And we're off!

Last week the large door was removed from the old garage for safe keeping - it is relatively new and a high quality unit that will be refitted to the new building in due course. A specialist company came along and removed the asbestos roof for safe disposal. And I took on the daunting task of removing 25 years-worth of stuff that might be useful one day and deciding what to keep. The large skip outside my house is nearly full but so is the old summerhouse which is now repurposed as a temporary store.

This morning a veritable army of kit arrived at Pennine View: Two excavators, a stone crusher and a wheeled dumper, together with two lads intent on knocking down the old garage.

This is. of course, the messiest, dustiest part of the job but it was a fine spring day, with a light breeze conveniently blowing the dust away from the house. By lunchtime the two gable ends of the old garage were reduced to rubble and that allowed the stone crusher access to start its dread work. 

As evening approached just one wall of the old garage remained and that will certainly be gone tomorrow. Of course there is much more demolition work to do - all the hardstandings have to be broken up, as do the old foundations. But we are under way at last!

Project planning

The past few weeks has seen the project plan coming together nicely. 

The structural analysis work was completed back in March and the architectural work is similarly more or less completed. The project has been registered with the council's building control department so there are no further administrative tasks outstanding. 

The grand plan

One problem that has exercised me is what to do with all the stuff that is in the garage and summerhouse. Most of the summerhouse stuff is garden furniture that with the better weather can now be outside. 

A cunning plan was hatched by my builder to move the summerhouse away from the construction work area, onto the patio, so it can be used to store garage stuff. I must confess that I had my reservations as to the feasibility of moving such a large structure intact but I reckoned without the capabilities of four strapping lads and sure enough it was quickly repositioned within a couple of hours this morning.

The summerhouse repositioned and repurposed as a temporary store

This leaves the work area clear and I can now take my time shifting the garage paraphernalia into the summerhouse. It's an opportunity for a good clear out too, after 25 years of accumulating stuff that might, one day, be handy but which is then never looked at again.

Demolition work will likely commence before the end of April with the first item on the agenda the removal and safe disposal of the asbestos roof material on the garage. Around the same time the existing double garage door will be removed and taken away for servicing, to be reinstalled on the new garage in due course.

It's starting to feel real now, almost 10 months after the original idea was born.