Demolishing the Old Verandah

Once upon a time our home was little, before we added a huge home to it. Building our ‘new home’ has been our focus for the past decade and blending the old and new has never been fully completed.

Demolishing the old verandah is part of the process to complete the blending of the ‘two houses’, then we can finish painting the ‘old house’.

A couple of weekends ago, whilst the verandah was being completed out the back, the rest of the workforce was demolishing the old verandah out the front.

First step was the removal of the posts.

The roofing iron had been removed years back, so as we pulled up the decking boards we sadly discovered that many boards were destroyed by white ants or rot.

We intend on reusing the decking boards for a pontoon on the dam, though were only able to save about half the boards.

The boards under the eaves weren’t rotten, so they are now stacked and waiting for the pontoon build.

The joists had not been painted, without weather protection they were all rotted and non-salvageable.

We were unimpressed that the joists had been attached with no bracing and only a nail to each beam. They literally fell off with a tap.

With a team of six we quickly formed a regular rhythm; hit, lift, throw, sort, remove to bonfire or wood stack. Back and forth we went.

Finally all the timber was removed. then it was time for the final clean up.

Michelangelo 22, was unimpressed to discover the piers were filled with rubble not cement! No wonder they just crumbled apart.

Jem 13, was keen to learn how to use the angle grinder.

Now to paint the external, finalising the ‘one house’ unification. First we need to build new piers further back under the house, so the weathertex can continue down the wall.

We can’t believe the difference it makes to have the old verandah gone.