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..