Tea time over I took these high level shots to show the trenches all filled. Philippe and I then turned our attention to removing the rest of the first floor (or at least the bits that were supported by the stone wall that the contractors will be removing first thing next week).

I remove a line of planks then sawed through the joists with the chainsaw. Net result was good and quick!

Could not do the same here though as the chain saw had had enough and decided to take a rest. So I manually lifted the boards, many of which were rotten, until we could access the joist that supported the floor between the wall and the intermediary beam. They were fairly (worryingly) mobile and came up fairly easily.

The floorboards all went on the fire but the joists were reclaimed by Philippe who wanted them for fire wood. Got them over to his garden and he will saw them over the next few days. Last thing we tidied up the interior of the building and stored all my tools and furniture outside in the back garden to give the contractors free access for their start on site.

Building cleared, trenches marked with posts and the fire nearly dead we finally stopped for the day.

A HUGE thank you to Philippe, without whom I would never have met the deadline for the builders.