A VERY long term project

[Martin S.]

Congrats!

I always enjoy your posts. They are informative, interesting, and detailed. I have been to Paris many times, but it is neat to see something that is more "country" and less "city".

I look forward to your future posts about your restoration.

[Chataigner]

I've made a small start ! Last week was the annual exhibition of our photo club, so not much time available, but I've started clearing the rubbish. I think the house must have been a squat at some time, the quantity of rubbish inside is hard to imagine. Mainly cigarette packets, asprin packets, the french equivalent of "hello" magazine, old clothing and empty bottles. The rusty fridge still had food in it after over 10 yrs unoccupied - should have had a Haz-chem label ! I taped it shut ready for transport to the tip.

It took 6 rubbish sacks of 100 litre size to clear the floor of packets etc as above. All done now, just the old furniture to break up and burn.

On saturday, Isabelle and I made a start on the back yard. All manner of rubbish under tall grass, weeds and ivy. We cleared around 25m2, see photo, and stacked the rubbish - a crazy mix of wood, plastics, metals etc. I will trailer it all to the tip later today. At least you can get to the door now.





This bit is next - 3m high brambles covering wood and metal rubbish !

[Guest]

Chataigner,
That space is crying out for a workshop! I can hear it all the way here in South Carolina. I'm looking forward to seeing its dreams realized.
Hank

[Bob10]

You need to have a BBQ and invite a group to help clean up. I would imagine cleaning the yard in an area that old could turn up some things of interest. I found something from the 1800's in my house along with a large cache of adult novels from the 1920's and 30's hidden between the floor of the attic and plaster ceiling below. The building I have in SF had photos from the late 1800s sitting on top of the plaster ceilings in between floors.

[Chataigner]

Bob10 said:

---

You need to have a BBQ and invite a group to help clean up. I would imagine cleaning the yard in an area that old could turn up some things of interest. I found something from the 1800's in my house along with a large cache of adult novels from the 1920's and 30's hidden between the floor of the attic and plaster ceiling below. The building I have in SF had photos from the late 1800s sitting on top of the plaster ceilings in between floors.

---

Nothing historic so far, but perhaps there will be as we dig deeper !
A friend in England found a copy of a distillers trade catalogue dating from 1840 or so in perfect condition under the floorboards of his house. He offered it to the company for their archives and they were so pleased they proposed he could order up to £100 worth of booze at the prices in the catalogue! Imagine a bottle of good scotch for pennies. It made the national newspapers (no doubt what the company PR people had hoped, but a good story anyway).

[Chataigner]

Yesterday we attacked the next bit of the garden - the mountain of brambles in the corner.

Under the brambles of course another mountain of rubbish including car batteries, sheets of corrugated iron, numerous plastic cotainers of various shapes and sizes and the remains of a long rotted wooden shed. Rotted because the next door neighbours guttering downpipe is broken off just below the gutter and all the water from the roof has been discharging onto the shed, under the brambles, for years. Not really his fault, access was impossible before. 10mins to repair it - already done !

However, I notice it is only a soakaway and it's a big roof area that discharges there, no link into a rainwater drain and a good part of the ground floor of the house is below soil level, so I think that will need revisiting.

Anyhow - we now have another small clear space, a heap of brambles and another heap of mixed debris mainly rotten wood from the shed.







This evening, Isabelle's 25yr old son (almost 2m tall !) will drop round to help me load it all into the trailer.

[jteneyck]

You've got to get through the junk in order to see the gem underneath, and it looks like you're making good progress. The walls of the building look to be sound which so that should give you confidence that all your hard work will be worth it in the end. What's with those corner bricks turned 90 deg? Is that purely decorative or does it have a functional role, perhaps with ventilation?

John

[Chataigner]

jteneyck said:

---

You've got to get through the junk in order to see the gem underneath, and it looks like you're making good progress. The walls of the building look to be sound which so that should give you confidence that all your hard work will be worth it in the end. What's with those corner bricks turned 90 deg? Is that purely decorative or does it have a functional role, perhaps with ventilation?

John

---

No, not a desirable ventilation role, leaving the ends open like that allows air to move in the cavities which completely negates the insulation properties. They should be closed (and soon will be), in fact this type of construction is normally rendered with a lime mortar mix over the whole surface to improve water resistance. That's what I'll do. It will then also look more like the stone walls of the rest of the building.

[Wipedout]

Very cool project. So you found a door behind all the brambles?

[Arlin Eastman]

Good luck with the remodel and I am really looking forward to seeing what is done.

Cheers

Arlin