A gorgeous day dawns in Canberra as we get up at 6.00am, ready for the barrage of builders to arrive at 7.00am. You could set your watch to these guys. By 7.02am they are into it. More demolition, then a meeting to work out what needs to happen to keep our roof from collapsing. Then the rest of the day is pretty much, bang, bash, saw, hammer, nail. Slowly but surely our roof is reinforced, major structural beams are replaced and major load points are realigned. We are taking out three walls, so this work is critical.
The complexity of the task is amazing. First the roof needs help to stay up before removing any structural elements. So large metal struts ae placed in key locations. Then, once secure, parts of the old roofing structure are removed. Next comes the installation of new hard wood large pieces of wood. Very solid and very secure. These are affixed to the old roofing structure left in place. Once done the old walls are removed. Then a lot of checking and confirmation before the metal support struts are removed. A few creaks here and there as the new beams take the full load for the first time and Voila, and open floor plan is achieved.
The space is starting to open up and we walk around after the builders leave and imagine the new kitchen. We are only a week into the job and so much has changed and things look so different.
There is an ordered randomness to the works. Parts of Gyprock have bene removed here and there, but the new ceiling beams are perfectly aligned and straight. A part of a new wall has been erected, while other parts are partially demolished. A large jigsaw puzzle is slowly coming together.