Looking .....

..... up.

Yesterday I mentioned I was going to make a start on turning my loft space in to a handy storage space and today that work started.

In the 12 years I've lived in my house I've been up in the loft space of my house a grand total of two times . The first time there was no access in to the loft and I had to create a small hatch so that the electrician could get up there whilst my house was being rewired and to allow me to get up there and put some fibreglass loft insulation in before I moved in . The second time was to put a TV ariel up there a couple of years later, that ariel had been defunct for about 6 or 7 years now as I attached a better quality ariel to my cimney pot when I had my chimney lined for a woodburning stove.

The top floor of my house takes up part of the pitch of the roof with dormer rooms at the front and back but this still leaves a fairly decent sized loft at about 7' front to back and 15' wide, plenty of room for handy storage. Today I bagan the first stage of converting the loft. I've spent all day bagging up loft insulation and sweeping up over 100 years worth of soot and dust and all the old flaunching cement that had fallen and gathered on top of all the old lath and plaster ceilings.

There are only ceiling joists to stand on so I've had to be carefull not to end up falling through the ceilings. It has to be one of the most uncomfortable jobs I've ever done, resting on thin joists sweeping up an inch thick layer of dust, soot and rubble off the uneven surface of wooden lats and ridges of plaster poking through.
Once all the gaps between the joists has been cleared out I then had to take down the old ceiling over the hallway. Anyone who has had a lath and plaster ceiling taken down will know how messy that job is and when everything in dropping down over three floors the mess just spreads.

By the end of the day I looked like I had been working doen a coal mine with all the soot on my face ( before you ask I did wear a mask the whole time ) and it took me a couple of hours to tidy up all the wooden lats and rubble that came down with the ceiling.

The next job is to cut in to the joists and make frame to fit the new loft hatch and ladder. I also have to insulate the loft and board it out then put up a new ceiling. Fun fun fun ! This photo is a view looking up at where my landing ceiling used to be. I'll blip the finished storage space, hopefully some time in the not too distant future. So today's blip is .....


..... Looking up.