WEEK 10 - Day 38 Removing Floorboards and Steel Delivery

The whole of the warehouse floor of Stove House 5 was removed today, allowing us to prepare to take away the floor joists and the the side walls.

The dismantling of the walls will begin with the east gable so that the scaffold team from H&E Scaffolding, Telford can insert lifting girders beneath the salt pan.

The floorboards rest on a timber beam laid over the joists, which are in fact second hand railway lines.

The floor boards have been affected by the process of drying the salt. The upper surface is very smooth, but the lower surface has had fibres drawn from the cell walls of the wood by the damp heat trapped between the floors as the salt dried over the flues.

The steel beams weigh almost 4 tons and were delivered from the Corus steel works at Scunthorpe.

They have been laid out alongside the salt pan ready to be inserted underneath for lifting the pan.
Following the lift next week the iron pan will be cleaned and prepared for a protective coat of paint.

Asbestos roof sheets were removed from above Warehouse and Stove areas 1 and 3. Stove 1 is the oldest part of the Lion Salt Works and has some difficult structural areas because it has been adapted and altered gretaly over its life. A scaffold walkway is being inserted and additional props to support the floor and roof areas.

Video for work completed on Day 21 to dismantle roof trusses has now been posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nizNmZ6RWA

WEEK 10 - Day 37 Dismantling Floorboards of Stove House 5

Work started today to dismantle the floorboards of Stove House 5. The boards are being lifted for replacement whn the building is rebuilt on new foundations in Phase 2. Following the removal of the boards the floor joists will be taken out and the outer walls will then be taken down brick by brick. There are over 400 boards to lift before lunchtime tomorrow.

Also posted today a movie prepared by APR Services to show the coverage obtained during their laserscan survey of the Stove House areas of SH 2,3, 4 and 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmRBwrhPs30m/watch?v=bmRBwrhPs30

The NW Industrial Archaeology Panel held their meeting at the Lion Salt Works today. Left to right: Ian Miller, Oxford Archaeology North; Julian Baum, Take 27; Mike Nevell, Salford University; PaulineWeb, Museum of Science & Industry Manchester; David George

WEEK 9 - Day 35 Removing Scaffolding, Racking and Other Works

Having removed the last roof trusses all the scaffolding erected inside the roof space can now be taken down. On Monday all the scaffold tubes above the warehouse floor will have been removed. The tubes and boards will now be used to build walkways and props within the main core of the salt works.
Looking from the north east the main salt works buildings can be seen through the scaffold tubes. The hatches allowing salt blocks to be 'lofted from the stove (hothouse or 'otters'- see below)' to the warehouse floor are covered with plyboard to avoid anyone falling though. The floorboards of the warehouse floor will be removed next week when we can show you the detailed construction of the flues within the stove area.

The scaffold racking is now being built to store the truss elements, roof boards and other structural pieces. As each timber is put into storage a condition report is made grading it with a recommendation as to whether it is OK to be re-used, if it needs a repair or if it should be used as a pattern for a new piece to be made.

Within the main complex 110volt festoon lighting allows the other stove ('otters') areas to be cleared of debris and supports to be inserted to the warehouse floor above. Compare these areas with the dismantled section of Stove House 5 over the coming weeks.
The Enabling Works will allow safe access to the architects to inspect these parts of the salt works so that we can prepare a schedule of works and go out to tender for repairs to costed in Phase 2. The Stove House has flues and ditches where the salt blocks were dried.
Within these areas the decades of salt build up in the ditches and ash in the flues will be cleaned out. The condition of the cast iron columns, which have deteriorated in the salt are of particular interest to the overall stability of the buildings.
A video has been placed on the Cheshire Museums YouTube channel where the timelapse camera installation can be seen. click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt9TkGwrohY . This is continuing to record work to dismantle Stove House 5 and will form a special video compressing the work ove the past weeks to a few minutes.