Hidden Away in a Small Wooded Corner
Hidden away in a small wooded corner at the bottom of our garden are the abandoned remains of this tiny house. To be honest, it doesn’t look like much. The roof has mostly collapsed, the windows and doors have rotted away, and it’s clearly been left for a long time.
I Can’t Resist Trying to Bring It Back to Life
But there’s just something [music] about it, and I can’t resist trying to bring it back to life. In this first episode, I’ll be removing all the years of rot and debris and stripping the house back to its bare essentials.
Let’s Get on With Some Demolition
While I’ve got a couple of projects under my belt, I’ve never attempted anything [music] like this before, so it’ll definitely be a huge challenge. But enough of my yabbering. Let’s get on with some demolition. [music]
Some Old Maps From the 1800s
We found some old maps from the 1800s that show the building and all the paths that lead to and from it, which is pretty cool and means that it’s at least 150 years old. We don’t know for sure, but I’d guess that it was a gardener’s outbuilding.
The First Course of Action
Structurally, the walls are in pretty good nick, but the roof has mostly fallen in, and the inside is full of debris, rotting wood, and damp plasterboard. So, the first course of action is to remove all of that junk so we can get a better idea of what we’re working with.
The Most Amazing Off-Grid Home Office Come Studio
I work a lot from home and I’m a musician, so my dream is to turn this derelict ruin into the most amazing off-grid home office come studio, complete with solar power, log burner, and of course, a drum kit. But there’s a lot to do before we can get to that.
A Weird Alcove
The interior is roughly 3 and 1/2 by 2 m, but there’s also a weird alcove that’s approximately a meter square with a curved roof and an opening at the top. It’s built in a different style to the main walls, so I imagine it was a later addition, but why someone decided to add it is beyond me. If you’ve got any thoughts, please pop them in the comments below, as I’d love to know.
Some Sort of Hillbilly Caravan Park in the Garden
Most recently, the building was a toilet shower block, as the previous owners of our house used to have some sort of hillbilly caravan park in the garden. But over the past couple of decades, it’s gradually fallen into disrepair. There are two cubicles separated by a concrete block wall, which we’ll knock down to create one big room, as it would have been originally.
It’s Time to Clean the Toilet
It’s quite amazing how thick the floor is with leaves, plasterboards, and other debris, but it doesn’t take long to scrape up. Next, it’s time to clean the toilet, which I was expecting to be a worse experience than it actually ended up being.
Where All the Stuff Used to Go Is Beyond Me
The house does have a drainage system, but we’re 99% certain there isn’t a septic tank in this part of the garden, so where all the stuff used to go is beyond me. Then I can do the same for the sink, as well as taking out the mirror.
Only a Little Dribble Rather Than a Full-On Flood
After cutting away the pipes to the sink, I can remove it.I hadn’t anticipated finding any water, but there was some. Luckily, it was just a small trickle instead of a complete deluge, though.
A Meeting With the Hammer
I did try to take a more elegant approach removing the toilet, but it was stuck solidly, so a meeting with the hammer was the only option. Next, I scraped the naked plasterboard off the walls, starting with the concrete one that will eventually be removed, followed by the main exterior wall, which with any luck will stay.
The Bits You Want to Keep Disintegrate
Given how rotten everything was, it basically just fell out, which was most welcome. As usual with old restorations, the bits you want to keep disintegrate, while the bits you want to remove are rock solid.
We Can Move on to the Other Side
With the first cubicle complete, we can move on to the other side. This one has even more scraps of wood stored in it, most of which are in decent nick. So, we’ll set them aside for another day. Then I can once again scrape the decades of yuck from the floor.
Being the Weed That I Am
The toilet on this side still had its old header flush tank thing, which needed to be removed. So it was a great excuse to crack out the angle grinder again. And in hindsight, I should have realized that the tank would be cast iron and extremely heavy. But I didn’t. And being the weed that I am, I promptly dropped the whole thing.
Before I Smashed up the Final Toilet
This side also had a shower, which was heated up by this water tank. So after a bit of a tussle with that, it could be removed as well before I smashed up the final toilet. More plasterboard to remove now, which was in even worse condition than the other side.
Old and Absolutely Knackered
But once that was done, you can really start to see how much character this place has. Character being the polite restoration word for old and absolutely knackered. Speaking of old and knackered, please allow me to introduce you to the roof.
Very Satisfying
It’s constructed with corrugated iron sheets on the top and wooden boards underneath, all of which are thoroughly corroded and rotten. The roof at the back is in far worse condition than the front for some reason. So, it only took a couple of whacks with the crowbar for everything to collapse in on itself. Very satisfying.
The Roof Is Mostly Held up by Habit
I then had to remove some of the branches and shrubbery to get access to the rest of the roof, which I probably should have done first, but I was just too excited to get on with the demolition. As you can see, the roof is mostly held up by habit, so a little persuasion was all it needed to soften in.
Off to the Scrap They Will Go
With the back roof sorted in record time, I moved on to the front, which, as I said, is a bit more solid, but still in dire need of replacing. I would have loved to have reused some of the sheets if possible, but there’s barely anything left of them. So, off to the scrap they will go.
The Crowbar Was Definitely Man’s Best Friend
After removing the first couple of sheets, I then had space to clamber up onto 30 cm thick walls, which made it much easier to rip out the remaining panels. The crowbar was definitely man’s best friend here, and it made light work of everything that I threw at it.
Fell out Like a Loose Denture
Just look how sorry the roof looks now. So much so that I won’t show you its final tragic moments, but will instead cut to me removing this cast iron guttering and drainpipe, which simply fell out like a loose denture.
There’s a Long Way to Go Yet
From this angle, you can really start to get a better idea of the space. And despite the long road ahead of us, I’m genuinely very excited. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, as there’s a long way to go yet.
It Was Absolutely Solid
The last remaining remnant of the toilet block was the concrete wall. So, it was time to turn our attention to that and make this space whole again. With most of the other bricks and stone basically falling out, I was hoping for the same here, as I was very keen to reuse these concrete blocks, but not too fast. It was absolutely solid.
A Fruitless Venture
I initially tried the good old tested method of tapping it with the hammer to loosen the mortar, but the blocks disintegrated. Then I thought I’d try and create a fault line in the mortar with the angle grinder, but sadly this turned out to be a fruitless venture, too.
I Set About Blasting Everything to Bits
So, resigned to not being able to reuse the bricks, I set about blasting everything to bits. We do have a big lump hammer somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. So, instead, I’m using the blunt end of the maul, which is basically the same thing.
I Quite Like These Brick Gable Ends
I’ll still reuse the obliterated blocks where I can, most likely the larger ones for walls and hardcore for the smaller bits. I quite like these brick gable ends, so I’m planning to keep them. But this one in particular got rather jiggled about when I was removing the roof.
The Mortar Just Crumbles to Dust
I therefore decided to take it down and we’ll then rebuild it once we’ve got the roof on. And would you look at that? The mortar on these ones just crumbles to dust, which is rather typical. On the plus side, at least I’ll be able to salvage the bricks.
A Couple of the Biggest Offenders
I love having all the trees and greenery around the house, as it makes it feel so magical. But there are a few bigish branches that lean right over the house, and I would hate to have completed everything only for one of them to fall on it. So, I decided to selectively take down a couple of the biggest offenders. [screaming]
This Dubious Ladder Contraption
The access isn’t particularly easy, but thankfully I can lash a ladder to this random but convenient telegraph pole, and then I can carefully trim away with our electric chainsaw. There’s absolutely no way that I’d use the petrol one while dangling around on this dubious ladder contraption, but it feels reasonably safe with the electric one.
This Feels Like a Great Start
With everything now taken out, you can really start to get a feel for the space, and it looks amazing to my eyes. Anyway, clearly we’re a long way off being done, but this feels like a great start.
How Much Stuff Has Come out of It
And it’s quite incredible how much stuff has come out of it. There’s the soil and rubbish from the floor, the totally knackered wood that’s only good for a bonfire, the slightly less knackered wood that we’ll reuse, old picket fence slats, concrete blocks, more okayish wood, the cast iron toilet, bricks, everything including the kitchen sink.
Completely Different Heights
One thing that did catch me by surprise is that the two floors, which were presumably laid in more recent years, are actually completely different heights. It’s slightly annoying, but far from the end of the world.
I Also Need to Decide What to Do With the Arch
I also need to decide what to do with the arch. Initially, I was thinking of leaving it in place, but seeing the building empty now has given me a better idea of the space. My current thoughts are therefore to take it out along with the rest of the back wall, dig out the soil, and rebuild the wall so it runs straight across the back.
Does That Seem Like a Good Idea?
This would also have the added benefit of making the whole room less narrow and therefore more able to fit a drum kit, sofa bed, desk, and whatever other junk I decide to throw in here. What do you reckon? Does that seem like a good idea?
I’ll Cross That Bridge in the Next Episode
I’ll cross that bridge in the next episode, though. So, until then, I hope you’ve enjoyed this video, and hopefully I’ll see you in the next one. [music]
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