Digging Deeper

The ground floor excavation has reached its deepest to date, with most of the downstairs completed. The 20 cubic yard roll on skip continues to fill on a daily basis.

Hallway:

Groud floor return:

The remnants of the Victorian drain running under the return:

The collection of animal bones continues to grow, including a porcelain dolls head:

And I've started painting again on the top floor stair ceiling, quite the job getting close to it:

Ground Floor Excavation Continues

The digging continues for another day, with good progress being made. The depth of the ground now is approx 24" below the original floorboard height:

From reading several instances online, my feeling is that the concrete slab in the rear room diverted moisture that would otherwise rise up through the floorboards, into the surrounding walls, hence the damp line on the walls and plaster. The lime and red brick that comprises the inner walls is quite damp to the touch:

There is the remainder of a pipe coming from the street, up through the soil in the below picture. Not quite sure what it is yet:

Below the fireplace in the front room:

This excavation has filled a 14 cubic yard skip, a larger one is arriving tomorrow!

Ground Floor Works Begin

After a long break, work has started again. Over the next month, the heating system on the remaining ground and first floors will be completed, which involves the excavation of the entire ground floor of the house. This is so a very unique, breathable limecrete slab can be laid under the floorboards, which will incorporate the proposed under-floor heating system.

The first stage was to lift the floor boards carefully and store them off site. Next, excavation of the soil beneath begins, right down to foundation level. As detailed in previous posts, the ground floor rear room had a concrete slab installed by the previous owners, which has contributed to damp problems. It had to be broken up and removed also:

Note the short stone walls laid into the soil, to support the floor joists:

More bones in the front room:

The hallway: