About 6 years ago I heard that the wadkin factory was getting demolished, so I found out who was doing the demolition and contacted them. I asked if I could have some of the flooring which they said no problem come and take as much as you like.
I hired a van a drove 4hrs to leicester, they had a little bobcat loader which would of crushed the tail lift of the hire van, so they dumped a load at the back and I handballed them.
I had a little walk around but couldnt go far because they were pulling it down with big nibblers
This was the original pattern shop from 1922, which later became the classroom.
And in its heyday
I sawed the blocks in half to make them go further, and stacked them in my shed. Thats where they sat for 6 years. A couple of months ago I finally got around to laying them.
I thought the easiest way would be to do it like in 1922 on hot bitumen.
I was making this up as I went along, the first thing I learnt was dont put your tar boil at the doorway of your shed. It fills up with the smoke. You also have to be careful how much heat you put into it. Too much and you will get horrible acrid smoke. It also takes a while to melt 4Okgs of bitumen.
My shed floor is concrete and all over the place.
One of the hardest parts was moving everything to one side
I have an extension to my shed which has a wooden floor on raised plinths, I never intended for this area to have machines, so when I stuck about 3 tonne of old iron at the end it sank a good 6". This was a nightmare to raise back up.
The flooring is 22mm chipboard loft boards and it was a doddle to lay the block flooring on. I just dipped the block in the tar and quickly set in place, You dont have much time before it grabs.
Because the concrete floor was all over the place the blocks in turn were all over place. Some blocks stood proud half an inch or more to its neighbour. I tried the floor sander but it just kept shredding the sanding sheets. In hindsight I should have put a self leveller down first.
I got my little electric planer and went at it. The poor thing lasted 3hrs before it died. It did some sterling work considering it was planing end grain with lashings of old bitumen inside.
I tried to buy a cheapo one but eveywhere was sold out due to covid. They had a makita for £12O but I wasnt paying that to trash it. I finally found a bosch that had been returned to the trade department at B&Q for some reason. I got it cheap and it worked really well.
I hired a sander for a week to give me plenty of time to sand and move stuff. I think it was £5O a day or a £1OO for a week. They get you on the sanding sheets though at £3 each. I didn't know you could get 24grit. Also dont try and skimp on dust bags, you can only use them a couple of times.
I have yet to put a finish on, I'm not sure what to use. I think it might be boiled linseed. One thing I noticed straight away was it feels so nice underfoot and moving machines with the pump truck is so much easier.