Welcome to our blog.

This blog will follow the ultimate in home improvement: demolish and rebuild!

This is our starting point: a 1930s bungalow. While not a bad house; it is too small for us with three teenage children so what should we do? A full storey extension versus complete rebuild - ultimately the stronger eco-credentials and more certain finances of a new-build helped to guide our choice.

For a number of years we've been trying to find the right route for us to build an eco-friendly, low energy home. We tried various architects and building companies and have eventually settled with a German prefabricated build. The new house will be nearly to passivhaus standards (but not quite due to budget constraints). In any case, the house will be heavily insulated and airtight.

As a family, we have not built a house before so everything is new and exciting but the risk of making a mess of things is quite high!

This blog aims to outline the day to day steps involved in our build.

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Monster Mash!

What can I say? Within an hour of greeting the demolition guys, the site was barely recognisable. The front of the house had gone and we were looking into what was a bedroom.

Then they discovered that the ceiling and floor was riddled with woodworm, it looked like a teabag and crumbled in an instant! So much for the survey we had before we moved in! The demolition wasn't a moment too soon!



All the wood components of the house were separated into the large container. Guy was a dab hand with the grab arm, carefully separating the rubble into glass, metal, insulation, masonry, wood etc.


As Guy controlled the monster, Danny and Ian sorted out the smaller bits of rubble. Then more walls came down! Yippee!












It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it....




How's this for open plan: bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, garden?
Bath anyone?





Then the floor was gone!
It was all looking reminiscent of a sci-fi movie with the invasion of the monster with the killer grab arm, picking its prey. Just as well there was an action man around!


By the end of the day, all that was left standing was the sitting room, and a bit of the back wall with a view to the summer house, oops, site office!

As a little girl said when she scootered past after school,
"Woah! There was a house here, this morning!"

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