Translate

Sunday 8 May 2016

Leveling Out

We have finally started on a major part of balancing the house out. What am I talking about you ask? Well the little old farm house was seriously needing some leveling out. It was on a lean.......




The main part of the house seems fine but we are guessing from the constant flow of water running past it and through the land, it has caused the house to sink over time. It also hasn't helped that the wild boars in the area have been digging up the land in their search for small crabs causing it to become water logged. So we peeled back the tin covering on the side of the house and discovered that termites had also been at work on the wooden stumps!



It basically just flaked off! This is one of the hollow stumps that we found, truly scary!



This whole support beam was a goner!


So we set to work to remove the termite ridden parts and then replaced them with new stumps. As you can imagine it took some time to measure out things and then fit them into place. 


And the end result are these concrete stumps which are typically used in Japan on houses like Obachan's era. Both concrete stumps and wooden blocks have been screwed together and I am assured that this is standard practice! 



This particular picture reminds me of a woman's skirt blowing up in the wind!  You'll be happy to know that the tin was nailed back down, but the idea is to replace it down the line with timber siding which is more in keeping with the rest of the house. Now that this part has been completed we are now able to work on the inside where the new kitchen is going to be and we can't wait to get moving on it.  

Sunday 1 May 2016

Creating an old time vibe

Have you ever lived in a place that had an element that drove you crazy, but because of maybe time and budget you just never got around to remedying it but often complained about it? You know what I mean, like  a squeaky floorboard or door; a window that stuck or in our case an old light fixture with a low cord that hit you in the head each time you walked past it!


The day we tackled this project was the best day! I can imagine that long ago when Obachan lived here she had no problem with hitting her head with the light bulb because she was very petite. In any case it was time for a serious upgrade!


We removed and replaced all the old fittings (after turning off the main of course!).


And replaced the old with the new! This light bulb is currently for sale at Ikea.


I must say that it doesn't give a whole light of light, but I was going for looks! You know that old time vibe with the pull cord. Love it!





So there we have it. This little "intersection" area with its sanded floor boards and now new lighting can really shine.....well just a little.
Can you see that white wall above? Well, we are brainstorming ideas at the moment as to whether we knock it out as it leads into the "to be" kitchen area. You see its a mud wall and on the other side we discovered once we had pulled back the vinyl board that the wall is crumbling. Can't wait to share more of what's been happening in the kitchen area with you. It will certainly be a great before/after project on the little farmhouse. Stay tuned....!