Preparing to move.

So moving a house takes a lot more planning than I ever thought.  So the first lesson I learnt in this phase was think of how much time it will take to do things and double it.  That will minimize any further stress being added to your life. 

So moving a house 30km to you site goes something like this.

1.Here is another look at the house in its original site.  The owners of the site had to clear everything from the site so the house could be moved off.  The garage out the side had to be demolished carefully before any work could be done because of the asbestos in it.  Thankfully we did not have to do any of this as it was in the contract clearly laid out.

2.  A builder comes inside and prepares the house for cutting.  I don't have any photos of this phase but you can see in this shot the vertical cut line between the top and bottom story along with the large brick chimney demolished.

Inside because the house is going to be cut right down middle on both top and bottom story, doors and door frames need removing, a couple of windows need removing. and inside the house needs bracing.

Inside lounge and dining room.  Yes they are mirrored tiles on the wall.

Garage gone.

This is a much more invasive process than I thought it would be but there was no turning back.  Not that we wanted to anyway.  After two weeks of work the house was ready for the next phase. 

Next blog post will be the move.

The story so far.

This time last year we decided to sell the house we owned and buy something that better suited to our needs especially growing children and one disabled son.

Now those needs were a little long term but really revolved around my able bodied children having a quiet place to study and a space for time out from living with a disabled sibling.  Then there were things like spaces that would not easily get broken and made our life easier such as an easy to clean toilet, an easily accessible place to store medication and medical supplies etc etc.

The only way we seem to be able to afford this was to buy an older house and move it to a place that was suitable to us. 

So that is where our story began.

We found this lovely 1959 house just waiting to be moved off site and to a new home.  Hmmmmm...we had no idea that once we decided to take this house just what a journey it would be.  A journey that we really are only a small part of the way through.

Phase one was to wait for spring to arrive.  Logically you can not move a house you have cut into four bits when the weather is terrible.  Of course there were all those decisions regarding changes we wanted to make to we could submit it to council for planning permission.  Now that was very tricky especially since we had not lived in the house and only visited it twice.

After much work were given the large package to deliver to council.  Yes there I am with all that important paper work.  Without it nothing can happen.  The house cant go on the truck, it cant be put on the land and we wont be able to move it off its original site.

After much stress and running around the paper work came through and phase two began.  The moving of the house.

We had already learnt some lessons.

• allow lots of time to council to work through the paper work.
• banks don't want to deal with old houses that are about to be moved so creative planning is required.
• patience is a virtue in may ways and this phase certainly reinforced that.
• Remember your husband (yes I love his heaps) is your partner in this and is after the same end goal.

Phase two will follow Thursday so drop on back.

I am so Lucky....

Well we have been living in a house under renovation.  It is a story for another post but let me say that the house we have was built in 1959 and its framework is made of rimu and native New Zealand wood.  We have a large pile of undressed rimu sitting in a pile outside.

The pile of rimu sitting outside after being removed from inside the house.

Yes the wood came from inside the internal wall of the house.  It is fulled with nailed and rough sawn.  I had this ambitious project of using the wood to help make a table studying on.  Luckily we had the top of the table (recycled from the laundry and nearly two meters long) and time on our hands.

So armed with a tool for pulling nails out of wood, a plainer, wood glue, clamps, some screws and little brackets.  Not much really....ha ha.  That was the easy part.  My husband and I have never made furniture.  So I started with the bit I knew how to do.......remove the nails from the wood that had been selected from the pile.  Then I got the measurements drew a couple of lines on the wood and there it sat for about a week with nothing happening.  But it became quickly evident we could no longer think about this project.   In our house with no tables in it at the moment, doing homework and study was an issue especially as the school year had just started.

So the next phase started.  The legs and framing for the table were plained to make them lovely and smooth and show off the all the character of the old wood.

The underside of the table looking fabulous after being glued, screwed and braced into place.

Then there is the character of the wood.  Just lovely with nail holes and these beautiful spots like we have on the leg.

The top of the table was gently sanded back and trimmed to get rid of the water damage obtained while it was the laundry bench.  Out came the wood glue and it was all glued in place, clamped and left with crossed finger to see if it would happen as we had planned.  Then while I was at work, yes that's why there are no photos, screws and little brackets were put into place.

I just love it.  It just needs varnish on it.  I will post an update when that is done.

Stairs at last.

We have spent most of this winter just gone without stair that lead from our garage onto the deck that leads to indoors.  Now that the weather is warming up we have finally decided what to do with regard to stars and a wrap around custom made stairs are the plan.  We have googled it (yup thats right), found the you tube video that was similar and my DH set to it.  We are novices when it comes to building.  Everything we know we have taught ourselves.

While I am busy at work my stairs get slowly cut and prepared for assembly.  The weekend arrives and the one child in my house who will never have the capacity to hold down any job (due to his disabilities), is the only one keen to help.  With his battery powered tools and a keen eye he imitates the job.  I just love the intensity at which he is observing the work at hand.

When the deck is painted I will post a photo.