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Down She Comes!


Conor

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Now we have planning in place, and a design we are happy with, time to get started. We are certain we cannot employ a main contractor to do the build - at 280m2, the MC estimates are in the £400k range. We need to keep it closer to £250k. 

 

Demolishing the existing was the first challenge. After a few calls, it soon became apparent that this would not be cheap. £10-£20k from the main demo companies. Lowest offer was £4 for a reclamation company to come in, demolish by hand and take all the natural slate, timbers and Belfast red clay bricks. There's upwards of £15k worth of material there, so jog on!!!!

 

So, I started the laborious process of demolishing the house in September 2019. As it was a single story bungalow, it seemed like a doable job, esp as the walls were red brick with weak lime mortar. Wall render, radiators, floor boards, insulation, kitchen, plumbing, ceilings. The biggest challenge and worst job was the loft insulation. Somebody in their wisdom chose to use 100s of bags of loose EPS balls. Absolutely nightmare. Couldn't sweep them up, couldn't vacuum, couldn't let them mix with the rest of the materials. In the end, we ended up punching through ceilings, and using a leaf blower to pile all the beads up, then stuff in to numerous 90l wheelie bin bags, and off to the dump. Horrible job!

 

Ceiling down, beads separated using leaf blower.

 

IMG_20191222_092251.thumb.jpg.bafb1a72705d10c961edc6a08cf755f9.jpg

 

Walls stripped, floors lifted. Joists and floor boards being kept for future use on outbuldings, furniture etc. 

 

IMG_20200101_151918.thumb.jpg.2767a5afbd023543c89b9e62f1959117.jpg

 

Roof stripped of natural slate tiles. Mostly done from inside the attic, with slates lowered down on pallets on a telehandler.

 

IMG_20200103_114043.thumb.jpg.49db200221dbc1289564f90d7c7a4ac2.jpg

 

Walls were demolished by hand, with a little help from my pregnant partner and our "site car"

 

 

All in demolition including putting in a wider access road and stoning the front of the house, £3k.

 

Next: ground works.

  • Like 5

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Is it just me but I can't get the videos to play.

 

Well done on the demo - I got my 3 bed detached taken down in SE England for £5k from the contractor who was doing the basement - as their whole package was £120k, was easy enough for them to discount to win the business. 

 

I looked into recycling but no-one was interested - materials were not that special and I was not even able to give away 1500 unused 1950s bricks that I found on site from the original build.

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15 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

Is it just me but I can't get the videos to play.

 

 

Me neither

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1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

 

Me neither

I don't think they uploaded properly, I don't seem to have the option to delete and retry.

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1 minute ago, Ferdinand said:

I think i might accept the £4 offer if it happens with me ???.

 

 

£4k!!

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Still might take it.

 

Did you do at all OK from the disposals?

 

When my dad moved his factory from one of the old Raleigh Company mills in Nottingham, they did a deal on "I keep on bits I remove first and you take the rest away," It was full of Victorian bricks and iron windows, so both sides did OK. Slight;y different kettle of fish. 4 storeys 7500 sqft per storey.

 

There is still a big pile of 9' x 18' pitch pine beams in a field at the our old house, from the demolition in 1993.

 

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3 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Still might take it.

 

Did you do at all OK from the disposals?

 

When my dad moved his factory from one of the old Raleigh Company mills in Nottingham, they did a deal on "I keep on bits I remove first and you take the rest away," It was full of Victorian bricks and iron windows, so both sides did OK. Slight;y different kettle of fish. 4 storeys 7500 sqft per storey.

 

There is still a big pile of 9' x 18' pitch pine beams in a field at the our old house, from the demolition in 1993.

 

 

Not sold anything yet. Have an offer of 30p per brick for 3000, but holding out for 50p for the lot (15k or so). Cleaned Belfast brick sells for about £1 a brick of I can be bothered cleaning and stacking on to pallets. Haven't actually advertised, just had a few drive by offers.

 

It did mean I was able to build my electric kiosk for cheap.

 

IMG_20191207_161952.jpg

  • Like 2
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3 minutes ago, Conor said:

It did mean I was able to build my electric kiosk for cheap.

 

Now that's a good idea. I don't have a house to demolition but I do have some old bricks on site that would otherwise go in to a skip. I could keep some for an electrical kiosk and perhaps even some planters.

 

Thanks! 

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2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

The admins made it so you can only edit for an hour, to stop spammers.

 

If that becomes an issue do say so.

 

It is going to cause me problems as I have at least on blog article which is periodically updated, but I am hoping to find workarounds.

 

I am not aware that spammers were particularly a problem amongst bloggers, who by definition are usually established members.

 

(Unless you count all my posts as spam)

 

Edited by Ferdinand
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18 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

If that becomes an issue do say so.

 

It is going to cause me problems as I have at least on blog article which is periodically updated, but I am hoping to find workarounds.

 

I am not aware that spammers were particularly a problem amongst bloggers, who by definition are usually established members.

 

(Unless you count all my posts as spam)

 

 

I noticed that on the last blog entry, I hope the admins can change it back.

 

Sometimes I have typos which I spot later.

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Well done, it's time consuming but saves a lot of money. We dismantled our old bungalow and gave away all the bricks, blocks and timber. We crushed the rubbish blocks and concrete and used it on site. The biggest cost for us was asbestos removal.

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