Water Mill Blog
Rotten Floor 27th November 2007

This entry in the Water Mill Blog covers a quiet Tuesday, with only a small team on site.

Martyn, Dave, Richard and Kim spent the day working on and underneath the hay loft floor. Firstly they carried out a visual examination of the floor joists, checking anything suspect for condition.

At the end of this process we had a list of timber that we will need to repair the rotten floor and Martyn spent some time phoning possible suppliers getting prices.

There turned out to be quite a difference between the highest and lowest so it was worth making the calls.

During the morning we had an unexpected visit from a group who we believe call themselves "The Old Farts Club" and Richard spent a few minutes walking them round the outside of the mill and the pool, giving them a bit of the history of the site and the restoration. He also gave a plug for this web site and the Water Mill Blog, of course.

After an early lunch we made a start on lifting the rotten floor. We began with the most obviously decayed section near the door from the hay-loft steps. Fortunately we have large sheets of thick plywood available to work on because it soon became clear that the old boards are in very poor condition.

It really shouldn't be possible to break a ten inch by one inch thick floorboard with one hand! This area of floor is covered by a layer of mud and this must have been holding damp against the wood before the roof was repaired. The undersides of the boards are not too badly decayed but the other surface is like sponge.

The mud is now dry and it all made for dusty working as you can see from the bright spots in the picture.

The weather had been overcast all day and the light was fading badly by half past three so we decided to call it a day while we could still see to tidy up.

Go to the next entry by clicking here.

Click to see the previous Water Mill Blog entry

supp

Go to the Home Page