10. At last. Some building.

Not much of the back of the house left at all now. Thank goodness for acrow props.

The trench is dug for the foundations which sees off skip number 9. The building inspector passes it off, although I did have to underpin the existing structure to make him happy.

3.5 cubic metres of concrete are barrowed in and levelled. Thanks to my dad again for his assistance there.

Finally some building starts. 3 brickies and a labourer make some decent progress.

By the end of day 1 we are half way there with the ground floor of the extension.

Day 2 sees most of the ground floor complete. The padstones are laid ready for the steel which should be arriving next week.

There is even time for some of the internal walls to be started. The bricks have been reclaimed from the walls which were knocked down.

I am happy with the progress and the standard of workmanship, and the brickies are happy they have some beer tokens for the sunny weekend ahead. Excellent.

9. More Demolition

Next stage, demolition of the existing lounge extension...

First the old timber floor comes up.

Then the cast-in-situ reinforced concrete lintel gets shoved off. All 12 feet of it. With a bit of a clatter.

Unfortunately we couldn't save the weighty oak framed window, despite having 4 volunteers at the ready. We had to let it go to avoid the risk of injury. At least the lead, steel and timber will be recycled.

The timber kitchen floor is also removed.

Not much of the old extension left as we say goodbye to skip number 7.

A hired breaker makes short work of the concrete lintel...

...and the concrete floors.

The old walls are taken down to below floor level and the old brickwork is toothed out ready to connect to the new extension. Skip 8 is full. And I am tired.

Next week, digging the footings and my first meeting with the building inspector. With a bit of luck.