Restoring/rescuing a 100+ year old shed. Am I nuts?

[Mini Horses]

OK, that is a huge project! Once you put a person in there you can see just how big that tree really is by comparison. How big is this "shed"? Small cottage may be more like it.

Any chance the landlord would ever sell you the property? Is this a place he once lived?

I love the stonework in that country and this seems to be a "work of art" . You may be able to put a heavy board or metal tube across the walls and hang a small chain fall to help lift and pull some of the "things" in there. You are making progress and hey, that will be a lot of fire wood. Free.

My thought -- good thing you don't have snakes over there!

 

[sumi]

Mini Horses, I should measure the shed actually… I had a measuring tape, but DS got hold of it and I never saw it again. It's a decent size Very good size for a chicken coop!

That tree looks small in the pic! lol That thing is too big and I'm definitely going to put it to use in the shed once I'm done there… Maybe cut it down further too. I need to dig down around it, but when I tried to remove that yellow plastic bag you can just see next to it, I found that tangled with a buried bicycle wheel, of which the spokes are rusted to breaking point. That will take careful excavating!

My landlord used to live here myself. They bought another house in the village some years ago and are living there now. I am planning to buy a property here and much as I love this place, it will be over my budget and I want at least an acre of land when I buy. That I know is achievable for around €30,000 in some parts of certain counties. I don't know what prices are like in this village, it's Co Tipperary… Not one of the cheaper counties to buy in!

The problem with the lifting is things are tangled up some with fencing, ivy roots and possibly tree roots. And I'm lifting it carefully as some of it is brittle and I'm trying to remove it completely. I don't want little bits of rusted metal sheet and odds and ends lying around when I put the chickens in there or start messing with that wonderful leaf compost that is happening in-between the mess

Nevermind snakes, no spiders so far! lol

 

[sumi]

I need to saw up the rest of the branches we cut off the tree and pile the logs, maybe over the weekend if it stops raining. Some of the wood I pulled out of there was dry and I'm burning it now. It's lovely hard wood! Definitely worth the labour for that and it's almost free. The chain saw is lovely, but gosh, that thing is thirsty and the oil is dear, €16 for a can, I think it's about a gallon, and we used a lot of it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow - that picture does give a better idea of the size. You are right that is a huge project - but bldgs. like that will be so cool when it's restored! Can't wait to see further progress!

 

[Mini Horses]

We are all waiting -- and enjoying the results of you working your butt off. Hey, that's what friends are for!!!

 

[baymule]

At least you are getting some nice firewood out of the deal! It is fun to go along with you on this project, keep posting!

 

[sumi]

LOL @Mini Horses

It looks like the weather will allow me to work some more outside today, so I'm going to later. I need to move the rest of the logs down to the pile here, there is still some in the shed. And see about removing more of the junk from it...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

How's it coming?

 

[sumi]

Very slowly! We had some rain over the weekend, which kept me indoors, and I went to Kilkenny yesterday, so I didn't get much more done, except removing the rest of the cut wood and bringing it down to the house and do a little cleaning up. I managed to free and remove one of the corrugated sheets and found a lot of broken glass, some bottles, metal pots and a dish (rusted through unfortunately). I'm planning to go out and work some more on it today.

 

[sumi]

Hello!?!