Going, going, gone

A good day at the chateau today! We have just about stripped everything out of the rooms that we are renovating on the ground floor. So it is time to turn our attention to the rooms above on the first floor. To this end we now have to remove a few ceilings that are

either too low or in such a bad state of repair they need to come down. Oscar continues to remove the second modern fireplace whilst Michelle keeps literally chipping away at the outside walls - to prepare them for re pointing. So this left Mark, Eduardo & Klaus with the fun job of knocking out a floor / ceiling. 

More play than work for them! This room dates from the mid 1700's and was most likely for servants as it is of very basic construction. The ceiling being made from wattle & daub. The joists have wooden strips nailed between them which are then filled in with mud and straw. On the floor above clay tiles were then laid. Pretty basic and easy to remove! The floor tiles came up very easily and we have saved them to relay in the same room once we

have put in a solid, level floor. Once we removed the wattle & daub we found that one of the oak lintels above the door that supports one of the ceiling joists is very rotten. So a job for mark the carpenter and a good job that we found it! Now the first job tomorrow will be to take out all of the wood strips and mud that now cover the floor!