Extension Part 2 - Demolition Day

I was awoken at 8 a.m. by the sound of the start of the demolition job.

I quickly got up and wandered out. I had missed the gates coming off and the first wall coming down. Margaret was out there and introduced me to Roy. I confirmed what was to go - i.e. everything except the house and Margaret's wall.

After I fed the dogs I went back out for the next update. The wall adjoining Margaret's was down - there had been some concern that it may have been tied in but that did not prove to be the case. Work was now well underway to remove the feeding troughs.

Paul skyped me from the train to find out what was happening and to see if Jen was okay with the noise. She was pretty relaxed until there was a very loud thud when she jumped up. She soon settled back down.

At 10 a.m. it was time for the next update and dog walk. The troughs were all down, the right hand wall of the cowshed lowered and Roy was just about to start the delicate task of the wall by the road. I took the dogs up to the field.

At 11 a.m. I decided to get out in the garden. I have been making the most of the good spell of weather, and this was to be the third day in a row I have made it out there. The last two days I have been weeding the long bank, starting at the house end. Today's mission was to clear/salvage the osteospermum at the top of the drive. Most of the outside wall was down now.

By midday there was nothing left of the cowshed. Work had started on removing the concrete base. Roy pointed out that where the cowshed had been attached to the house there was a largish hole as the plaster/mortar/whatever there had been rotten and just crumbled away. This was not a total surprise - I had been fearing much worse.

I phoned Paul to let him know. He told me to phone the builder - I did but got the answering machine. I continued working in the garden, but I took the phone out with me. Roy completed the rest of the concrete removal before stopping for lunch.

After lunch the clearup started. There was a mountain of bricks, stone, earth and concrete to remove. A phone call had been made to call the tractor/trailer.

An hour later and there was still a mountain of bricks, stone, earth and concrete to remove...

And at 4 p.m. ... I phoned the builder again, and again got the answering machine. He phoned me back about 15 minutes later. He will drop in tomorrow morning to take a look. Some stone has been put to one side that could be used to patch it up.

I think they stopped working at 5 p.m. - I don't remember hearing the tractor/trailer going past for the last hour or so I was out in the garden.

State of play at end of day 1. It is going down - it must be.