With the electrician and plumbers rescheduled to finish things off at the end of the month we'd just have to crack on with other things. There was plenty more stud work to wrangle with, a few last joists to seat and some slightly Asbestos-y panels to relieve the dining room of.
For starters, Beth got a nice man to pop by and look at the dining room chimney. One thing led to another and the old cast iron back boiler ended up in the middle of the dining room floor. Thanks Beth. Who's tried staggering across bare joists whilst cradling a full grown man's weight in rusty iron? Heaving it into the skip was a joy too. On the plus side it's not in the house anymore.
The lower panelling boards turned out to be concrete on Asbestos. Whoopee. Another evening togged up and lots of thick plastic bags and gaffer tape later and it's a problem for someone else. We were both really hangry by the end. Friday evenings are meant for relaxing aren't they? We had a shindig on that weekend to wind down at so thought we'd just go for it. The bare walls behind the boards were a little bit of a shock though on reflection, hardly surprising.
The last of the old studwork needed attention too. There was rubble piled up in the cavity which needed removing and the woodwork was pretty rotten through. So far so normal. With the rubble out it was looking like a pretty handy space. Enough to justify a trap door to turn it into a tiny cellar!
A week later and after a little epiphany and cellar it will be no longer. Bicycle storage has been something of an ongoing issue insofar as we've been unsure where exactly they'd go. Outside is a little out of the question yet there's nowhere convenient inside. This cellar space however is, within about 5cm in height and width, exactly the size of a bike. Even better, three bikes side by side. Out come the uprights, to be replaced by a doorway. The cabling had to be rejigged a little to get it out of the way too. The plans for the trap door remain however. It's an opportunity one shouldn't pass up in life.
Even less so a chance for two trap doors! This time its the space under the stairs where they split. Again, the space was full of rubble, the wood rotten. Why is there rubble inside a house? Who puts it there? Either way, we get an extra cubby hole out of it.
