The first step was to have the asbestos removed. In our case, the good old 'fibro-cement' sheets that we all used to play with as kids, needed to be removed. They were only present under the eaves. So it was a fairly simple process.
I went to pick up some paper in the letterbox, and I found out that it was their site operations guide/details; just in case WorkSafe stopped by. By the end of the first day, they had completed their work.
The following day was there the skirting boards and architraves were removed. The concrete roof tiles had also reached the end of their operational lives, so no salvage value and there were also removed.
Then the next crew came through and they removed all of the wood (that was usable). This included the floor boards (with a chainsaw!) What was left over was to go to the tip.
Over the weekend the digger was floated in.
The demolition itself was scheduled to start at 7am on Monday. My boys, and to be truthful, myself as well, could not wait!
We really had to make sure that it all came down before the National Trust got a hold of that picture on the wall (comprised of 6 A2 pictures wallpapered onto the wall).
It was raining slightly when we got there. Fortunately, it had stopped by the time we actually started.
By the end of the first day, it was just a pile of rubble. What was once a happy home of 50 odd years was gone.
The rubble had to be sorted into different piles as each pile (brick, concrete and the rest) each went to a different location. The house could have been brought down in 20 minutes, but to demolish and sort it took around 3 hours.
By the end of the first day, we still had a lot to do, mostly the driveways and other concrete bits.
By the end of the second day, most of the remaining rubble had been removed.
Here is some video.
On the morning of the third day, it was pretty much done. I arrived in the morning to see some expert backing up of a long trailer and the final load being loaded.
And for the boys.
There was considerable rock in the loads, as they had bound in with the concrete footings. So hopefully given that some 70-80 tons of a double brick house had not moved at all in 50 years, that our slab will not either!
So, at the end of a week of effort, we are left with one very vacant looking block of land, which looks a lot bigger with nothing on it.
So, next step, the power pit! Ideally before the build starts, which is still due in February.
