Saturday 24 August 2013

Wendy's house is falling down

You were supposed to sing the title to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down - did you get that?  So I mentioned we'd been on holiday, we went down to Devon with my family and had a lovely, sunny week.  The same week, the builders started work on our tumbling down house.  This is what I got back to...


That's the view from the dining room to the kitchen.  That's the wall we knew was falling down.  When work began, we also discovered the wall between the dining room and the cellar is falling down.  Check out this crack.


Here we're looking from the kitchen into the dining room to the right and the cellar to the left.  They were going to replace both lintels, but the lintel goes all the way through to next door - not normal!  Instead, they're going to brick up the entrance to the cellar and make the doorway from the dining room (where the crack above is) as that wall has to come down now anyway.


Those big metal poles and beams of wood are holding up the house... quite scary as we have to edge past them to get to the kitchen (not that we have much of a kitchen, but the temporary sink and the fridge are still in there), Mr CA has cut himself on one of them already.


This is the first floor landing, through that door is the bathroom.  As you can see they've taken all the plaster off, added wire mesh and great big metal brackets to hold the walls and floors together.


This is the top floor.  That slat wall is an old-fashioned stud wall!  Again, it's all had steel added to hold it in place.


There are also random patches that have been steel-meshed.


I couldn't get a picture of the top floor landing, but it's the same as the one below, with the addition of a bird's nest above the window!  

We've been to the beach so there is sand everywhere, with the added bonus of brick dust everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE ...  How does that stuff get in your EARS??

18 comments:

JoJo said...

Have you gotten the insurance sorted so that they pay for all this retrofitting? What a mess!

Anna said...

Quels travaux ! Vivement qu'ils soient finis !
Pour le sable, c'est vrai qu'on en trouve toujours partout...
Bon weekend et merci pour la visite !
Hug
Anna

Samantha said...

I sang your blog title out loud, does that help?

Chrissie said...

Oh my goodness, scary or what? Before moving to Spain, I had a 16th century long house in Devon, some of the renovations were scary always more than you thought, but my heart goes out to you, big breath....hope the budget stretches to some meals out to keep the sanity!! as for the dust, yup everywhere, I'm sure there are dust fairies about, just wish there were cleaning fairies too.....just think how lovely it will be when finished

Sandra :) said...

I sang the title to the post topic before I even started reading your text - and now I can't stop singing it, lol. Fortunately I'm not singing it out loud, or the men in the white coats would arrive quickly, bearing duct tape to prevent further ear annihilation for the neighbourhood :D

Has the insurance been settled yet, or is everything still up in the air?

Kristy @ Quiet Play said...

Oh gosh! What a huge undertaking! Hope you're managing some crafty therapy amidst the brick dust and sand!

Staci said...

Wow! What a thing to have to live through! I hope the get the work done quick and VERY VERY WELL!

Fiona said...

hmmmmm..... dust everywhere....
Hugz

Marilyn said...

Yes, I did start singing to that tune as soon as I read your title. (Tragic). Hope all goes well and you end up with a house that will survive many more years - more than you need it to.

Jane said...

You just have to keep thinking about the end result, it'll make it all worthwhile.

Anita said...

Far out!!! That is scary. I hope no one gets any more cuts and hope it is repaired sooner rather than later.
Cheers, Anita.

Celtic Thistle said...

Looks like you will have those builders around for a long time!

Anonymous said...

Oh Wendy what a pickle! Still at least you are going to end up with a beautiful (safe) home at the end of it. I agree brick dust gets everywhere to the point where I used to not bother dusting much as it was back again the next day!

Pam @Threading My Way said...

Oh, Wendy, I'm glad you were able to escape for a few days to get away from it all. I do hope it doesn't take too long.

Gilly Tee said...

Oh what a nightmare, hope it all goes well and you can settle down soon.
Gillx

pennydog said...

Oh good God it gets worse! I'm glad you've decided not to wait the three years directed by the insurance company though. Swines.

Alison said...

Yikes, makes our soggy wall and rotten roof look minor!

I know what you meant about brick dust, it really does get everywhere!

Hope the rest of the work goes smoothly and you have your house back soon!

Alison
x

Anonymous said...

It will all be fixed and wonderful soon! Just keep saying that. I get the dust issue. We once had wood floors sanded down to refinish. No one mentioned the possibility of putting up plastic sheets for protection. Later I found that most flooring people have machines that suck up the dust as they work. Live and learn. I was cleaning that dust up for a year after. It's amazing the little spots you never knew you had until you have to clean this dust out.