Cutting a loft hatch!

After 2 days of waiting the joiner finally turned up with a hand cart holding all his tools. Off upstairs he went and started to cut the hole only for many many years of soot to come pouring out of the loft onto him! He looked like he'd been down t'pit. He did say he was expecting it as he'd worked on lots of old houses in the area.

So we got our first look into the loft to see how the chimney sits with respect to the load bearing wall. As expected it was sat over the rear of the 2 bedrooms. This would be important if we were going to remove the chimney breasts in the front rooms.

The hatch now in place and a good job done by a local tradesman, well worth the wait. No point cleaning up yet as more stuff to be done and a chap coming to discuss the heating solution for the cottage.