Demolition

I did some demolition. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and you can't build and extension without breaking an old extension. Well, you can, but my way is more fun.

Here's what it looked like



Step 0 had been done previously - which is remove all the plumbing, electrics, internal walls, fittings etc etc. So on to...

Step 1 - remove the windows and door



That took about 30 minutes, but look at the difference it made. Before, a building. After, an empty shell. I felt like a murderer. Ah well, since it is dead, we better butcher it.

Step 2 - remove the roof



This was hard. I tried several methods. In the end I chopped up the felt / bitumen layer with a wood splitting axe. This worked okay but it still took a couple of days. This picture is half way through. It got harder and harder as there was less and less roof to stand on while swinging the axe. Once the deck was all off, I removed the beams - easy.

Step 3 - knock down the walls

Here is a picture of me in my wall demolition garb. Alex took it, thanks Alex! A word of advice to anyone thinking of building in their garden; yellow helmets might give you that tradition builder look, but they attract insects, so go for a blue one instead...



Here is a picture of the extension a couple of hours' work later (I say 'hours' work' because I actually got interrupted in the middle by 36 hours solid of heavy rain).



I find knocking down brick walls a lot like sex; it is energetic, a lot of fun, and it never lasts longer than a couple of hours :-)