Another project Paul has been working on the last few weeks is a much more formal clean out of the cellar. The cellar originally had old rusty shelves in it, long since deteriorated items stored on those shelves, broken glass, hoses, etc… As we approach the winter season we are now in the process of working with a heating company to purchase and install a new boiler and hot water heater, as well as testing the radiators (we have 22!).

The process is going well and more on that later, but for now I wanted to share how the cellar is coming along!

Last time you saw that the cellar steps had been built and installed, which now let us move more of these old easy items and clear out the cellar.

As for the harder ones, which needed to go…that was a bit more of an effort. And by the way, yes, the heating company was happy to remove these units for us as part of their installation process but, where’s the fun in that, right?

The boiler had to weight close to 1000 lbs. For those of you not familiar with a boiler (I wasn’t, so no judgement here), it’s the square unit on the right. The solution? The outside could be taken apart but the inside was a cast iron set of tubes and connecting pipes. Therefore, Paul basically sledge-hammered it apart and hauled each piece out to the dumpster. It took all day but it’s done! Below is the beautiful old boiler. Yes, we are normally saving the old stuff as we can but that’s one old piece of the house we’ll gladly let go.

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The next day, we tackled the next item; the hot water heater. And note, this hot water heater is OLD and made of cast iron inside, making it yet another beast to not only unhook, knock down but then get up and out of the underground cellar! After we tried pushing it, using leverage to push it, pulling it and all to no avail, we thought and thought about it….and a solution presented itself.

What was it you ask?

Guess what we discovered? If you strap a hot water heater to the back of a pick up truck, get it going and then slam the gas pedal, it will come right out! Yes, that’s exactly what we did; picture me in the truck, Paul down in the cellar guiding me while I slowly try to hoist that thing out while not breaking the newly built steps in the process. As soon as we saw the behemoth begin to clear the top, I slammed on the gas and out it came; like a whale breaching the surface! It was amazing to see, lol. And it’s out! Problem solved.

After the cellar was cleared, Paul was able to begin to level the hard clay down there into a more flat surface and he built a cistern for water that might seep up from the soil. On top of that he laid sand and next will place a layer of small rock for more drainage. We have decided against putting in a concrete floor after researching and confirming it is best to leave the floors open to the dirt like that so that water, which will seep from the soil, come up and drain away, as it naturally should. The rocks and sand will absorb this and keep the surface solid and dry enough to walk on during rainy days. The cellar is looking prime and ready for installation of a new boiler and for anyone to walk around down there now. Albeit this might not be the most recommended way of removing a boiler and a hot water heater from a cellar, but it works!

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Fun fact: See this little hole in the wall below? This is a hole Paul has had to crawl completely back and into several times to change out pipes and fittings under the house. Bet they don’t show you this glamorous side on the DIY shows. lol. Paul is a trooper!!