Another weekend at Whitby and I’ve peeled back some more layers to reveal more of cottage’s past. First on the list was re-bodging the plumbing in the bathroom so it will still function, toilet, sink and cold tap as we do need a minimum of on site welfare provision. These I can strip out again as and when I’m fixing the floor.

So now the floor is clear of pipework even if you do need to step over the pipes in front of the door.  With this shifted I could carefully lift the next layer of floor consisting of 12″ wide boards, these are now stacked ready for re-use.

Floor under floor under floor

What’s left of the original floor after the woodworm has had their fill is now visible and only accessible with great caution and a something to spread my weight.  Some old bits of chipboard are now down so we can get to the toilet and sink.

Next on the list was to remove cracked 1 1/2″ cement render from the window wall in the bathroom. And away came the loose bricks with it. So I jacked the lintel up over the window and started working back to solid brick work.  I didn’t find any so stopped before I ran out of wall completely.  The benefit of this is, we can now see all of the spur coming of the cruck frame that goes in to the wall.  I can also feel around the base of cruck all of which I’m sure the YVBSG will be extremely interested in when they come next week.

The spur from the cruck frame going in to the outer wall

Whilst I still had some energy left I cleared out the second fireplace. Giving me plenty more rubble to fill the space left after a couple of earlier dump runs.  Now I can see what needs doing to it, luckily no where near as much as the downstairs fireplace need.  We intend having a small stove in there but as yet we have no idea about the fire surround – Any suggestions welcome –

Fireplace two with all the rubble and fire back removed

Then I took out some stud work at the side of top flight of stairs and did some much needed tidying up. It’s ready now for the first few days of our “summer holidays”.  Although I’ll only be going down to the beach for a wash.