Structural struggles

I don't think either Jon or I quite realised the extent of the structural work that would be required on the house when we bought it. Or rather, how long it would take without builders dedicated to the job. But last weekend (fingers crossed), we finally finished!

The steels arrived 2 weeks ago. There were 4 needed for the bifold space downstairs (750kgs) and 10 for the attic/chimney support (700kgs). It took Jon and the two delivery blokes to manage to get them off the lorry and into the house. I was just glad our floors held under the weight!

This meant we could now knock down the back wall to create the bifold hole. Sounds easy right...?

First the windows and doors were removed.

Then, to support the weight of the back of the house (this thought terrifies me!), Jon attached a huge piece of timber to the wall, just above where we were going to create the main hole. He then made 4 small holes through the wall at the top and slid in steel beams (needles) which were supported with acro props on either side and some additional strong boys at the ends. He used a disc cutter to cut the vertical line in the wall on either side (our neighbours must hate us as it is seriously noisy), and then removed all the bricks.

All these bricks meant lots more tip runs for me - yay! I am on a first name basis with some of the guys there now, which is awkward as anything and makes me dread going each time.

Then, with the help of his old builder mate Les (aged 73!) and a beam lifter, he manoeuvred the steels into position. There was definitely more to it than that, but...too much detail!

What happened to the steels in the attic is much more of a mystery to me. Even with pictures I don't think it would really help me explain. We need steels here to pick up the 2 chimney breasts where all the bricks have been removed below and to support the floor for the new attic room, but I really have no idea how Jon got them in.

Somehow he managed to get them upstairs on his own using the beam lifter, up through the open ceiling into the attic. He cut out bricks from the appropriate places in the walls and manoeuvred the steels into positioned, bolting them together where needed.

Now, finally, I don't feel like the house might suddenly collapse if there's a strong gust of wind!