Phase 2 - The Bakehouse

 October 2014

The builders are back!

If you live in the UK you will know that we have had a long, relatively warm, summer so our plans to get the Bakehouse and Cart shed wind and watertight this autumn looked really promising. We started planning Phase 2 properly a few months ago and engaged an architect to confirm ideas and our plans for it.  Having completed that aspect we sought quotes from three (ended up with two) builders and went with the builder with most experience of 'old' buildings and he clesrly has a love of old buildings as he lives in one that he renovated for himself!

As you might expect we had a bit of work to do in preparation for the arrival of the builders........

The contents of the 'Man Cave' in transition to the loft above the cartshed and into the stable end of that building until we sort out where it is all going to end up

The new 'Man Cave' and we discovered that this floor is 'cobbled' as we moved the wood out of it in preparation for this phase (its now under a tarpaulin in the garden!).

The old fridge is still here and we would like to do something with it in the renovated Bakehouse which will be our 'Sitting Room' - yet to be researched.  The old cupboards probably came out of the grocery shop and much as we might like to keep them the wood is not in good condition.  However, we have held onto a couple of the cupboard doors in anticipation of being able to fit them in somewhere. 

The chimney breast has a wooden shelf unit built in and at the bottom the rusted remains of a small fire/range which has now gone to the scrapyard - once we had cleaned the ashes out of course - clearly they forgot to do that.  There were various empty packets of old matches and 'Woodbine' cigarettes - apparently there was a factory in Swindon which was taken over as a Munitions factory during the first world war (1915)
http://www.davenapier.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wills/wdhowill.htm

The Bakery end of the building is now cleared out and it's obvious that the back wall is damp - the level of the ground behind it is higher and as it's our neighbours drive not much we can do about that so it will need tanked.

The Oven 'Improved Coal Oven' - we have plans for this which will involve lots of elbow-grease and wire brushes.  With a bit of luck we can do some of it with an attachment for the 'oscillating tool' which has proved to be a great find and a VFM buy at Lidl!

It's beginning to look like a builders yard again BUT they are taking rubblee etc away on a regular basis so hopefully we won't end up with the pile of rubble we had last summer.  That's the fridge with the green cover.

The cupboards have been removed and the fridge moved out!

The wooden panneling on the wall has been removed and the 'loft' taken down.  Any thoughts of being able to reuse that wood were soon dissipated by evidence of woodworm and rot so it has all been removed from site.

The roof unveiled in the bakery and the dividing wall which will be dmolished to turn it into one big room.  However, as some of the roof timbers are built into that wall it can't be demolished without taking some of the weight (tiles and slates) off the roof.

Evidence of builders on site!

 

















Some of the 'blown' bricks have been replaced on the corner of the wall at the end of the bakery

 Dismantling the original fireplace in preparation for demolition of the wall.

The concrete tiles which were on the rear elevation of the Bakehouse.  We hope to recycle these on the roof of the Cartshed.

Rear elevation of the Bakehouse with most of the tiles removed.  The remaining tiles cover the Utility Room and that part of the roof will need to be covered to keep it watertight oncethe tiles are removed.

 More evidence of builders on site.

The slates have now been removed from the front elevation of the Bakehouse and a tarpaulin covers the utility end of the roof pro-tem.

 The slates, which may be reused on the Bakehouse stacked at the Cartshed wall.

The gable end of the Bakehouse is looking much better as they have removed 'blown' bricks and replaced them with some from other parts of the site and re-pointed it.

 Close up of the gable of the Bakehouse.

 The dividing wall is coming down now that the slates and tiles are off the roof.

 The sense of space in the room is beginning to become apparent.

 The dividing wall has gone!

 View of the Oven from the kitchen end of the room.

 There is a structural beam in the wall above the oven but a bit of it was rotten and has been cut out to be replaced.

 This is the bit of wood that will replace the wood that has been cut out of the beam.

 View from the oven end of the room looking towards the kitchen.

 These Green Oak beams will form the trusses in the roof.  Each beam took 6 guys to carry it into the yard.

 A tidy yard!

 The additional Green oak beams that will form the trusses.

 

 The trusses are to be constructed in the room and the carpenters have laid them out ready for shaping etc!

  Shaping in progress.

 The truss is beginning to take shape as the parts are assembled

 

 The pointing is drilled out and replaced - coming back to life!

 Almost ready to be put in place - by a crane apparently - that's going to be interesting!

Construction completed and awaiting the crane!

 The Spider Crane in the Bakehouse and the first truss in place.

 ...........and the second

 Men at work...........or at least in contemplation of work!

 Not sure how we would have achieved this without advances in technology and equipment such as a Spider crane as it had to be able to get through the archway.

 Ridge beam being installed in sections.

 Held together with straps for the minute - and by the crane of course.

 Looks like something out of War of the Worlds in the fading light

 Good progress today and hopefully timbers will be completed this weekend

 The frame of the roof is now in place and awaits the roofers.

 Looking up at the trusses they dont seem to be quite so big - in proportion of the roof now!

 Don't tell the builders but taken from the scaffolding without a hard hat!

 Looking down into the sitting room from the scaffolding.

Spider Crane exits through the archway

 Purlins and rafters starting to go on, the tarpaulin is covering the utility room for now.

 View from the inside

 Just when we thought the dust had settled they needed to lower the ceiling in the utility room.

 Thermal insulation foil now fitted to 99% of the roof, they ran out and had to order more - it's now complete.

 and the view from the inside - quite majestic in some ways.

 The tiles on the rear elevation of the Bakehouse.  Our neighbours are pleased with their new outlook.

The roofers have been able to re-use the slates from the Bakehouse and the cartshed roof and are making good progress with the elevation in the courtyard.

It's finished, and it looks great.  It's the old slates but being put back on properly the roofers have made a fantastic job of it.

The Velux window has been installed in anticipation that at some point we will add a shower room on the mezzanine above the utility room.  Could be some time before that happens but it made sense to do the window now.

The sandblasters arrived on 6th january and oh boy what difference that has made to the old oven.  We spent about 2 hours that evening washing down every surface in the utility room and the kitchen/dining room as there was a thin layer of sand absolutely everywhere.

A bit of stove black and it looks great - not quite like a small fireplace so more supplies ordered as we will need a tub rather than a small tube of it to make sure the rust doesn't take hold.

The oak beams look fantastic.  So despite it being a real pain and a bit precarious at times the work we did the previous weekend to 'shield the surrounding insulation etc was well worth it.

This is the wall looking towards the main house and will eventually be covered in shelves but looking good for now.

 Now we start  the process of tanking the walls in the Bakehouse - that's to stop the water ingress from the ground behind this wall which is our neighbours driveway which is on a slight incline.

  Same process on the corner beside the bread oven.......................................

We are hoping that this corner will now dry out allowing us to retain the internal brick wall ...............time will tell!

 You would not believe how exciting a new guttering can be!

 Close up of the guttering.

Guttering on the loft above the bread oven, temporary water butt in place, doesn't quite match yet but it will in time.

Yet another metal pile - understandable that metal merchants do well out of renovation projects, lots of old lead etc...............

Now if you have a good imagination you can see a shower room with a doorway through the chimney breast into one of the bedrooms   -   at least at some point we hope that is what you will see!

 The walls in the Bakehouse have been tanked but the corner at the edge of the oven has had to have a few coats to stop the damp coming through.

 The back wall of the Bakehouse is now tanked and drying out quite well.

 The concrete slab has been laid and the last bitumen layer added between the floor and the wall - ready for the next layer................................>

 The insulation layer (celotex) with the underfloor heating pipes laid on top - ready for the next layer....................>

Early morning on the 7th April (just after Easter long weekend) and we had an unexpected delivery of the screed for the Bakehouse floor.  Our builder was also surprised as he thought it was arriving the following week.  As a result while he called guys off other jobs we helped to move the screed from the roadside to the Bakehouse.

 The results of our labours (and others).  At this point we left them to it and spent the day in the garden.

 We have a finished floor........................... cearly we won't be walking on it for a few days but not sure how we communicate that to the local wildlife who may venture into the yard in the dark of the night ............

 This is the end of the room that joins the main house where the heating manifold will join up and one of these days we will have a door into the house instead of a large piece of hardboard - and the wind whistling through the gaps (and of course builders dust in clouds that would rival the ash cloud of a few years ago - do you get the sense that we have had enough of dust now!).

 A complete floor in the Bakehouse.

 A view from the 'balcony' - that's the next part of the story ........................................!!

 Having indeed decided that we have had enough of 'dust clouds' we asked the builder to knock through a door from our bedroom into the mezzanine level above the utility room which we will ultimately turn into our en-suite.  This was the tent they put up in a vain attempt to stop the brick dust - it could have been a lot worse and I have lost count of the number of times that the floor has been washed  - and the dust is still settling - including all down the stairs on our lovely carpet - hey ho!

 Knocking through the chimney into the bedroom, taken from the floor of the Bakehouse.

We had hoped that they might be able to open the door to the width of the fireplace so that we could preserve the illusion of going through the fireplace into the en-suite bathroom - of course it wasn't to be.  So we have a standard sized door and have had to remove the fireplace and grate completely - hopefully we can sell to an architectural salvage dealer!

 The door opening, now defined by the tidying up of the brickwork.

Patched plasterboard around the new door - now of course we need to re-plaster the whole wall!

 Plasterer at work!  It looks great now we need to re-decorate.......................!

27th APRIL 2015

At 0730 on a bright, frosty Monday morning the doorbell rings, heralding the arrival of the long awaited windows for the Bakehouse!  This view is taken from the future en-suite as the fitters unload all of the parts onto the recently swept floor.

Assembly begins as one fitter ponders the not so straight walls.............. challenges at this time on a Monday morning!

 Frames going in and M begins to sigh with relief at his decision to go with the white windows.

Mastic perhaps!  We should have bought shares in the manufacture of Mastic before we started this project.

 Second frame being assembled, yet more Mastic!

Checking the door opens before the glass is fitted.  They are lovely - very smooth action BUT then what else would one expect from German engineering!

The little window beside the old oven - definitely not a striaght wall in sight for the fitting of this one - lots of expanding foam to fill the gap.

Well they look stunning even if we say it ourselves.  It's so cool to finally have a wind and watertight room.  It has given us renewed energy to specify the remaining work and save like mad to get it finished.  As our neighbours said recently we will probably spend most of our time in this room when it is finished - much to the disappointment of locals who like to wave to us as they pass the dining room!!