Lower Ground Level - It's progress from July - October 17th, 2009

We fired our builder at the beginning of August (August 10th to be precise) when we realized he was obviously taking us for a ride and unaware of many things regarding UK building regulations. I won't go into details, but let's just say we have learned our lesson and we are roughly two months behind on our build due to repairing damages and changing builder and team.

The following photos are of the LGL area to show the progress of this particular level. Each new post will be dedicated to a floor and it's history of progression.

LGL:

Stages of change & improvement

(below) The old joists before they were removed

(below) photos taken immediately after the ground floor joists were removed

Joists were removed from ground level (the reception)

(photos below taken Oct. 17th, 2009)

New joists were put in two months ago. The LGL has now been plaster boarded, wired with electricity and it's own alarm system, new & improved larger windows & new plumbing. We have decided that the LGL will be turned into a one bedroom flat that we will rent out. The house is too big for just the two of us, so we might as well make the most of it in terms of its investment potential. The flat will have an open-plan living room and kitchen (wall in center of flat is missing because of continued movement of materials on site), new bathroom, utility room, a bedroom and small study area with large skylight at the back of the flat for extra natural light. The space in the flat is roughly 62 square meters.

Demolition - August 11th, 2009

After removing the original wood floor planks (12 feet long) we decided to finally get rid of the original ground floor cornicing that seemed unsalvageable. It was a pity to lose it, but it was too difficult to save it after it had been so badly damaged by the builder (who we fired a few days prior to this video).

These are two small clips of the demolition that took place on August 11th. We were demolishing the ground floor ceiling from the 1st floor. An extremely dusty process, but quite therapeutic at the time.