RIPPING THE SPINE OUT OF THIS HOUSE BRICK BY BRICK 🧱🧱
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The video documents a renovation project involving the careful demolition of an old house's roof structure to remove chimney flues and ridge tiles. The team begins by assessing access issues, noting that high ceilings and dark conditions make working in the loft challenging without proper lighting or masks due to dust. A significant portion of their work involves removing bricks from the ground floor up through a window into a skip, while simultaneously dealing with an existing hole in the party wall next door which provides unexpected but messy access between properties. The workers express concern about sending people up narrow ladders during flu season and emphasize safety measures like wearing masks to avoid inhaling hazardous dust particles generated by breaking down old masonry.
As they progress through the roof, the team encounters structural complications where ridge tiles do not extend fully as expected, requiring them to temporarily prop sections with timber beams until new brickwork can be built underneath. They discover that some external render is stuck to the remaining wall skins, complicating removal efforts and necessitating a lintel installation later on. Despite these challenges, they manage to secure loose components by drilling screws into existing threaded crosses within the roof structure, ensuring stability before cutting back certain purlins with drills. The process involves constant communication between workers below passing materials up while those above dismantle sections of brickwork, occasionally dropping debris that requires sweeping and hoovering once operations pause.
The demolition continues as they remove a radiator blocking their path and prepare to tackle power lines embedded in the remaining wall structure. Realizing they may lack sufficient acrows for propping unstable purlins, one worker plans to return home quickly if neighbors cannot lend equipment. Throughout the chaotic yet methodical process of stripping bricks layer by layer, the team maintains awareness of potential hazards such as falling objects down chimneys and snapping off external fixtures that could damage the building's render. By systematically clearing debris from the loft floor and managing loose header bricks with temporary supports, they aim to complete this extensive removal task before moving on to rebuilding or further modifications to the property.
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I can see downstairs now. Oh.
Ah.
I thought it would take you a while.
Jeez.
We've already hit a speed bump.
That paneling does not go through.
>> Ridge.
>> Ridge. Oh, that's the paneling, isn't
it?
>> Yeah. I'm not going up there.
In the dark.
>> [sighs]
>> This is your job as an FYI.
Great access, isn't it?
>> If you send them all up there with the
potentially the flu you're sending them
up there in the chimney.
>> So, this is
>> So, this.
>> So, I've got ground floor, floor one.
And then Yeah, up in the
>> [laughter]
>> loft first.
So, there's a ladder and
And there's access.
>> [cough]
>> Great access, yeah.
Hm?
>> No easy access for the old man.
>> No, high ceilings, aren't they?
>> I have to just get up there.
>> We've not got the light with us. We're
going to get up there and see what's
what.
We're going to run out of skip pretty
quick today, so
we'll be working until the skip is full.
The idea was to take this window out and
just chuck it out.
>> Stuff out?
>> Oh, yeah. I suppose we could. Just be
chucking out that window.
>> Yeah, but there's just bricks, yeah?
>> Chuck a load out. Rearrange and go down
and rearrange it.
Yeah, that's not bad. Just have to be
careful chucking stuff. It's got a nice
soft landing when it's landing, so that
opens right out, so that's perfect.
>> No worries.
>> No need to mess around with the glass.
>> We're doing a sealer here.
>> Still wall?
>> No, the walls are
That's wall's done.
>> All right.
>> That wall is
about here.
>> All right.
>> It's in line with that wall. That's
where it stood.
It's a very old house. It's been messed
around with.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> You've got this to get off as well. We
can sort that out.
Just turn the valves off. And take it
off the wall.
That's the top.
>> Yeah.
What about
a mile from Farmer Ged's? Which is about
over there somewhere.
Which hopefully
I'll get to do before we get it gets
fixed.
>> Well, then
>> I don't want to miss that this year.
Here you go.
You want the torch?
>> Uh please, yeah. I'm going up there.
In the dark.
Do a check for me
>> of the 50 safety
demonic.
>> It's a big torch.
>> Put it out.
>> Hey.
>> That's a big torch.
>> Jesus. It's a quick mechanic.
>> Oh, swap you.
Ooh.
That's us.
Not that.
Over there.
>> Could you have said that?
>> Well, I like that. There's not a lot to
do up here, is there?
But there's a If you look through there,
the party wall between next door and
this house
has a hole in it. So, you can get
through to next door's roof.
>> door?
>> No, not that one. The next one after it.
>> All right. I don't want to go down
there.
>> So, that's us. We need to get that
insulation off.
And that's the chimney behind it. Cuz
it's um
it was taken down long before we came.
You need to set this tripod up
somewhere.
>> What are you even doing?
>> Downstairs.
>> Oh.
I I thought I thought you'd done up
here,
judging by how bloody
black you were.
Do you think you're going to get through
here?
>> After you, won't we?
It's going to be me demolishing and
passing stuff to you, isn't it?
>> Or do you want it Do you want me to do
the demolishing?
>> I suppose so. Shouldn't be too hard.
Work from the top. It should just pop it
off.
>> I'm in a lot of I'm in disposable
clothes today, so
>> We should really have masks on straight
away up here.
>> Mhm.
>> Which one will that be?
>> You're just going to leave this up here?
>> Chuck it over there, yeah.
>> I hope that pearl in the the ridge goes
onto the outside skin.
>> I feel like I'm in the the intro of a
horror movie.
>> That's the right-hand side's the this
flue.
>> Um well, you hope this goes to the
outside.
>> Yeah.
>> Let me check.
>> See where the flue split?
That comes down into that room.
>> Um
yes, I think it does.
>> Good.
>> [cough]
>> Ah, pass me a mask and a hammer and
bolster then.
>> You need to set that up somewhere.
>> And maybe like a spot board or something
just to sit on.
>> Yeah.
>> We've got a lot
>> [music]
[music]
>> The one character I was lucky enough to
put on the mask.
So
>> Mask.
>> Huh?
>> Mask.
>> I speak properly.
>> I speak clearer than you.
We've already hit a speed bump.
That paling does not go through.
>> Ridge.
>> Oh, that's the paling, isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> The ridge doesn't go all the way through
like I thought it did. It stops.
So once you take this out there's
nothing really holding it up this side.
Not until you get to over there.
So we're going to try and attach some
timber.
>> Fix some timber into the brickwork.
Piece of 3 by 2, 4 by 2.
Just temporarily temporarily
prop it until we can build the wall back
up underneath it.
>> Where's the wall being built?
>> See that skin? We have to take that skin
across.
>> All the way?
>> Yeah.
>> That's going to be fun.
>> All the way down?
To the floor?
Going to have a big scar on the end of
this building.
Luckily the outside render is so it's
nice and stable.
>> Yeah.
So customer's just been gone to the barn
to get some timber for us.
Got three grabbers there to
put that in there.
Drill, impact.
So just pop those two up.
Make sure the goes down. That's it.
I can go in now.
>> It wants to go back a touch, doesn't it?
I'm worried about that brick edge.
Just be mindful where all the shit's
going. Try and then try and then
Don't let it go down that flue. Let it
go down that flue to the the main one.
Just give it a tap.
That's it.
Come back this way a bit with the
bottom.
That way.
That way. Okay. Put it in Put on the
wood.
Yeah. Sit Take it in the touch.
Now tap it out at the top. We'll put a
screw in that one.
It could do with a bit of a chamfer on
it, couldn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
45 Put 45° on it. Pass me that then.
I'll bring the screw up as well.
>> What this?
>> Yeah.
Not filming?
>> Yeah.
>> [music]
>> So
>> [clears throat and cough]
>> till we do that first. So I'll just get
So we took the brickwork out. All right,
so Alex HAS GOT SOME
I'M MOVING IT DOWN.
AND WE PUT THIS BRACING HERE.
Just give it a knock.
When we When we screwed it in, it it
lifted a bit so it wasn't touching. So
that's a good gauge for us when Alex
took the brickwork out that the ridges
are attached to. Is that a little piece
on the end of the ridge? It is, isn't
it?
>> That was where the other parts was.
>> Yeah, it's a What you're doing there
isn't isn't really doing much because
it's a little piece stuck on the end.
>> Huh, yeah. The screws though.
They're not there.
>> Yeah,
it's just a What we're doing You might
as well leave that, mate. It's not No
point putting any more in cuz it's doing
nothing.
>> You sure?
>> Yeah, cuz that's just a little piece
stuck on the end.
The ridge ends above the brickwork.
We'll have to get Neil to splice
something onto that. But anyway,
the good news is when we took all that
out,
give that a good
wooden knock.
If it If anything moved, that would have
set down on the brickwork. So
everything's absolutely solid.
So trying to get Alex to knock the
mortar down into the chimney,
all the loose stuff, so we're not
dropping it all over the loft and the
floor.
And I'm taking it down
through to the front bedroom and out the
window into the skip.
>> Give me some dust. I'll sweep the hoover
up and over it.
>> Yeah, there's quite a bit of tidying up
to do up here.
Pass those screws so they don't go
missing now.
>> So,
we'll say back a couple of times that's
where Alex dropped this little bit.
And then
is that band bonded in that?
That bonded into the outside.
>> What?
>> No, it's not, is it? Some of them are.
>> That's outside.
>> Yeah.
But does it does the head of this
sticking into the wall there?
>> Yeah, there's the occasional
>> We'll have to be careful with them
putting them snapping them off so they
don't
disturb the render outside.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, cuz this is the outside skin
again, which is not what we wanted, but
>> And the last time we did that
>> Yeah, we had to set the bricks out. We
had to put a lintel on the outside skin.
Just telling the customer about that
yesterday.
So, yeah, anyway,
it's propped, but it's doing nothing cuz
it didn't need propping cuz it's not
moving.
>> It's all aligned.
>> We've got that propping there just in
case anything doesn't move.
So, as you can see there, that's where
the two
Ow. Just a minute.
What's your ladder?
>> Oh.
>> It did all the house is open downstairs,
you see. So, you can see all the
gathering in there where Alex has come
with the chip comes across to the left
and comes across to the right.
Meets in the middle and goes out the
roof, but that's been gone gone a while.
So, um
Yeah, a lot of bricks to take out.
Not much room in the skip.
So, we'll go back on time lapse and then
I'll start moving some of this.
>> [music]
[music]
>> Woo!
>> [clears throat]
[snorts]
>> Well,
she showed up too.
>> [clears throat]
>> There we go.
Quite a lot. We're going to leave this
in
but it's quite self-supporting and every
it's got a threaded crosses in every so
often, so
that's nice and strong.
Even the glue pieces are. So, that's
staying in. That's staying in.
Cuz we're at a point now where
we're getting to this purlin, so maybe
we can cut them back with a drill or
something.
But for now, we're going to leave them
in.
So, yes.
I can see downstairs now.
Huh?
>> [music]
[music]
>> Huh.
>> We're officially
all OVER THE WORLD.
AND NOW WE JUST STUFF IT ALL THIS DOWN
HERE.
It wasn't meant to do.
Like we say, that skin staying in,
especially cuz the peel is stuck on that
skin.
We're going to take this one out because
it's stuck
on that one.
>> [music]
[music]
>> Looking good.
We're a bit iffy about this
cuz
there's not a lot of
header bricks now, so there's a
it's looking more loose.
So, we're thinking
about bringing some acrows with us and
propping the purlin up and whatever you
before we take it all out. Cuz we have
to take some of it out now
and like build it back up with the
blocks so it's a bit more sturdy. I'm
going to change rooms real quick.
But,
we're getting there. Next up is to get
that radiator out cuz it's in the way.
And not do what I did. I
assumed it was already disconnected and
tried to yank it out.
Don't do that.
Always check.
So, that's just getting the stuff now.
We'll get that rad moved and then we can
carry on
getting out around
where the power line is.
And then I think that's actually if the
someone we know
relatively close by has any acros.
If they do, great. If not, we'll have to
nip home and grab some.
Oh, yeah.
>> [sighs and gasps]
>> Oh.
I like it.
See you in a bit.
Ah.
That's what took you a while.
>> Huh?
>> That's why it took you a while.
>> Jeez.
Can you push the brush down somehow?
Just about.
What hole?
Are you going to do it?
Just do it.
The good thing is you're not going to
ruin your carpet.
>> Yeah.
>> All right, you ready?
>> Yep.
>> All right.
Are you ready? Yep.
And take pull your Make sure you pull
your top off.
>> Hm?
>> the top off.
>> Please.
>> It's It's fitting inside.
I I got mine off.
I got mine off. 1 2
I got mine off.
Do you want?
Get out.
What?
It was awful, man.
You got yours off, man?
>> [music]
[music]
>> Hey.
>> [music]
[music]
>> Hey.