The process has started.
We are now owners of a house here in Portugal.
We have waited quite some time to find something that will suit our needs, not only for the present but for the time when we are old, less mobile and less able.
The plan is to provide updates to this log at last on a weekly basis to document our experiences.
We wanted a 'forever' house and the only way to achieve this with our limited budget was to buy a fixer-upper. The house comprises a number of parts. There is the old, original, structure. Approx 50 sq/m in plan area with a ground floor and a first floor. The ground floor, as is often the case, is exactly that; ground! A couple of hefty tree trunk beams and an array of odd sized joists make up the support for the first floor. The granite stone walls, being 2' (600mm) thick have just a couple of small window openings and an ancient double door which is actually almost two feet below the level of the driveway.
Attached to the back of this building are the extension bits, all made with the traditional 'brick' work as found all over. The first, and apparently oldest part, is an extension which may have been a original kitchen/living area but is just a large tiled room with a double door opening at the side, and an access door to the old building, no windows. Attached to the side of this is the 'new' part of the house which is basically two additional extensions. The first was probably built as a downstairs room and up a split level stairway to abathroom above - the split stairway goes from the new part to the old building and then back to the new, strange but true. The bathroom is rather spacious.
Then the added-addition is the kitchen area, again a large space extending under the bathroom where it seems the original outside wall of the previous extension has been removed to open up the room.
In the kitchen is a grand fireplace, the front door and a couple of quite big windows making it nice and bright.
There is, of course, the garden that has around 1000 sq/m with various fruit trees and a lot of weeds!
Finally, the workshop, probably as large as the house in footprint, contains a small office, a bathroom and a huge working area - once it is cleared out!
So far we have only removed the old kitchen units that were left and simply 'familiarised' ourselves with the structure.