantle.  Next the ridge needs to be removed from the roof.  Often this is key to holding the two sides of the roof together.  Next each side of the roof is slid off and the asphalt is stripped off.  With the roof gone, it is straightforward to use a chainsaw to cut up the panels.  Originally, we had tried to un-bolt the panels, but this proved difficult as many of the bolts were very rusty.  The final stage is to tip up the base and cut it into pieces.

Metal, glass and asphalt goes in the skip.  The wood goes on the bonfire.

Shed #3: Just behind the outbuildings and the largest (20ft x 8ft) of all the sheds on the property

Shed #3: Just behind the outbuildings and the largest (20ft x 8ft) of all the sheds on the property

Steel toe caps. Well it is Valentine's day next week!

Steel toe caps. Well it is Valentine’s day next week!

With the roof removed, it is fairly easy to dismantle with the aid of a chainsaw. You need to be carefully not to hit any nails or other metal, but otherwise it is a simple job. Removing the asphalt from the roof is a little more time consuming.

With the roof removed, it is fairly easy to dismantle with the aid of a chainsaw. You need to be carefully not to hit any nails or other metal, but otherwise it is a simple job. Removing the asphalt from the roof is a little more time consuming.

Once the roof is removed the rest of the shed comes down fairly easily. The real problem is the size of the panels that makes them too heavy to carry and these need to but cut up into smaller pieces. Again, a chainsaw comes in handy!

Once the roof is removed the rest of the shed comes down fairly easily. The real problem is the size of the panels that makes them too heavy to carry and these need to but cut up into smaller pieces. Again, a chainsaw comes in handy!

It is starting to get dark, so it must be time to go to the pub. Once all the remnants of the shed have been removed, the base will need to be put on it's side and cut into pieces before it goes on the bonfire.

It is starting to get dark, so it must be time to go to the pub. Once all the remnants of the shed have been removed, the base will need to be put on it’s side and cut into pieces before it goes on the bonfire.

Stripping out – downstairs in the smaller cottage

February 4, 2013 /

Having started on the downstairs by removing the kitchen, the next job was to remove the fire place in the lounge.  The existing fireplace surround was built of stone and probably dates to the 1970’s.  This was quickly removed as was the gas fire itself.  The stone from the fireplace surround will be used in the dry stone wall in the orchard – as long as we don’t use the flat edges in the front face of the wall, we should get away using this stone. It would be a shame to throw it in the skip.

Once the gas fire was removed, it revealed an old cast iron back boiler that seems to have been used for heating the cottage and the hot water.  There was a circulation pump hidden to the side of the fire. I think this was disused once the central heating was installed.    All of this was fairly easily removed.  The rest of the fireplace seemed to be packed with a mixture of engineering bricks and rubble.  This was all mixed up with a fair amount of soot!  However, once it was all removed the fireplace is very clean and you can see right up to the sky through the chimney pot.

The fireplace surround is made up of solid stone – two large pillars with a large stone beam across the top.

The original 1970's gas fireplace

The original 1970’s gas fireplace

Gas fire now gone to reveal the old cast iron back boiler

Gas fire now gone to reveal the old cast iron back boiler

Fireplace cleaned out. There are a couple of spots of water in the hearth where the rain has come in via the chimney pot

Fireplace cleaned out. There are a couple of spots of water in the hearth where the rain has come in via the chimney pot

Stripping out – the kitchen

February 4, 2013 /

This weekend we turned our attentions to the downstairs.  The kitchen was first to be removed, including all of the tiles (which were floor to ceiling).  Once the main stop cock was exposed, we removed the pipe and installed a stand pipe – at least we now have water in the property – even if it is in a bucket!  The stop cock in this cottage controls the water to the cottage next door, so we haven’t had any water for the past couple of weeks.  The boiler was fairly easily removed as is this hooked onto the wall.  The gas to the property is now turned off and the gas pipe coming into the cottage has been capped off.  The last job in the kitchen was to take down the ceiling (revealing some bright yellow ceiling joists).

The kitchen units were a mixture of old and new units and went on a bonfire.  Too expensive to use up valuable “skip space” and there is surprisingly little ash left. The wall tiles were ceiling to floor and a hideous 1970’s patterned tile.  These had been painted over in cream with random red and blue tiles mixed in.  This wasn’t much of an improvement!

All of the pipework was removed and the wiring also came out without too much trouble.  So all in all, this is pretty much stripped bare.

The kitchen as it was

The kitchen as it was

Halfway to removing the kitchen

Halfway to removing the kitchen

Sink and boiler now gone

Sink and boiler now gone

The kitchen ceiling now removed to reveal brigh yellow joists

The kitchen ceiling now removed to reveal bright yellow joists

More stripping out

February 4, 2013 /
Shower - the disabled seat went via Freecycle

Shower – the disabled seat went via Freecycle

We have spent the past couple of weekends stripping out one of the cottages.  The upstairs is now pretty much done in the smaller of the two cottages.  The bathroom was the only thing left upstairs and that was removed last weekend.  The bathroom had a disabled shower  and we were pleased that we managed to find the shower seat a new home.  This went very quickly via Freecycle (www.freecycle.net) as did a spare double bed and mattress.  I can see us using this as a method for getting rid of a lot of surplus stuff.

The flooring upstairs is tongue and groove chipboard and is in a terrible state – it hadn’t been laid very well in the first place and then a plumber seems to have hacked it about when installing the central heating.  I have a funny feeling that this is going to need to be taken up and replaced. However, we need to finish off removing everything upstairs before removing the flooring.

The bathroom itself had a built-in shower tray and once this was removed, there was a hole in the floor.  The shower appears to have leaked over time and the chipboard had rotted.  The wall tiles were not too much of a challenge and came off fairly easily – mostly a whole tile at a time.  Once the floor has been taken up, we will remove all of the pipework.

Existing bathroom - shower to picture right

Existing bathroom – shower to picture right

Just the bathroom now left upstairs

Just the bathroom now left upstairs

The bathroom now gone - partition removed. Shower, toilet and basin in the skip.

The bathroom now gone – partition removed. Shower, toilet and basin in the skip.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 Hagg Leys Farm

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑