Happy Easter

Turns out there are things I can get on with, many things!

The conclusion with the house straightening, was that it was not worth the hassle and cost to attempt to straighten it. The house may not stay in the desired position as there would be little diagonal bracing. 

Therefore, my Dad has kindly offered to rebuild the rear external side walls. These would largely have to be cut up for windows and doors anyway.  The front part of the house, it seems is OK, and can stay as is. 

Today, in preparation for the external walls to be rebuilt, I pulled off a lot of the plastic cladding that is covering the house. - The actual house weatherboards are covered by this cladding which would have been fitted at some stage as a lazy way to freshen up the house appearance.

I also tried to pull off the bullnose (verandah) tin to prepare for scaffolding to be built for the bargeboard/ house front repair work. Unfortunately I was not quite strong enough to get it completely off.

I had a vist today from lovely BJ/ Belinda who is doing her own renovation. We have both come a long way from sewing sock puppets in a pub in London! Thanks for coming BJ XXX

Thanks also to the railway extension workman for taking the photo.

 Pulling off the cladding and guttering. 

A gutter fell on me, covering me in slimy dirt (and it all went down my top.) I felt like I was on an episode of "You Can't Do That On Television"  This was the one time I wasn't wearing my white suit.

There goes my newly cleared garden. I'm beginning to see a large part of the project is transferring matter off my property. The cost, the logistics, and the inevitable sneaking around at night spreading rubble in people's bins.

I guess I need to order a green bin, as I've started to pull bits of the avocado tree down (by swinging off branches using my body weight). It needs cutting right back.

There is some good news. The back area, has quite a low ceiling height. However, as you can see here, the joists reveal it has been artificially lowered at some point. The actual ceiling is higher, albeit shaped with diagonal sides (how to explain it in words?) 

When I remove these joists, it will restore the room with a substantial increase in height, and give it a lot of character. Also, the fact it is lath and plaster, reveals that this rear renovation would have been done in the 20s, not in the 40s as previously thought. The asbestos bathroom would have been added later again.

Also, the roof looks to be in excellent condition from the underside, so should only need a coat of rust paint. SOMETHING I CAN KEEP AND NOT HAVE TO REPLACE!!!!!