Thursday 5 January 2012

Demolishing a concrete cider press





This cider press was built in the cellar by the previous owner of our house in Brittany.

As it was taking too much room, we decided to get rid of it. It was not a pretty feature and as we don’t drink cider, it was not useful to us.

Many people in Brittany still make their own cider, but as the press was built in concrete, it could not be lifted and given away. Unfortunately! It was about 2 m x 2 m.

We had to hire a Jack-hammer from a hire shop in Dinan. A Jack-hammer is called a ‘Marteau-piqueur’ or ‘brise béton’ in French. The hire shop had various sizes and after we explained what we needed it for, advised us to hire this one – a 23 kg one.

Well, after 30 hours of intense work, the cider press was demolished!! What looked like a small job was actually a big job!

Thankfully 2 friends came to help Chris. The cider press was made with reinforced concrete. Whoever poured the concrete 30 or 40 years ago added all sorts of bits of iron: old rakes, forks, etc!

A weekend of fun!

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