Northfield House Renovation

We have a problem in that the existing location of the gas meter is on the back wall of the utility room which is required to be demolished. That means the meter has to be moved but we're not 100% sure where its final location will be. Having phoned up our energy supplier they informed us that this work is carried out by Wales and West Utilities. So after speaking with someone, they arranged for a surveyor to visit and provide a quote to move the meter. [INSERT GAS METER PHOTO] I had also called up the building control department to inform them that we will be commencing work soon and would like a visit from the assigned inspector in the next 48 hours. Two days later I received a phone call and an appointment was made for the afternoon. The same day, in the morning the surveyor from Wales and West Utilities arrived and after a discussion I reluctantly agreed on having the meter moved to the front just before the garage. We can't build over where the mains gas pipe will be...

When we purchased the house, it had a stair lift fitted which had been removed and placed in the garage. Stair Lift Those things are incredibly heavy. We contacted a scrap metal collector and they took the stair lift, washing machine, tumble dryer and other metallic items. The demolition of the sheds continues and has progressed to the garage. Some of the backs have been removed revealing the brick wall from the neighbouring house. The kitchen was also collected which is pleasing as it means it doesn't end up in landfill and will be reused by someone. Kitchen The above photo shows the corner where the kitchen sink used to be. Previous Next

As we require calculations for steel beams to take the weight of the building when we remove walls, we had to shop around to find a structural engineer. Having found one, I sent the plans but requested a visit to the site so that they could understand what we were trying to achieve and also see the structure at first hand instead of relying on drawings. In the meantime, while inviting builders to price for the groundworks I've started to demolish the sheds. Looking from the back, there is a workshop followed by a small storage shed, followed by the garage with the white door opened. The first task was to start removing the workshop. workshop Once the roof was removed, the front of the workshop didn't take long to knock down. The roof timbers and side wall took a lot more effort. The partition between the workshop and small storage shed has also been removed here, as well as the door. Previous Next

The house has a strange drainage system that starts on the right of the house and runs around the back and then down to the front again. Its a very lengthy run that has 3 manholes. Some weeks ago, one of the manholes was almost 2/3 full due to blockage. Paid Severn Trent Water to come and inspect it to check if it was shared and also unblock it. If the drain is shared then it becomes the water company's responsibility to maintain it, otherwise its the responsibility of the occupant. Although this was unblocked, we discovered another manhole near the front of the property hidden among bushes which was also heavily blocked. Being a private drain, STW wouldn't visit again to unblock it so I had to call up a private company.  Phoned up happydrains on Monday and booked an appointment for Thursday. The plumber (what do you call someone who unblocks drains? ) go to work immediately on arrival and had to use what looked like scaffolding tubes (shown above) to first try and di...

As the dining room is going to have a knock-through to the new extension, we wondered whether the skirting board should be saved and reused? The skirting board is over 4m in length, so removing it was going to be a laborious task. The idea was to gently prise it away from the wall using chisels and a crowbar. Finally after spending over half an hour the skirting was removed. They certainly don't make houses how they used to! You can see how the skirting is secured to the wall using timber shims wedged into the brickwork. These timber shims allow the skirting board to be nailed to the wall. I also decided to lift a floorboard to see how much of a void there was below. The void is a good 65mm which should be sufficient to replace the suspended timber floor with a new concrete slab, allowing a continuous floor connecting the dining room with the new extension. Moving to the hallway, as this wall is going to be removed, we removed the skirting and arc...

The demolition of the conservatory continues... Managed to salvage around 200 of these bricks which I'm thinking could be used for flower beds or an outdoor BBQ in the future. Previous Next

This is how the conservatory looked when we bought the house. Conservatory This is how it looked more recently. The paint on the timber is peeling off and some of the timber has become rotten. As its to be demolished for the new extension, I thought it may be worth trying to salvage some of the stone-effect bricks. So armed with a bolster chisel and hammer, it wasn't too long before the bricks started coming out. Removing the roof was the most difficult part, but once it came down, then it was easier to start removing the timber supports. This is how the conservatory is looking now. The bricks have been salvaged for use in the garden, possibly for flower beds or even a BBQ. Previous Next