Demolition continues in the 1868 house with the roof of the south side completely removed by Keith along with a good hunk of the side walls in that upstairs section. The picture above and on the left is taken looking south into what was once two upstairs bedrooms and a hallway. The picture on the right is taken while standing on a ladder and looking north into the section of the house which we will we will leave standing this winter.
Looks a bit Chalet like doesn't it?
The pics below give a better view of the floor boards that will be removed after the walls are down. We'll use that wood to build the lofts in the new barn. Since the staircase comes out of the newer (1900?) area of the house, we believe the two original floors were connected by only a ladder, Little House on the Prairie Style.
While up there I couldn't resist climbing on the ladder and taking some shots of the surrounding areas, even though everything all around the 1868 house is generally an organized mess.
our new barn. I like this view because it shows all the recycled steel sides from the 1950's machine shed we bought, had dismantled and moved here, and then reconstructed, along with the brand new steel roof. The south side of the barn still needs closing in.
Behind the barn is my horses pasture. To the right is our current feed shed which is in poor condition but we'll tackle THAT project another year! Moving around to the east...
is our current cow milking shed. Keith built it a few years ago and it's holding up well. The white pipe running from it to the old house, connects to the vacuum pump still located in the small section of back porch of the house not yet removed. That part won't be torn down until we can move the vacuum pump into the new barn for milking. It's huge and heavy. We use the green metal pen just to corral Liz long enough for milking. The rest of the day she is out on pasture. Moving further north east...
you can see the livestock trailer which will be loaded up with all the recycled aluminum siding (the pile of beige) torn off the house. That livestock trailer has been put to use for many tasks this year, not the least of which was actual hauling of livestock.
That concludes todays tour. Please leave your donations at the front desk.
Sometimes it's only as we strip building back we can see how they were originally used and how poeple lived. My parents house has a "priest hole" built to hide priests during henry the 8ths reign! But now it's just a good route for wires! I also love the views from up on high, somethign that only the birds get to enjoy otherwise. Nothing better than a sunny day being sat up on a roof!
ReplyDelete"A priest hole", gotta love that. I hope they had a tunnel for the nuns as well, but I doubt it. Good to hear from you Kev.
DeleteThis is absolutely fascinating. I love how carefully you are dismantling this and therefore being able to reuse so much of it. Just imagine what a wrecking ball or JCB would have done to lose the history of this place.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention that. Just today while walking with my daughter-in-law, we saw a large hole in her neighborhood. Just the other day, she said it was an entire house and now...just gone. Yes, it is more efficient that way, but so much material is just gone. Plus tons of memories.
DeleteI think you and Keith are amazing! Love the property, and your blogs.
ReplyDeleteThank you agent X (I think I shall be Agent O, my last name being O'Shaughnessy and all). I'll pass your words onto Keith as he has done so much more of the demo work than I have. I do cook a lot to keep him fueled up though.
DeleteGreat progress on the "Chalet"! :) Thanks for the photos. It's hard to imagine how much work goes into these projects.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rain. Fortunately for us, we have bad short term memories, thus we can't recall how hard these big projects are and we just keep jumping into them. Insanity defined.
DeleteI believe that's called being your own worst enemy, a condition I'm all too familiar with.
DeleteThe 'new' barn is looking good. You must be rightfully very proud of your achievements.
ReplyDeleteThe big barn is like a sponge, sucking in all the forgotten parts of civilisation. The shed, the farmer left in the field, and now the house no-one should rightly live in. Of course, you and Keith are the one's putting the pressure on, so the barn can suck up all that it needs. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the birds eye view of not only the demo project but the yard and the progress that has been made there, Donna. The barn is really getting near completion.
ReplyDeleteLove the tour! And I love the way the barn looks like it's always been there. Looks like a lot of good wood in that old house.
ReplyDelete