WEEK 14 - Day 54 More Cleaning, Digging and Dismantling

Having drafted in a hydraulic pick the base of Pan House 5 finally gave in and was broken up ready for removal. The last lorry movements carrying the debris will leave for the landfill site tomorrow.

The gable of Warehouse 1 is now being carefully dismantled with each section of brick being stored on separate pallets. The wall has been repaired over many years - it was part of the original works dating to 1894 but has been rebuilt and a loading doorway bricked up. Each part of its history can be read by looking carefully at the different bricks and mortar sections. The inner and outer bricks from each phase are being stacked separately so that they can be rebuilt in the full restoration phase later next year.

As the salt works expanded Henry Ingram Thompson constructed a new Pan House and Stove House along the edge of Ollershaw Lane, joining it to the earlier warehouse by cutting out a section of the roof on the south side. This image is taken from within the much larger Warehouse 3, looking north to the roof structure of Warehouse 1. The gable being dismantled is to the left, fronting Ollershaw Lane.

Further shot blasting to clean the salt pan removed from Pan House 5 took place using recycled glass pellets, so that it can be painted. The weather is fantastic with warm autumn sunshine, excellent for getting all these final jobs completed.
A careful evaluation of the whole site was also undertaken today to identify any further pockets of contamination that might still be on site.

WEEK 14 - Day 52 Painting Salt Pan 5 Starts

Today the protective paint was started to be applied to the cleaned salt pan removed from Pan House 5.
This is the undercoat after which two top coats of a zinc paint will be applied.

You can see that the side end plate at the stove end of the pan dates to its earliest phase when the plates were still being riveted to the angle iron which attaches the side plates to the bottom plates (left). The images upper right shows that the side plates are welded

The lifting rings, which enabled the pan to be lifted using a jigger arm are also welded to the side of the pan. The detail (bottom right) shows the rivets joining the end plates, again at the stove end of the salt pan.

WEEK 13 - Day 49 Cleaning Pan 5 and Starting Butterfly Garden

The clearance of the ash and cinders from Stove House 5 continued. There should be 18 lorry loads removed over the day, each carrying an average of 17 tons a trip. Salt also continued to be removed from Stove 1.

Two new activities started today. Cleaning of the salt pan moved from Pan House 5 started with a manual knocking of of surface debris. Apologies are due to all our neighbours for the resulting banging and hammering. this must have been what it was like when the salt pans were in use. The traditional practice was to 'pick' a salt pan pm a Monday morning to remove build up of pan scale and salt from the previous weeks salt making, so that fresh brine start to be heated for the new week.

The underside of the pan shows many original rivetted plates which have had new plates welded over the top. It has a patchwork appearance of overlying metal plates.

In the south west corner a cotter pin and patch was still in place. Phil was able to gentle tap the wedge out and take the drain patch apart.

We also began laying the paths for a recreational area to the south west of the site, which will be planted as a buddlea garden. This is funded by a landfill grant contribution made by Ineos Chlor via the Mersey Forest team. The paths are being edged today and will have hardcore laid over a membrane tomorrow.

WEEK 12 - Day 45 Lifting Pan No5

Today we lifted the pan from off its firebox. For a video of the lift link to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NG2XzYito4

and http://www.youtube.com/user/Saltteller#p/a/u/0/1CDa6xhk58Y

WEEK 12 - Day 44 Preparations for Lifting Pan 5

Whilst also continuing to dismantle the brickwork of Stove House 5 final preparations were made to lift the salt pan No.5 off the furnace. Packing wedges were inserted between the iron beams and the underside of the salt pan so that the weight of the pan is evenly distributed and there are no unsupported areas. Paul and Simon spent a couple of hours in the cramped space underneath the pan inserting the wedges. Like many salt pans the sustained heating the brine over a long period of time causes the iron plates of the pan to distort and buckle making each position an individual fit. You can see the rows of rivets which join each of the pan plates.

Lifting eyes have been attached to the ends of the main beams. It is to these that the hooks will be attached to the crane's lifting chains tomorrow. The crane is arriving at 8am with the lift taking place about 10.30am. The operation will be uploaded tomorrow afternoon.









See uploaded time lapse video, which shows the dismantling of the roof trusses of Stove House 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW4g1xKlfmQ This took place on Thursday 16 September, 2009 and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 2--23 September, 2009.

WEEK 11 - Day 43 Salt Pan 5, Laserscan and Pan House-Warehouse 4

The team is rapidly dismantling the Stove House 5 and preparing to lift the salt pan off the furnace so that it can be shot blasted and given a protective paint. H&E Scaffolding are now taking down scaffolding and removing it from site, so we can really see that the contract is getting close to completion.



A magnetic drill was used to drill the holes in the lifting beams below Pan 5. This type of drill clamps itself to the iron beam by an induction magnet so that the steel can be drilled. Galvanised bolts were then tightened to clamp the two girders together. Wooden packing pieces will be inserted between the girders and the underside of the pan in preparation for lifting the pan off the furnace base on Tuesday, next week.

APR services returned today to fill in gaps in the laser scan survey. Parts of the stove house areas of Stove House 1 and Stove House 2 were inaccessible when the main scan was carried out earlier in the work programme.

Decayed floor beams, and the collapsed roof structures which had fallen on top of it have now been removed and props inserted below the floor beams. This is one of the older areas of the Lion Salt Works dating to about 1894.
Walkways (left) have been inserted from the Loading Bay / Packing Area to provide safe access for the architects and engineers to prepare the Phase 2 schedule of works and cost plan, prior to going out to tender for the main restoration work.
Moving south from the Packing Area you move into Warehouse 4 which has a huge crushing mill (right) used to convert dried blocks of salt back to loose crystal salt and pack them into sacks.

Moving past the crushing mill to the south end of Warehouse 4 (left) you can see that this warehouse is unusual in having an iron frame. The floor has the same hatches used to 'loft' salt from Stove 4 on the floor below. From the end of this warehouse you can look down into Pan 4 (right). Pan House 4 was built by Alan Thompson.

WEEK 11 - Day 42 Preparing Pan 5 for Lifting and Warehouse 1

All the steel girders were inserted beneath Pan 5 by mid morning today. These now need to have packing inserted between the top of the girders and the underside of the pan so that the pan is fully supported when it is lifted and moved.

The lifting beams will be bolted together tomorrow ready for the lift to take place early next week.

Preparatory work was completed for a final piece of laser scanning to capture data within the drying area of the earliest building on site. This is the remains of Warehouse and Stove House 1, built in the 1890's but heavily altered as other salt houses were added. The structure was heavily cut away as Stove House 2 and 3 were added to its north and south elevations.
The brick flues have been robbed out, cast iron column which should support the floor above have been lost, corroded away or have collapsed and half the roof had fallen in allowing the weather to decay a lot of the floor boards. having said all that the roof trusses are in good condition and can be incorporated into the restoration works of Phase 2. This area gives you that 'stepping back in time' feeling as you absorb the atmosphere of standing inside a Victorian salt works, and you can see how the stove house we are currently dismantling has been built in the same traditional way, to the same design - to do the same job of evaporating brine and making white salt crystals.

Some of the trusses have carpenters marks. This one is numbered 'I I' for the second truss - but is in the middle of the roof structure. So, either the frames were put up out of sequence, or the frames might have been recycled from an earlier building. Other trusses are numbered 'V' and IV'. Where a brace has been

inserted a small cross '+' has been cut unto the upright beam to indicate where it was to be positioned.

The end gable, which will be dismantled as part of our Enabling Works, has remains of lime wash on the inner surface. All the brickwork and timbers were lime washed to protect them from the salt and stop loose flakes of brick or timber from contaminating the stock piles.

Ironwork has not survived well, particularly in areas which have been damp, or wet from ingress of rain. However in this area one hatch cover still survives with its original iron ring.

WEEK 11 - Day 41 Inserting Lifting Beams Below Pan 5

The end girders were introduced below the east and west ends of Salt Pan 5 this morning. These rest on the two lifting girders put in place on the north and south sides of the pan yesterday.

These cross beams will support each end of the pan and stop it collapsing as the internal flue walls are taken so that the other steel beams can be inserted to spread the weight.

Today was the first wet day for weeks and added to the difficulty of inserting the beams.

WEEK 11 - Day 40 Preparing Pan 5 and Recording Stove 5 Flues

The two long 'I' beams were installed today along the north and south sides of the salt pan No.5. Each beam weighs one ton. Five lighter 'I' beams will be inserted underneath the pan and will be clamped to each of these lifting beams. The pan base is buckled through use and will have packing pieces inserted between the steels and the under surface so that the weight is carried evenly. Only when we are sure the pan can be carried safely will it be lifted. This might be later this week, or early next week, so keep logging on to see developments.

With the east gable dismantled and the brick wall removed from below it we can see how the stove area is constructed. Hot gases from below the salt pan are drawn along flues within the Stove House to dry the salt. The lower part of the flue is set within ash and cinders, lined with brick but due to the heat and fumes the bricks are very badly corroded and decayed. Many bricks have turned to powder, some are heavily impregnated with white salt crystals. The flues are carried above the ash and cinders with brick upstands to create 'ditches' between the flues. There has been a build up of salt within the ditches which is over 20 centimeters thick.
A bag wall slows the passage of gases as they pass from the the pan house into the flue system. There is a thick layer of fly ash throughout the whole structure.
Metal plates sit over the flues so that salt blocks can be placed directly over them. These metal plates have corroded heavily after twenty years in a now cold, damp unheated building covered in salt.

The inner surface of the flues have suffered the most and with e mortar having broken down many walls have simply collapsed into the ditches and flues.

Most of the dismantled timbers have now been assigned racking space within the timber store and are being graded for condition and re-use when the structure is rebuilt. Some pencil marks were seen when the trusses were dismantled, but today we found some carpenters marks cut into a beam which had been re-used as a supporting joist within the Loading Bay. There are carpenters marks in other re-used timbers in Stove House 3.

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 7 - Day 25 Loading Bay Roof Dismantling

Dismantling of the high Loading Bay roof was carried out today, whilst the scaffolding team erected the final tier of working floors inside Stove House 5.

There will be a short video posted here in the next few days showing this operation.

Concrete pads were prepared to take scaffold tower that wil support the salt pan when it is removed from the furnace. We jope to have a time lapse sequence showing this process, weater permitting.

Ground clearing was also completed around the perimeter of the site to enable access for the fencing team to erect the boundary fence.

A large section of the south west area, backing onto our neighbours' gardens is marked out as a 'butterfly' garden in partnership with Butterfly Conservation. This work helps us look forward to when the site ceases to be a building site, but is fully renovated and open for visitors. More on this in later entries. The exhibition was opened by volunteers during the Enabling Works - Monday to Thursday 1.30 to 4.30.

 Check for more recent updates to opening times.

WEEK 4 - Day 16 Visit by Henry Lloyd Thompson

The former owner of the Lion Salt Works, Henry Lloyd Thompson visited the site today to see how our restoration works were proceeding.

Henry built Stove House 5 in 1965 and we wanted to show him the plans to dismantle the building and re-erect it on a new foundation. This will preserve the impressive roof construction which was built by a local company from Pickmere, Curbishleys.

Ground works continued to grade and clear the site. Contaminated soil and rubble has been taken from the site to designated landfill sites following our waste management plan. Cement asbestos sheeting from the roof areas has been contained and bagged for safe, controlled removal and disposal.

Scaffolding has been completed up to the eaves on the south and east elevations of Stove House5.
This provides a safe working platform around the walls, but also braces and supports the walls. This will be essential when dismantling begins. The building will begin to loose strength as the roof structure is removed. Follow the dismantling process during Septemember and October.