The "repair" (more like rebuild) of the front wall is finished and we fitted the last of the new windows last weekend. Unfortunately the old wall was just too wonky for a simple repair as it didn't run in anything approaching a straight line. Brian had to take the outer skin of the wall down in sections and rebuild it, using the original stone as much as possible. Some of the older parts of the wall were dry-stone wall. The window to the right of the door is located in the old doorway, rather than try and conceal this we made the decision to retain the feature as part of the history of the house, so the new block-work (replacing some old messy concrete) was simply rendered. When we took out the old concrete we found the original doorstep underneath, unfortunately it was too damaged to remove and re-use elsewhere. All that's left for the front now is lime-washing and re-building the porch. We are also planning on replacing the plastic guttering with something nicer once the porch is in place.
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..by two kittens. Well, strictly speaking by one kitten (the tortoiseshell) and it's brought its reluctant sibling along with it. Initially the mother moved into an outbuilding across the road with four kittens. The mother then left with the two largest kittens and the smaller two turned up hungry outside our back door one evening. They've now moved into one of our sheds, where the ginger kitten spends its days perfecting its stalk and pounce, and the tortoishell has dedicated itself to cosying up to humans and trying to come in the house. They both love playing and are very entertaining to have around.
We don't know if the family was split up or the mother just decided she couldn't feed four, but we have also seen a very hungry fox around in daylight, which is unusual here, and unfortunately lost one of our chickens to it. So introducing our new chicken, currently named New Chicken, who is a Marans. We've been enoying a long spell of dry weather, allowing Brian to progress with the repairs to the outside walls. The first one to tackle was the gable end. The majority of this wall was okay and just needed cleaning, raking out and repointing. There was one area that needed repairing owing to damage done when someone installed a fitted wardrobe on the other side. The biggest issue was the corner where sadly the quoins had been smashed to "straighten" the wall prior to the concrete rendering and they all needed repairing or replacing. Its great to get this wall sorted as it is the most obvious visual element of the house seen from the road. Next we will be carrying on around to the front wall to finish the outside of the house, including the final three new windows. We have a finished bedroom! The renovation of the parlour is now complete. I haven't posted about the work on this room before, but we started on it last September. It is the oldest addition to the house and is seperated from the rest of the property by a wall that goes right into the loft. When we moved in it was the cleanest room, with no smell of smoke. "The parlour room was the 'good room'. The parlour was rarely used for the family, instead it was maintained meticulously in case of visiting dignitary’s such as the priest, doctor or teacher". Irish Cottage History, cottageology.com Due to these two factors this is the room we initially moved into and used as essentially a bedsit whilst working on the rest of the property. We removed the huge wooden fire surround (finding a bird skeleton behind it) and Freya took on the job of drawing on the walls to liven it up. The problem with it as a bedroom was the lack of insulation which made it expensive to heat, so as winter approached we decided to bite the bullet and get it done, even though it meant sleeping in the main room for a few weeks. The first job was to remove the plasterboard drylining, scrape off the layers of modern impermeable paint (which were flaking off pretty well anyway) and remove any loose render. Unfortunately at this point a lot more of the render around the gable window came off than we hoped and Brian had to rebuild that area. Then came the big job, removing the final thatched roof. After the hardboard ceiling was torn down you can see the underside of this thatch, lined with turf. This wasn't as bad to remove as the other roof since the thatch was much newer and cleaner. Brian tore it all down and chucked it out of the window where I put it in a skip. Finally the old roof structure could be removed and the new ceiling joists installed. Thanks to the wall we cannot easily access the loft over this room, and we don't lack of loft space, so we took the opportunity to have a super-insulated ceiling over this room. The room was finished with new windows and window ledges, and terracotta tiles (the same type as the main room but smaller) for the main floor with a decorative encoustic tile hearth. The fire insert was re-installed properly and the walls finished and painted.
For now this room is our shared bedroom, hopefully in the longer term it will revert to its original use as a living space. Brian took the last of the render off the front of the house this week. There were six different layers of render on this, the oldest part of the house. Originally it had been lime-washed annually over many years, before a thin lime render was added (and lime-washed again). Unfortunately they didn't stop there, later five separate layers of cement render were added eventually achieving the perfect "concrete bungalow" look and quite effectively locking moisture into the wall. All the different layers of cement render built up to a final depth of about 4 inches, the same thickness as a brick. Now the cement render is off the wall can breathe again and any remaining damp should dry out nicely over the summer. There's still a lot to do on this front wall, but its interesting to compare with how it looked when we arrived. You can also see the "done" part of the house exterior gradually working its way around, we're up to front door now. As you can see we have removed the (very ugly) concrete porch and installed a new front door. The next step - weather permitting - is to continue repairing the wall, in particular the in-fill where the original doorway was changed to a window and the wall top where the wall was raised with concrete when the roof was added. Some sections will need to be taken down and rebuilt. ..and closes properly! We installed our new back door this week. As well as being weather, draft (and frog) proof, and having glass you can actually see through, it is also 6 inches higher than the old one. Brian had to cut out the extra inches to get it in, but it was well worth the effort making the utility room much lighter and larger-looking.
Outside there is a new gate round the back and the logs are neatly stacked in the barn. The garden is also much more garden-like, though the chickens are doing their best to dig it all back up again.
The chickens have now decided that the front windowsill is a perfect place for their morning roost. I can see the attraction, its a warm, dry, sheltered spot with the bonus of an interesting view.
Our new Daisy Belle (named Daisy) doesn't have the restraining influence on Snowflake (our Light Sussex) that our previous chickens did, she's just as curious and energetic and they make quite a pair dashing about and getting into everything. It makes digging in the garden more interesting, trying to avoid the chickens as they leap in to grab any worms. On the plus side they are both reliable layers and always lay promptly in the morning making it easier to grab the eggs before the magpie's get them. Well its been a while since I posted, but we've been keeping pretty busy. Alongside the maintenance work (spraying fields, moving and splitting logs etc.) Brian has been hard at work on the bathroom. Its just about finished now, all that's left is fitting the glass for the shower cubicle.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out. We went for a monochrome theme and then added wooden accessories and splashes of colour. The wall tiles are a polished cement style and Brian made a cement window ledge that works well with them. Its a lovely bright room, and the layout means you can see the sky through the roof window when your taking a bath. Its not huge, but it is very well stocked. We have a roll top bath, vanity unit with a pull-out "kiddie step" for Freya, separate shower cubicle with a thermostatic shower, dual-fuel towel radiator and under-floor heating. Merry Christmas everyone! We are currently hunkered down waiting out Storm Barbara beside a nice roaring fire. The anti-downdraught cowls have been fully tested today as we've had some serious wind, alongside downpours and hail. The ponies are in the barn and the chickens made the wise decision to stay in their house for the day, so far no damage done. I hope everyone else survives the weather and has a great christmas.
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Laura Nash and Brian Brett's blog about our move to Ireland. Archives
December 2020
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