Demolition complete

I have finished pulling O'Rourkes apart ready to create Chocolat.

The last two stages were probably the most nerve racking and the fiddliest to do.  I wish there was a way to make this picture reflect the length of time it needed to clean up each of these pieces.  The individual quoins and chimney pieces had a huge amount of glue on them, most of which is till there.  I got off as much paper as I could and scraped away some of the rock hard glue.  I will probably give them a good sanding before sticking them back on Chocolat.  That is after they have been painted, which is the next step in the proceedings.

 This was undoubtedly the scariest part of the whole process along with the rest of the shopfront.  Basically I needed to remove all the glazing.  Again the glue was rock hard and the perspex a good thick quality so couldn't be snapped out in bits.

I just had to be brave and gently but very firmly press around the edges and the corners of each window (five of them) until I could get some purchase on the 'glass' and gently pull at it a bit at a time until it was free of the frames.  

The doors were a double challenge as the glass is slid down some grooves in the side pieces and then topped off with another piece of the frame which was glued in place. Again I just gently wiggled the top frame back and forth like I was trying to snap the joint which is the very thing I didn't want to do.  Eventually I won and was able to remove the glass.  It is too badly marked with paint and glue from things that had been stuck on it to re-use it, so it is a case of finding something suitable to replace it and cutting it accurately.  Similarly with the rest of the  glazing.

My concern was that if I broke any of the shop front structure beyond repair I would be hard pressed to find a ready made shop front the right size and they are expensive when you can find them.  I had already decided if it came to having to have one made I would abandon this a buy a kit!  IF I ever do this again I must remember to do the hardest part first just in case that scenario ever happens, that way I wouldn't have wasted hours cleaning up a carcass for the bin!

So, finally after a couple of weeks of off and on work, here are all the parts of Chocolat waiting for their paint and paper and bricks and tiles.  Not much left to do then?

Photos in Chocolat - the Build