This blogspace chronicles the ups and downs of our house renovation project in Vale de Prazeres, Portugal from first purchase in November 2019.
- Written by: Rick Nason
Once again, a delay in getting the latest post published, things are becoming quite hectic around here again.
- Written by: Rick Nason
o Natal está chegando !
With the year 2020 entering it's last month and the festive season looming on the horizon we [Janet] decided that we should prepare for Christmas and begin decorating the house.
- Written by: Rick Nason
With a little over a month to go before our first Christmas here in Vale de Prazeres we have a plan to use the newly opened up space and expand our living area temporarily by removing most of the existing walls.
- Written by: Rick Nason
As the recent cold nights and clear sunny mornings have proved, we now have a different problem to deal with under the new roof.
Fortunately, I think it will be easy to resolve though.
- Written by: Rick Nason
I managed to demolish yet another more wall a couple of days ago.
The room is looking even more open and voluminous.
- Written by: Rick Nason
Although much of our time (and expense) has gone into the roof repairs in recent weeks, the garden is still receiving some attention.
We harvested a few kilos of the persimmon fruits and apples from which we made various puddings, cakes and some jam.
- Written by: Rick Nason
Now that the roof is done and the upper ceiling has been removed we are able to remove the interior walls in the upstairs part of the house and open it up completely.
Sounds like a pretty simple task but, as usual, looks are deceptive.
- Written by: Rick Nason
The weather was damp and foggy this morning so it took until afternoon to get some more pictures. So, in all its glory, the new roof ...
- Written by: Rick Nason
Ok, the roof is finally, still almost done. Rather, the roof itself is actually finished it is just a matter of installing the gutters and downspouts when the time is right. No pictures yet because the rain began falling just before the guys completed their work, then it got dark. Amanhã, as they say!
- Written by: Rick Nason
So, I'm still finding interesting electrical installation solutions made by the previous owners of the house. This time we are in the loft, previously inaccessible except via a small opening in the corner of the bathroom which I once looked through. The new roof allows us to get up there and snoop around with relative ease and I thought I would remove all the old electrics before the ceiling gets demolished.
- Written by: Rick Nason
It has been a busy week with the team working on the roof and it was a huge surprise to wake up on Friday to find a truck parked in the driveway with a load of roofing on board.
- Written by: Rick Nason
Overnight the wind had picked up greatly, we could hear things falling over and being blown around on the ceiling, which is now effectively the roof. A trip to the bathroom involved dodging clouds of dust and other rubbish falling though the gaps in the boards. Such fun, especially the sharp stones on the floor.
- Written by: Rick Nason
Another two days of frenzied work on the roof, things are taking shape nicely. By the end of the second day all of the old structure has been removed and the space cleared ready for the new steel beams.
- Written by: Rick Nason
After some delay and confusion the work has now started on the roof.
Expecting it to take a couple of weeks we are hopeful that it can be done before the rainy season starts properly here in Vale de Prazeres. The forecast is for some light rain by the end of this week but we are assured that it should be generally watertight by then.
- Written by: Rick Nason
With the significant delay in getting the roof repairs started we decided to make some headway with Janet's formal garden at the back of the house. It is currently just a jumble of soil, concrete, granite boulders and other detritus.