We’d initially decided to wait until the morning to do any more but one thing lead to another and we just started having a look.

Dad with his trusty lump hammer as a crow bar started to “gently” peel off the start of the wood. We could see behind it what looked like a white plastered wall and with any luck we’d have a nice smooth wall behind. However this wasn’t to be.

On removing the wood cladding we were faced with a wall of uneven and some what damp plaster. Since the plaster was wet when we removed the wood and battening had small chunks of plaster were falling away to reveal what looked like a very nice natural wall. At this point we really could have gone on all night pulling off the wood and picking out the plaster but I knew if we finished all of this on the first night then Dawn would kill the pair of us. So around 11, getting a bit tired and somewhat cold it was time to come back in the morning with Dawn as a re-enforcement.

Dawn the really got stuck in and as you can see from the below pictures and got the 2nd wall done in the kitchen.

At the end of all this we realised we’d got our first surprise with the house. We’d hoped we’d have walls like this hidden away but expected it to be hard to get back to or hard to find. The fact the house was giving itself up so easy to work on was a total joy.

At present we’ve left and will leave the walls bare while the renovation happens however the plan is to point them in a natural lime mix to keep with the colour and seal them leaving these two walls on show. For now we’ve stopped peeling back the walls as we had another wall to pull down and the roof on the out building to tackle. Since we were only here for a few short days we had a lot to do and we couldn’t stop and admire all our handy work, but this wa a really great job to get us motivated for the rest of the house.

Date of Job : April 11/12 2008 (will add to build diary shortly)

Of the two main building the Grange (pictured right) was causing us somewhat of a concern for the coming winter.

You see the issue here the while the wind mainly comes from the west it does also come from the east mainly during storms. With the way the grange has been left it has 3 large gaps in the structure where the windows used to be. What happens here s the wind rushes in and the only way out if up and that means lifting the roof.

The roof was replaced some years back after a bit of a monster storm but not one for wanting that to happen again it was time to seal the holes.

As we reported HERE we did have someone quote for the shutters but the cost was prohibitive so we tackled it ourselves.

Materials
8m of Tongue & Groove wood ( cost €81 )
8m of rope ( cost €2 )
Large tin of weather sealant pant ( €66 )
Wood Glue & Nails ( €13 )

Tools
Hammer
Power Saw

Unfortunately there isn’t a step by step guide for these as honestly we just forgot however it’s easy to assume that we cut the wood into strips of 90cm (window width) and using the left over wood from each plank (each plank was 2.40m so we only got 2 full size shutter widths from each) we used these for the battening to sure up the shutters.

Sure enough the first windows at 70cm x 90cm we easy enough, by the time they were painted, glued and nailed the were lashed to the metal says that were inside where the old windows went. This was a quick and easy win.

Then came the large 150cmx90cm shutter. We (I) originally built it as one large shutter, given I had LOTS of left over i created the battening after gluing the 90cm wide strips only to then lift it up and the whole thing fall apart.

Lesson 1 learned : DO NOT put battening up vertically the shutters as the whole thing will just move and fall apart. There is a reason that there is a traditional Z shape to battening.

Lesson 2 learned : 150cmx90cm is just to big and wide for one shutter. We then halved it and made one shutter 70cmx90 and then the other 80cmx90cm and learning the previous lessons these were finished up and painted and secure.

Job well done approximately €600 saved against someone doing it and a sence of real achievement making the first new part of the property.

As you can see from the photo on the right the “Grange” is missing some shutters and this is causing loss of tiles on the roof during storms and in the past has lead to complete loss of the roof (this is something we are keen to avoid again as you can imagine) so the task was simple, find a shutter builder to quote on replacing the shutters on the grange and on the house to for good measure.

Number of shutters needed : 9
Number of shutters actually quoted for : 6

Number of doors needed : 2
Number of doors quoted for : 1

Number of windows needed : 0
Number of windows quoted : 3 (he actually missed a whole window)

Now that’s not all. Before I give you the price I need to explain that this quote took 3 MONTHS to arrive. It actually arrived the night BEFORE we were due to arrive for a weeks renovation, it did however come with a nice note to say that he could complete the work in September for €6,000… Needless to say I went bonkers, this wasn’t just ineptitude and laziness (getting the quote wrong) it was down right insulting. If he didn’t want to do the work then he should have just said so and we would have started down our DIY route earlier.

So we went from a quote for 9 shutters, no windows, 2 doors to 6 shutters, 1 door and 3 windows.. Time to get down to Weldom and buy some wood I think and that is exactly what we decided to do.

See the post HERE on how we ended up building the shutters for the grange and the house. They may not be professional but they will see us through this winter and cost a whole lot less. Sometimes you really are better off doing things yourself. I fear this is going to be our renovation moto.