Down in the Basement - Part 1

Some weeks ago, we had a couple of mates visiting who, in exchange for good food and company were put to hard work in the basement.

When this house was built in 1952, dried Clay was used as an insulation means between the basement and the house above. This was filled in on top of the ceiling before the floor boards were laid.

Whilst this does insulate to some extent, it is not as good as modern insulation and it invariably sinks leaving an air gap and hence, cold floors. This job has always been on the cards, and having a little one crawling about seemed like an important reason to do something about it.

So, once our guests had removed all the internal walls, shelves and so on,

leaving a clear (ish) working area.

We did our best to seal up the other half of the basement, got our PPE on (it's incredibly dusty work) and set to work.

The pile of timber at the end of the basement grew,

As did the clay in the trailer.

and after 7 hours, with one break for a drink and a new set of overalls and masks the job was done.

After an estimated 4 tons of clay was carried out of the basement and that's only half of it, I am truly grateful and in debt to my assistants, they worked heroically and once we had decided that we would get the job done, they wern't going to leave without doing it. All thanks and credit to them.

Saying that, I think I'm going to have to find someone else to help with the other half, I'm not sure they be so keen to visit again if that's on the menu!!