At least I don't have to worry about my books, piano etc getting damp and mouldy in the shed. We've put up more ceiling joists in the main room so we now have a bonafide loft, which I have immediately filled with stuff that was being stored in the shed. This also gave me a chance to check through everything and luckily the damage is minimal, just a couple of books that have gone a bit wrinkly. |
The daffodils are close to flowering, the horses are moulting, and .. its snowing. Heavily. Meanwhile Brian has dug out the bottom of the bedroom fireplace prior to blocking it up, which has given us our first look at the foundations under the old stone walls. As we suspected the walls have been built directly onto the bedrock, so no worries about unstable foundations.
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and no furniture in our main room is that we can have a huge (8ft) Christmas tree.
Brian has been making good progress with the main fireplace. He has cleaned off and out masses of tar, dirt etc. including three mice nests. He's replaced, repaired and cleaned the voussure stones. He's done loads of re-pointing, lined the flue and is currently infilling around the liner with vermiculite concrete.
Even so, we are still not yet ready to install the big 21kw+ boiler stove that we are planning. In the meantime we have put in a little pot-bellied stove which lets us heat up the main room enough that it is possible to keep working in cold weather. The fireplace in the sitting room / parlour (the one we are currently living in) has been a bit of a problem. The internal wall is poured concrete with a built-in 5 inch flue and square firebox. We have been burning fuel in it to keep warm, but with no shape to the back to create a smoke box it didn't draw well. Also, the heat of the fire was gradually eroding the concrete at the back. Given how clean the chimney was, we don't think it was used much since it was poured (probably because the parlour wasn't used much). Sadly the firebox was too shallow for us to be able to put a proper fireback in without building out the front, which we were reluctant to do as we don't want to reduce the amount of space in the room. We considered a gas fire, small stove or inset stove but for all these options either the firebox was too small or the flue was unsuitable. We had decided on an electric fire, but couldn't really find one we liked, particularly in a sensible price bracket. Also, electricity is the expensive heating choice in Ireland. Finally, we have a solution. Whilst shopping online for something else, Brian came across a nice, sensibly priced cast iron fireplace that fitted the firebox perfectly. He popped it in place one evening in about an hour and it has performed really well and I think really suits the room. We had a few nice days this week, which gave Brian a chance to get up on the roof and do the other chimney. We've already had a few compliments on the new look, plus they now have "hats" on so the rain doesn't come down them.
We've now set up and plumbed in the utility room in essentially its final layout, with the washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer and a sink. It's only temporary, with the top of the old formica table as a makeshift worktop, but having these four things will make a huge difference to our day to day life.
This may seem like a minor thing, but it isn't to us! Ever since we arrived we have been relying on the original loo, which was pretty much knackered including a fairly alarming wobble. We also discovered (too late) that the loo's cistern was connected to the old rusty water tank in the shed rather than the main incoming water supply, so we have been flushing it with a bucket of water.
We bought a new loo a while ago but have been holding off on installing it until we have removed at least the bulk of the thatch as we didn't want to risk ruining the new one (which will be staying in the same corner and becoming the utility room loo eventually). We installed it (temporarily) yesterday and it feels like a real luxury to have a proper loo again. How many tents can boast a rolltop bath? We have now set the bath up in the tent with drainage and even hot water (from a large tea urn). It does get chilly at night though, so we are sleeping in the house. We have cleared out what will be the sitting room and have the bed set up on one side and the "kitchen" on the other.
Got back to the tent with breakfast this morning to find a robin had joined us! The robin and Freya were sitting on the mat staring at each other, not sure who was more surprised. Brian was already hard at work, it has been so hot recently that he's having to get all the hard work done in the early mornings and evenings so he has to crack on as soon as he is up.
We had a great village bonfire on the 12th July. Lots of our neighbours children came with their children, so Freya had plenty of company. Oliver, who lives in the village, made Freya a friendship band which she is very pleased with. |
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Laura Nash and Brian Brett's blog about our move to Ireland. Archives
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