Strip Down

March 2004

 The door and all glass was removed over a couple of days then the concrete floor infill broken up and removed. I started at the end of last summer so only managed to get the front stripped of paint with an angle grinder and all the putty removed from the panels. No pins and frames on this one (no holes for them either) as it was constructed during or just after the war and any extra bits of metal were excluded for use in military production. (Thanks for the info Ron)

Mayday bank holiday 2004

 I had only 1 day to do every job outside the house due to the rain on Saturday and Monday, so the box only got 2 hours of the day.I finished off the front paint removal and got about half of one side stripped. The hardest part on this side was the crown as there was so much paint on it that you couldn't make out any proper detail at all. Out with the wire brush attachment for the angle grinder and that sorted most of it. It will need sand blasting or a quick swab in Nitromores but I'll leave that till the end when I blow over the whole lot with a low pressure sand blaster to even out the finish and get into all the small places the grinder couldn't get to.

Saturday 8th May 2004

Managed to get the side cleaned of paint, in between rain showers. Quite quick this time, it only took an hour or so. I started the door frames but the weather got the best of me in the end, still not much to go now.

Sunday 9th May 2004

Only a couple of hours before the rain set in again but just enough time to break the back of the last side, just leaving the inside of the door frame and a bit on the base to clean up.

Friday 17th June 2005

Almost back to square one as over a year of rain and surface rust have past. With loads of help from my friend Andy we set about the box again. The weekend passed and we had some primer on all the exposed and cleaned off panels so at least that won't need doing again. Just the back panel and a final clean up of the door left now.