Week 2

Sunday

We took the day off house-gawping yesterday as we were all scattered to the winds doing fun things.

Today, the sun is bright, and I’m reminded of why we are doing this project. In having a look at the destruction, the birds around us were chirping, the lane was quiet, and the sun was warm. Gorgeous.

But it makes me kind of wistful looking at the old fireplace sitting there intact amongst the rubble. Doorways are the weirdest; I remember chasing children through the warren of rooms, and now there is nothing.

But there’s no looking back and I can’t wait for more progress and seeing the rest of it flattened this week!

 

Friday

The demolition team is working really hard to get through the house. It’s not so much the knocking down, it’s the sorting and finessing all the materials into different piles. The wood goes off somewhere, the bricks set into pallets, and the real junk (most!) goes off somewhere else. Alan says that it would take a blink of an eye to knock the thing down, but a further two weeks to sort through the materials. This way appears tedious, they’ll be done next week. Hooray!

Thursday

The entire front gable is gone, so bye-bye boys’ room. Chimney breasts don’t take very long either!

The camera got a little knocked when the garage was made watertight.

Wednesday

Gillian’s room is gone. Funny that when she saw it had disappeared, she said she didn’t feel much loss. She’s very keen to have a new room that doesn’t have mould that she can decorate and relax in. Sensible girl! We’ve now got the kids’ loo and the boys’ room on show.

Tuesday

Work gets right in the way of watching the house come down! It will just be photos over the next few days, but I can see that the tower and stairs are completely gone, and Gemma’s room has disappeared. It’s funny to see how the tower-extension consisted of a simple plastering over the outside bricks.

Monday

Dulux felted the garage roof, and the interior is being made into a nice mess room for the guys on-site. The 18T digger arrived after a 1.5 hour holdup on the A3. After that, it was taking down section after section in the pouring rain. The demolition company had originally thought to take down the boys’ room corner first, but started with the tower instead so there will be more room for the enormous bins that arrive tomorrow. It’s amazing to walk up the lane, turn the corner and NOT see parts of the house. Bonkers!

We’re no longer allowed onsite for safety reasons. Steve reckons the house may fall, but only around its footprint. Any potential devastation is unlikely to venture past the garage or the front fence. Fingers crossed.