We got to have a closer look at our very open plan back area this weekend. My husband and I were also able to see a few things my father-in-law has been working on.
Before I post some photos of the demolition we did today, I must mention our issues with the wall in the above photo. The exterior wall it is tied into (on the left of the photo) is leaning outward by about 100mm at the top of the wall. It seems it has shifted further outward and our new wall cracked. Mostly the crack ran down the right hand side of the added-in section, however it did crack one of the long blocks as well. My father-in-law had a builder look at it and part of today was working on preventing the wall from tilting outwards any further.
Two very long steel rods now run through the roof cavity, from one side of the house to the other. They protrude through the wall to the outside and are bolted to two thick steel plates, effectively giving us two huge tensioning rods.
Aside from setting up the two huge rods, we were finally able to demolish that ridiculous cupboard! First we took the bath out, which true to form sat on scrap bricks and stone blocks. And gravel, a lot of gravel.
Once the tub was gone, we could take a closer look at the wall. Our guess is now that the side wall actually used to be longer. For some reason, when they wanted to add on, they knocked down most of the wall but kept that small part as a buttress for the other wall. Some of the bricks at either end of the ridiculous cupboard are tied into the wall. In the end, we decided the best idea would be to demolish the back wall of the cupboard and keep the end pieces.
Also on the agenda for today was to begin dealing with the rotted out wall timbers.
None of the framing was even straight and with the amount of rot, the whole thing came down pretty easily.
We did have one slight hiccup:
With the bath and the extra blocks gone, we were able to measure up to plan out the design of the laundry, toilet, bathroom and the entrance to the kitchen. This part of the kitchen wall will be removed to open up the space more:
We think we have come up with a suitable floorplan. Hopefully I will be able to share that another time!
That is all for today! Thank you for following along our renovation journey and I hope you enjoy reading about what we have been doing.
Adios!
