The Work Gathering July 2013.

Small jobs have been happening for a while now. Most of the focus has been on growing vegetables this summer. But finally the house got a new boast and got a lot of TLC last weekend.

                                     The lintel above the pantry door needed replacing.

Pointing the old wall after removing the cement layers.

                                               The process is slow and using lime mortar

Our son George can't resist the pull of the work. He isn't even 2 years old yet, but wants to do some pointing.

                                                             Clearing the snug lounge.

The next stage of this room is well on its way. The walls are finally breathing after years of cement. We also found a little surprise in the corner of the fireplace.

Found a nice wee settle in the wall by the fire.

Managed to salvage most of the 1950's tiles from the fireplace. Though not sure what to do with them yet. But i'm sure we'll think of something.

Another day of stripping back... removing cement from the walls... taking out the old mortar and getting ready for the new.

                             Ian and I getting the working going and getting our hands dirty..

Sometimes when we remove the old render parts of the wall collapses... Not ideal, but needs sorting.

                                                               Getting ready to point.

 

 

 

 

Progress

Hi all, sorry we have been quiet for a few weeks, but of course, we are always busy. We have recently started a little business https://www.facebook.com/retrocampingwagons.donegal?ref=tn_tnmn hoping to make some extra money and open the place up to people who appreciate a simpler way of holidaying.
We have got some new windows and doors installed...this is the first work that has been commisioned and not souly created by Ian. They are hand made and have been painted using traditional Linseed paint in funky Sage Green...I love the colour and think they will look great against the whitewashed walls.

They are white on the inside and Sage Green outside..

Real, Professional Conservation workers..Only took us 6 years to get the workmen in..Not bad going. But still plan to do most of the work ourselves.

More pictures to follow in the coming weeks...Promise.

                                            New door knobs...at last. Another step forward.

 

Finally up to speed..2012.

2012 was a very very busy year for us. We had 16 additional mouths to feed...are busiest year yet. We had volunteers from Germany, France, Columbia, Sweden, all area's of Spain, USA and Canada...
We started the year preparing the land for a new polytunnel... It took alot of work and thankfully the weather wasn't typically Irish and stayed mild.
The big focus was on painting the tin roof and taking the old cement render off the back wall.
Cement is not kind to old properties. It stops the stone from breathing and can create damp and rot.
The old cement render was quite crumbly in places and we thought it wouldn't be too difficult a job...
We were wrong...

 

Polytunnel frames goes up in Febuary.

 

Skin goes on in April...well the first attempt...We couldn't get it on and had to call in the experts...John from http://greenhill.weebly.com/ an Organic Farm in North Donegal near Malin.

Ian painting the tin and Ben chipping off the old render in June.

 

 

Once the cement render was chipped away, carefully I might add, as going too hard at this would upset the wall and take some key stones out...Its a delicate process and took a long time and many hands.

Windows needed stripped back and surprisingly the wood was well maintained and using Linseed paint and care, they are being restored back to their former glory. At around 200yrs old, thats not bad..we have only broke 3 panes.

 

Tom & Jessie spent some time with us in August. My Canadian friends were such a great help. I'd be happy to have them here all year round.

These pictures were taken in December 2012. The walls got the full works..Scaped, cleaned, and finally repointed using lime mortar...The next step is white washing them, but that won't happen til the summer.

 

So here we are almost up to date with the house. The next satge is plumbing and installing the new windows and doors...

I'll try to keep things regular here..So keep checking in to see whats happening...

April 2013..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slowing Down...But not Forgotten.

Work slowed down from Late 2010. There was almost a full year when very little work was done on the house and few photographs were taken also.
In May 2010 I discovered I was pregnant again, Lily was just over 10months old when we found out and we were delighted and happy that we would have two kid so close in age.
Clint was here helping us work on the house.
Very tragically in Oct 2010 we delivered Isla Rose and unfortunately she wasn't meant for this world.
We needed to take time out.....
This Blog is not about our personal life and mainly focused on the house. I only mention our children as anyone with kids can understand plans can be changed and altered, and I feel I need to explain why there may be large lapses of time when the house was sitting stuck in a time warp and getting no love.
We found out we were expecting baby number 3 in December 2010
It was a shock, but a wonderful shock.
In January 2011, during a very very stormy winters night some very nasty people decided that our only asset (Our 2005 Touring Caravan) was worth stealing.
We woke to our caravan gone and our gates and old wall busted up....We had moved our Big Wagon to the top of the property and the little caravan was at the other end of the property with the house in between...so we didn't hear anything and in a way I'm glad we didn't.

We felt bruised from life lessons and exhausted..Lily was our shining light.

I have little to catalogue here from 2011, other than the birth of our healthy happy baby boy George on 2nd Sep.



On a twist of fate. Our good friends had a corrugated barn collapse and needed to dismantle it. We recycled the sheets and reused them to cover our roof, until we get our thatch in the future.

Ian painting the recycled sheets on the roof 2012.

 

We did do alot of ground work around here in 2011. Hector from Madrid and Danny from Argentina spent a few months here in the spring and helped get the sheets on the roof and whitewash the outbuildings.

 

Winter 2009/Summer 2010

On the 19th of December I finally convinced Ian that it was time to upgrade to a slightly bigger living space for us. We had been living in the touring caravan for nearly 3years and with no running water and no flushing toilet, it was starting to get tough. Lily was growing rapidly and had moved into our bed, which meant we had to pull out the bed at the front every night...It wasn't the worst living conditions. We had heat and food and beautiful grounds around us. But it was time to move.
Luckily we have a neighbour who sells second hand mobile homes and was sure he could get one into our little stretch of grass above the house and close to our septic tank, which meant a TOILET that flushed indoors...I could hardly contain my delight...
The Big Wagon arrived on the 19th December and on that day it started to snow, and snow, and snow......

This was taken a few months after the Big Wagon arrived.

Lily taking in the new view a few days after we moved in.

The House was covered and remained that way until Febuary 2010.

 

We were snowed in for weeks and working on the house was slow at this time as you can imagine. We still made plans of what we would do once we got a thaw.

 

In May we had Yuiko from Japan come and stay with us. She was with us for a month. The main focus was to get the ground turned over and the vegtables growing. No work really started on the house until July when Clint from California arrived.

Clint had originally come to Ireland to be an extra in The Game of Thrones, which was being filmed in Northern Ireland. He became a bit unstuck when he realised he needed accommodation and food to keep him here while the work came in...He stayed with us for nearly 6 months.

Ian wanted to make the roof fireproof for the new thatch that would be going on in the future.

 

 

Ventilation between the felt and the foil.

Bracket for kick board.

Then a mesh was laid over the foil to protect it from future damage.

All ready for some new thatch...If only we knew the best place to get it from.

 

Ian and I had been researching good sources for reed mainly due to it lasting the longest quality over flax and straw. Although not vernacular for this area, we want to have something that will look appealing and last a long time. Reed if maintained and good quality can last up to 40yrs.

 

We still have yet to find a good source.....2013.

We have 2 small add ons to the front of the house. Probably added about 150yrs ago. One is the front porch and the other has always been none as the "dairy." We made a doorway through from the house to the dairy which was previously only accessed from outside. This will become our new bathroom.

But first they needed new roofs and sticking with tradition, we needed some good second hand Bangor Blue slates.

 

 

Clint and Ian stripping the old roof and getting ready to replace the timbers.

View from the tall pine tree in the garden of the new roofs being replaced.

 

 

 

 

Reclaimed Bangor Blue slate going on the new roof.