Its been a little while since I bought the old house, but the time has come to start the slog – things that I can do without having to apply for planning permission.

I’ve been held up working and finishing a big project for my brother in another village, but I’ve managed to find some time to start some of the demolition.
The most important things to be done are the floor replacements. Over several years the termites have devastated the first floor structure. I am starting with the 40m2 area above what was the dining room and kitchen. The walls underneath have already been demolished, to give us a clear area.
Every wall on the first floor has to be taken down – the new bedroom layout isn’t going to follow where the old walls are. These will come down quickly as they are thinnish old clay ‘briques’. The plan is to remove any of the tomette tiles on the floors and reuse them if they come up without any damage. They have been covered with a thick layer of a screeding product which if I can’t remove it easily may prove the difference between reuse and ditching. The underfloor wooden structure can then be uncovered and removed. Following that, the rotten main structural beams must be cut out and burnt.
I want to temporarily prevent the termites from getting any higher in the house, and attacking the beams at roof level. Even though these beams have been treated, I don’t know when exactly, so they may be vulnerable if it was longer ago than 10 years. The last thing I want to do is replace them too, although I could get them treated straightaway if I wanted.

So whilst the weather was still fine, we spent a day in the demolition business!

Demolition of the Partition wall between the old Dining Room and Kitchen

The original idea was to take all the rubble to the tip.
I had another idea to cut out a lot of the hard work. The area behind the garage will need infill as I want to put in an extra car parking space.
All this hardcore will be ideal to fill up the base.