BBC The Repair Shop fan-favourite Dominic Chineahas shared a difficult update with fans as takes on a huge personal project.
The expert craftsman and presenter was worried he would need to “find more money” after the worrying discovery.
Last week, Chinea finally moved into his new home – a huge dairy farm in Cornwall which had to be sold on because of “the economy and the way things are going for farmers in this country”.
Among the new properties that he said were an “absolute honour to be the new custodian of” was the milking barn, which he planned to convert into a huge new workshop.
Chinea recently moved into the Cornwall property
YouTube: Dominic Chinea
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However, the conversion required a great deal of work – not least clearing out the collected pats of the thousands of cows that used to use inhabit the barn.
One of the sites “biggest problems” was the raised concrete platforms used by the cattle, which Chinea needed to remove to create a flat floor.
Chinea appeared to worry that there would only be soft mud underneath the platforms, which would mean he would need to take on the hugely costly task of laying a new concrete floor.
“If there’s just mud underneath and I need to then remove all this... and then the extra cost of laying more concrete... it's not going to happen,” he feared.
Chinea made the worrying discovery while getting to work on his barn workshop project
YouTube: Dominic Chinea
Chinea discovered the barn's floors would need extensive work he could not afford
YouTube: Dominic Chinea
To find out, the craftsman used the weekend he had spare before needing to leave to film The Repair Shop to crack open one of the concrete slabs.
A saga of drilling, hammering, levering and physical exertion soon revealed the truth.
Chinea sighed and sunk into himself as he discovered there nothing but loose soil beneath the platforms.
“That is all mud under there with a thin layer of concrete on top,” he said under his breath.
The craftsman had to carry on despite the disappointment before leaving to film The Repair Shop
YouTube: Dominic Chinea
Chinea called the discovery the “literally worst case scenario” as he despaired with viewers.
The Repair Shop star speculated he would need to “find some more money because we’ll need a concrete truck”.
Instead of “depressing myself even more,” Chinea decided to crack on with another pressing task of widening the entrance to the barn to allow larger machinery to get in.
Despite some speculation about asbestos, the craftsman was able to remove the cladding and a heavy steel beam without much drama.
The completion of the task came as the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, given Chinea just enough to pack his tools ahead of his journey to film the new series of The Repair Shope.
