We built an extension Autumn/Winter last year at a shop in toon that involved knocking down an old outhouse and building an extension in its place.
We were told that all services were cut off and were free to demolish.
Once we had manhandled most of the roof and brick structure down we then cleared the rubble and the floor slab with the digger. We managed to unearth the old yellow plastic gas supply that entered the rear of the building but was now dead as the gas supply pipe and meter were at the front, thanks to info' from all the shop owners etc.
Ho hum, we carried on digging though the residual smell of gas in the old supply kept me poking around the old pipe but that was all it was a residual smell. No gas.
Once we got under the slab we managed to hoof most of the old floor slab out in one piece only to find the tails of the old 15mm copper supply pipes which we presumed to be the hot and cold water, with the remains of the rest of the pipe embedded in the slab.
Ho hum, but i can still smell that damn residual gas even when i poked around these old 15mm pipes.
That evening it turned cold.
Unknown to us, the shop owner instead of just turning his gas heater off in the warmer months actually turned his gas off at the meter. Later that day, because it had turned cold for the first time that year, he turned his gas back on and lit the fire for the first time that Autumn, whilst at the same time sending gas down one of those 15mm copper pipes!
The smell of gas filled the shop the next morning and we quickly realised what had happened! We vented the shop called a gas bod and luckily there was no bang.
The unusual chain of events could have lead to something more sinister though....! Thankfully they did not.
We were told that all services were cut off and were free to demolish.
Once we had manhandled most of the roof and brick structure down we then cleared the rubble and the floor slab with the digger. We managed to unearth the old yellow plastic gas supply that entered the rear of the building but was now dead as the gas supply pipe and meter were at the front, thanks to info' from all the shop owners etc.
Ho hum, we carried on digging though the residual smell of gas in the old supply kept me poking around the old pipe but that was all it was a residual smell. No gas.
Once we got under the slab we managed to hoof most of the old floor slab out in one piece only to find the tails of the old 15mm copper supply pipes which we presumed to be the hot and cold water, with the remains of the rest of the pipe embedded in the slab.
Ho hum, but i can still smell that damn residual gas even when i poked around these old 15mm pipes.
That evening it turned cold.
Unknown to us, the shop owner instead of just turning his gas heater off in the warmer months actually turned his gas off at the meter. Later that day, because it had turned cold for the first time that year, he turned his gas back on and lit the fire for the first time that Autumn, whilst at the same time sending gas down one of those 15mm copper pipes!
The smell of gas filled the shop the next morning and we quickly realised what had happened! We vented the shop called a gas bod and luckily there was no bang.
The unusual chain of events could have lead to something more sinister though....! Thankfully they did not.
