January 13th 2020

[M] The scaffolding went up in a day and a half and then it started raining so we've just been pottering inside over the weekend, however today was dry. I've been a bit worried about today because today we started stripping the slate off the roof which means that the inside of the house will be open to the elements from now on so there really is no going back. It looked awfully high from the ground and we were up there with lifelines and climbing harnesses along with crow bar and hammer but we quickly got used to it and the climbing harness was soon ditched. The first job was actually to take off the solar panels which, once we'd fathomed how they were fixed, was a much easier job than we expected. We then started on the slates which also came off quite easily and usually in one piece, which is good because we are hoping to re-use them. Not sure how long this is going to take but the weather looks settled for a few days and we've got three weeks before we have to have the job done (the removal of asbestos in the eaves is booked for first week of February) so we should have plenty of time.

You can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs!

[M] Poor Cragside is looking a little sorry for itself and, unfortunately for it, the worst is yet to come! Here are a few photos of it in its heyday:

And here are some more recent pictures:

January 8th 2020

[M] At the end of last week the asbestos removal man, Trevor, popped round with his mate Rob (who hales from Fife in Scotland and who will be the site supervisor for the asbestos removal work) to refresh his memory of the job. Things have moved fast since then and the scaffolding started going up today. It finally feels like we are making visible progress.