Taking Down the Ceiling

We have a rat infestation, dodgy electrics and a leaking ceiling roof. Additionally, the ceiling has a foot wide patch of mould stretching the whole length of the kitchen where the leak has been unchecked for the last couple of years. We decided to strip the ceiling right back for a number of reasons:-

• It would give us a clear view of what is underneath
  • Electrics: It’s hard to trust the electrics in a house where every lifted floorboard reveals another butchered or rat-chewed wire.
  • A leak that has been left for 2 years has probably caused some damage in terms of rotting beams and timbers (fingers crossed here – this could be expensive!)
• The smell from the kitchen tells us that there is a dead rat somewhere up there
• The ceiling itself is in a state of disrepair. There were holes, hatches and patches all over the place. Anything other than a new ceiling would be like putting lipstick on a pig.

PPE

Luckily for us, my Dad had sent a bunch of paper suits, dust masks and some goggles. Amanda had also picked up some toxic grade dust masks from Screwfix. It turned out this was essential, the insulation was prickly and really got everywhere and there was a ton of rat poo and dust up there, I’m really pleased we went down this route, I think our clothes would have been ruined and the skin irritation would have been far worse.

What we found

Electrics

Not unsurprisingly we found a whole bunch of electrical nightmares. We’ll know more when we get the surveyor and an electrician in, but there were bare wires left hanging and apparently unterminated, it appears that the wrong grade of wire had been used for sockets and lighting and the rats had chewed up a lot of the wires both for the lighting and the circuit main. Scary stuff!

Wood

We were pleasantly surprised by what we found. Despite years of damp and leakage, there appears to be very little damage to the timber. In one section the rats have had a good gnaw at a beam which will need fixing but other than that we’re all good!

Leaks

There hasn’t been time to explore this yet, but we have seen water coming in and sections of roofing felt in need of repair so I’m confident that we’ll be able to sort this out very soon.

Rats

Yup, one big, fat, decomposing rat. That was definitely responsible for the smell. We have to be careful when disposing of the poisoned rats. If the chickens, cats or other wildlife eat them they will suffer the same fate. I’ve also heard that a bird can be poisoned by eating an insect that has eaten the rat! So these guys are being secured in plastic and going straight into the regular waste.

Insulation

That kitchen was well insulated at some point. Unfortunately most of the insulation had been chewed up by the rats and was full of rat poo and urine. As you would expect this was somewhat smelly and made getting it down pretty unpleasant.

Disposing of Plasterboard and Insulation

We called Swansea Council about this and were told that both plasterboard and insulation are considered commercial waste regardless of who is disposing of it.  We, therefore, need to pay to dispose of both of these items. Plasterboard is toxic so has to be disposed of carefully at a cost of £150 per ton. I’m not sure how much we have but it won’t come to anything like a ton.

Amanda looked into getting a skip and came across Simon from Bont Skips, who remembers Joy Griffiths – the third owner of Hendre Fawr before us. He remembers swimming in the pool here and even knew Delme and the Willams brothers (our closest neighbours). He gave us a great quote for a skip and said he would drop it off and not worry about how long we had it.

I don’t think we have nearly enough waste for a skip yet so are probably going with the first option for now.