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Post by lyssalanai on May 18, 2007 15:37:55 GMT -5
So you're reusing the flooring? Are you going to refinish the boards? If so, how? Please don't laquer... ;D
When my parents built their house, they looked into purchasing old wood flooring that had been refinished so they could have the old look to it. It was way too expensive, so they went with something that was aged instead, but flooring like that, once refinished, is absolutely gorgeous.
That house is going to look incredible... keep posting pictures... I love the pictures of the house from the hillside... I bet the sunrise or sunset look positive beautiful there...
lyssa
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Post by JohnG on May 18, 2007 16:00:02 GMT -5
Lyssa,
I am going to refinish the boards but all have some level of woodworm. Each board will be cleaned, inspected, nails pulled, and treated for "carcoma" or woodworm. Some are too far gone and others have some rot at the end joints where water seeped in over the years during cleaning. I am confident that I will have enough for the bottom floor - but in one or two of the upstairs bedrooms I may have to use new flooring. I will just have to see. The bathrooms will have slate floors as will the kitchen so perhaps I will have enough after I get the floors out of the attic. That wood seems solid and has less/no woodworm but much of the plank has been impregnated with animal fat as the attic was used to smoke chorizo asturiano (a pork sausage). Again, I will just have to see how it goes.
The mornings are quite beautiful as the valley below is filled with mist. There are lots of birds and other animals. There are three times more sheep in my "town" than human beings (population 5 - including me).
Witness my lawn mowers (actually they were loaned by a neighbor who observed that my grass was getting long - would I like it cut?:
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JohnG
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Post by lyssalanai on May 18, 2007 17:43:09 GMT -5
That's a neat picture... What you're doing sounds beautiful... I hope you keep posting so we get to see the end result! I love watching houses remodeled and built... I'm also a house-flipper-show junkie. Not that flipping houses is going over so well here in the states. Ouch. Housing slump, yea! Your house seems to have the kind of character that so many in the states are missing (including mine) not to mention the space around it (our house sits on, count it, 0.19 acres. Seriously.) *Now I'm gonna play adult and wait patiently in line for the next picture.* lyssa
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Post by simplyfrustrated on May 18, 2007 18:09:51 GMT -5
ok so i figured out... if i'm logged into the forum i cant see the pictures.... if i log out and refresh the page i can veiw them... mmmmmkay? dont know what but... i got to see them... YOU ARE NUTS!!! looks like too much work to me... lol... good luck and have fun!!!! i like to paint if you need help when you get to that point... otherwise... i'm pretty much worthless in the "handy person" department!!
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Post by fouroffive on May 18, 2007 18:45:31 GMT -5
Um, if there are 3xs more sheep than people, and only 5 people then that is..... let me double check.... yup... 15 sheep.
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Post by ShatteredBride on May 18, 2007 19:20:26 GMT -5
Good for you, JohnG!!! Sheep are great eco-friendly lawnmowers indeed!!! Plus, they save you from having to purchase or rent a lawnmower and the petrol needed for it.
Reminds me of when I lived in Texas and had nanny goats tending to the lawn 24/7. Of course, they also ate my morning glories and roses, and managed to break into my veggie garden a few times a year, but hey, it sure beat mowing the lawn myself in the hellish 100+ degree heat!!! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by JohnG on May 19, 2007 11:23:26 GMT -5
No new pics today - all I did was carry bricks down from upstairs and stack them outside. I also started cleaning, removing nails from, and stacking carefully all of the plank outside under plastic. I was to the point upstairs that I couldn't advance anymore because the remaining floor space was covered with stuff. So I am getting the last square meters cleared and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to continue pulling up flooring. Or maybe I will start dumping debris into the hole under the bottom floor. There is a crawl space that serves no purpose under the downhill side of the house that I can fill with debris, level, and then lay concrete over. About two thirds of the downstairs already has a concrete floor - from when they had animals in there. So I plan on laying concrete over the remaining space, level the entire floor, seal with asphalt, plastic, then lay pywood subflooring, then the recycled pine flooring.
I promise more pics tomorrow. Todays would have been boring - a big stack of bricks and a big stack of pine plank.
JohnG
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Post by gpb on May 19, 2007 12:29:49 GMT -5
Hello, John;
Hey, good luck with the house! It looks great. I love your "lawnmowers" too. Take really good care care today. My very best to you and your loved ones. Let's stay sober, just for today.
Grace and peace,
Guy
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Post by phoenix on May 19, 2007 13:13:30 GMT -5
JohnG, you are officially, "Da MAN!" And all of us Extreme Home Makeover wannabes are now bowing, giving you the 'swami'...
And to think I was gripping over an impending downstairs bath demo and renovation. . .
Thanks for the inspiration... and be careful.
Success,
p
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Post by tootrue2 on May 19, 2007 15:52:54 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing your project! What a beautiful house and surroundings. Good luck to you and be careful walking around on those beams.
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Post by JohnG on May 20, 2007 13:47:27 GMT -5
Today was just removing nails from floor boards and then cleaning and sorting them. I also did some tests on floor plank and a door - stripping and sanding to see what the raw wood will look like. The floors are pine and the doors and beams are chestnut.
I also helped pile hay onto a tractor. The neighbors had asked if they could clean up the front of the house and take the "green" as they call it here, for their cows. I said sure and then helped them. They are going to help me later to bring a stone wall here that another neighbor has said I can have - to make retaining walls on my property.
Cleaning and sorting planks:
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Before and after cleaning, stripping, and sanding of pine plank:
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Partially stripped and sanded chestnut door:
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JohnG
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Post by manic on May 20, 2007 13:56:34 GMT -5
Hi JohnG,
Looks like you've got a lot of work ahead of you with all that woodwork. I love the old panel doors, take good care of them!
Manic
PS Up here in Scotland we have a lot of bleating lawn mowers (but a lot of "lawn" as well) :-).
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Post by JohnG on May 21, 2007 14:29:19 GMT -5
I continued working on the plank flooring - cleaing and pulling nails. I need to get it all off the second floor.
It was cold today so I lit the wood stove. It filled the whole house with smoke until I discovered two dead birds in the flue. I got them out and now it works!
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The rose bushes are starting to bloom.
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JohnG
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Post by rosiemj on May 21, 2007 14:50:35 GMT -5
Hi JohnG, Thank you so much for sharing your renovations with us. Spain is beautiful and looks like Vermont in the USA. The Rose is wonderful and I love that wood stove. I was just thinking the other day how many things in life are so beautiful and it is sad if we allow ourselves to miss out on them. Your house is one of those beautiful things in life!!!! It is a lot of work but what you gain in the process is so worth it. I myself and my partner have been busy building a play yard for my grand kids and fixing up the yard for the family. We put many many hours into it and things look real nice. The fence was a lot of work and then we painted it green and put black latches on it. And we put a new gym set in there and redid the old swing set so they have plenty to play on and of course a sand turtle. For our home today we stained new unfinished furniture we bought and still have a few more pieces to stain but it looks beautiful so far. And now in the morning we are getting flowers for the yard and other odds and ends to make things feel nice and look great. It all feels so good. Life has been on hold for almost 7 yrs and it feels good to start to feel life again. Thank you for reaffirming for me the best things in life. Wonderful photos! God bless you JohnG!! Rosie PS I put the Rose as my background for the desktop!!
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Post by heartsick on May 22, 2007 4:24:32 GMT -5
That rose is indeed beautiful!!! I love that old wood stove too!! Hey can I borrow a couple of sheep for my yard?
Heart
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