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Following a reasonably dry Spring and the installation of yet another new pump I managed to clear the debris from the collapse reported in the last update. Then I was able to install an extra segement of roof support.
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| Clearing the cave-in |
 This took a lot of work. The holes left by the cave-in in the roof and sides of the hole did not look particulalry dramatic but the amount of material to be shifted was huge. It increased the overall level of the spoil heap by a good 20 cm and took several days of intensive work. But it is done now and allowed me to get a large new segement of roof support in place.
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| Roof support |
 The new roof runs alongside the exisiting one but is rather wider and considerably longer. It was constructed in much the same way - heavily varnished tongue-and-groove held together by cross-pieces and covered with water-proof membrane. I constructed the roof above gorund and then cut it into pieces so that it would fit down the entrance shaft.
 Arrangements for supporting the new roof are rather different to the old one, with 2x2 cross-pieces underneath the roof. One set of uprights is shared with the existing roof (except near the entrance shaft, where the existing roof does not reach), the other set is along the hole wall.
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| Next stages |
The current arrangement of supports for the roof is not very satisfactory. The uprights have to be worked around, and prevent me from treating the floor area as one unit, which I would like to do in due course. They will be replaced by heavy crossbeams supported on 90x90mm treated timbers set into the hole walls.
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