March 2018


More snow today on 1st March.
We haven't had this in years.











The work continues!!






We haven't had this since 1982 seemingly - mainly snow drifts rather than 4 ft of snow everywhere!!!






















































More to come ..............Week 3 5/3/18

The back of the house has been cleared ready for holes to be added





The sub-floor is down  
(5 men x 5 wheelbarrows + loads of back breaking work + no time to take action photos)  

This is the end result 
There were no foundations in this house - just earth underneath the flooring.  They guys had to dig down first and remove a few feet of earth to lay this.  



Radon barriers have been put in for the first time







The hearth is gone :(   (as we had to lay a new floor) it will be back in a few weeks :)


Last of the old wooden rafters are taken out.




Lots of fixing to do with the old walls, now that they are stripped back and been touched for the first time in years, the tops are starting to crumble



All the old lintels were wood so they had to be taken out and replaced with stone



Setting up a marker to lay foundations for the inside timber frame, that will be our new floor level





Building the doorway back up and securing the structure of the old walls



Kate's room - we are going keeping this fireplace


The old window - we are keeping the shutters


Back to bar walls - lots to fix













 There is a new window going into Kate's room




Until next week ......................







Week 4 12/3/18

The new window openings are going in, one on the end gable (for our new kitchen) and one at the back of Kate's room (this will be looking into the new courtyard, no patios going into this house!!)

Monday - So the new windows are dug out (very carefully).  The guys dug out one side put a lental in and then dug out the other side and put a lental in - the stone in the old house has lots of sand and small stone as filler in the middle so one has to be careful that nothing falls!!





The same place inside the house




The new door height for the back door!!  The old door was very small, this is going to be an inside entrance of the hallway when the extension goes on.  The walls are built back up inside to roof level, the inside wall and ceilings were much lower that they outside one.  When Willy Laffey put the roof on in the 1970s, he built a new beam all the around the top of the house before putting on the new roof.  This has saved the old house as now that everything has been stripped back to bare stone, the old walls aren't good, there is a lot of fixing to be done.


We had unwanted visitors over the weekend !!! so we had to secure the building!!


The fireplace is surviving :)




All the walls inside are built back up to roof level




Brian tidying up (again!!)





Spring is here - new lambs next door :)









Tuesday - breaking out the window in Kate's room.  This will bring loads of light in as this room was very dark





This pile is all the stone that came out of that one hole that the guys broke out for the window.
More donkey work!!  Those stones are huge.  









From the outside at the back, its already looking good :)  The entrance is built back up and all that old plaster is coming off next week.











New ceiling line gone in, our ceiling is going to be 9ft high :)












Week 5 19/3/2018


All the action is outside this week.  The foundations are being dug - goodbye carthouse.  The stone from here will be going in our front wall, its very nice stone.  We had a tree surgen look at the trees and we can save most of them which is good news, there are a few old ones at the side of the house that have rotted away so they have to go.




 All secure at the back of the house now





Before 

and After












Week 6 26/3/18
















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