Raising the Brickwork

Mike had been a bit concerned about the height of the cooker hood in the old fireplace opening:

 It wasn't much of a problem for me but because of  his extra height we decided to raise the opening and finish off the brickwork surround by reclaiming the old bricks. 

Once finished, it looked fab:

We had noticed a damp patch on the external wall, and as this was going to be a cupboard later on we thought it would be a good idea to introduce an airbrick into it at this stage, so we did:

We also had the flue installed to the old bread oven:

Meaning that we could test it out:

It had great draw up the chimney and will be the ideal pizza oven when we move into the kitchen!

Bank Holiday Breakdown

As DIY is synonymous with Bank Holiday's we thought it rather appropriate to set upon a major task today. Right from the outset, there has been a secondary set of stairs in the property that have never made sense.... We think this is due to the house having been added to over the years and that these had perhaps connected together the old and new at one time? We know that they had never been used by the previous owners, and when looking at how to incorporate these into a new format, we decided that they had to go. 

By removing them, we were enabling a new corridor to be created, and after establishing an additional two openings (from the plant room and the main living room), we were now connecting the outbuildings of the property with the rooms in the main house. So, context to one side and with crowbars, sledgehammers and rubble bags at the ready it was operation stair removal...

The banister came away quite easily:

But it looked a little suspect at the top by the floor above, so we found a spare acro prop on site and used it to support as we took at the main case:

Once the stairs came out, we made a start on the wall to the old dairy, so that we would open it up for the new utility space:

It looked amazing when we'd finished - a fabulous space:

We even considered leaving it and having it as a HUGE open corridor; but the intention is to introduce a new stud wall (marked out by the yellow line below), which still maintains a large corridor but allow us to incorporate a utility:

Now that it is one big space it is much easier to look at its whole potential. There is actually enough space in there to incorporate a new set of stairs, remodelled in a fashion that opens up into the new bedroom above. There is also an additional external access point here so you could, potentially make this into its own self contained flat? This isn't something we need right now of course, but could happen in the future, which is interesting...

Here's a short walk-through taking in the new openings

 and how it links through now from the main house:

A little bit of bricklaying

Now that the tank had arrived it was time to get the roof back on. Before that though, there was a little bit of repair work to do...

An old and battered window needed our attention:

We had intended on replacing it but, after some advice from Hendys (the treatments that we will be using in the pumphouse are light sensitive and so may not work if we expose them to daylight), we decided to block it up. Mike got very excited by this as this meant he could put to practice some of the skills he had picked up from his bricklaying course

Good job we'd salvaged those bricks from the front of the house:

After a chisel and a scrub with the wire brush they came up good as new:

Ideal for what Mike needed to build up the surround:

We also removed the old door frame and reinstated a new one:

After using up the last of the cement and a bit more patching up, 
we were all done for the day:

    

Whilst we'd been repairing the pumphouse, 

Steve and his team had been filling in the pipe trench, cementing the floor of the plant room and finishing off that entrance to the walled garden:

Another good day's work!

Making a list, adding to it 300 x

I went round the site today and took some videos of a few of the projects we would like to undertake, not necessarily straight away, but to consider and schedule when the time is right.

1. Resurfacing the drive:

It is very undulating, has many cracks and the exterior of the house needs some extensive drainage works and remodelling, so this could all be looked at simultaneously

2. re-pointing of decorative wall in front of house:

We did also have a discussion with one of the builders we had round who suggested that rather than re-pointing the wall we could take it out all together - this might also be an option... There is value in the bricks and we could always use them for some other projects that may pop up (in the garden perhaps?)

3. Establish a wildlife pond in the shallow part of the lake

4. Convert the old Chicken Shed into a studio:

5. Establish an orchard in front of the chicken shed, to help zone the larger field:

6. Make a clearing in the woodland to establish some bluebells and create a space to retreat to:

7. Thin out the conifers to create space for a woodland sauna: 

8. Tidy up the walled/kitchen garden and landscape the rest: 

There are lots of other little projects too and the wonderful thing about the whole site is that it feels like a lifetime project. Such an inspiring place, that in time will become truly amazing. I can't wait until we are living here every single day.