Week 1: Renovations

Before we can even think about or know exactly what needs to be done to the house we need to clear it. The property is a jungle of weeds, plants and rubbish!

Wednesday; the plan is to get rid of those smelly freezers and remove the oven and washing machine. We barely get started and the lid opens slightly which makes Rowan sick in the garden. I suggest we get Cory for two hours to help. While we wait we finish clearing around the side and back so the heap of rubbish at the back door can be removed easily. Tomorrow we have a much needed 7.5m3 skip coming.

We strap the lid down before attempting to move the freezer again. Unfortunately it has to go up on its end to get through the narrow passage. Only a small about of mucky juice comes out. I bleach it and water it down to help remove the smell. We get all of the gross stuff into the trailer and ute. I have a go at cleaning the sink so we can fill water bottles. It is encrusted with rat shit and cardboard food boxes. I try not to think too hard about what it all is. I then get onto the toilet, which is not too bad. It is really dusty and dirty but I am focusing on the actual toilet for now. Cory focuses on bagging up all the crap left in the house ready for the skip, around 15 black sacks. We also get the two beds onto the trailer. When time is up for Cory I ask if he is coming back tomorrow? Yes he says (phew). Rowan and I head out to the dump to get rid of the stuff. It weighs more than we expected. To get the large freezer off we had to flip the bin and run. Super gross!

We have a lovely visit from Gerry and Margaret our ex neighbours at Herbert.

Thursday; Yay skip day is here!

I load up all of the bagged stuff from yesterday and give the dining room a quick sweep before Cory arrives. Cory gets straight into the huge pile of rubbish at the back door. One pile is about 5 feet high. You can’t even see outside the dining window!

Pete & Bev come visit to see if our apple tree is able to be saved. It was covered in convolvulus. Looks like we can save it after all!

It nearly fills the skip, by lunchtime Cory has it filled and I am asking for another bigger skip. Gee I hope we don’t need more than two! Cory also rips up the carpet adds that into the skip and the small amount of scrim which is just in the wardrobe. Pretty lucky we don’t have more.

Friday; new day, new skip.

Cory attacks the garage rubbish. The pit of despair nearly fills the 9m3 skip. It is so much deeper than I expected. There is a lawnmower in there.

Rowan works of clearing more of the garden and I attempt to clean the bathroom.

Saturday; today we plan to burn a load of green waste. We have been taking loads to Herbert at the end of every day. There is already a large pile that needs to be burned made from the neighbours. Cory works on clearing the studio and the tool shed. Rowan continues in the garden and I help hold ladders and load up the green waste.

Sunday; more the same!

We keep clearing the land, Cory keeps finding more rubbish for the skip. I have a bumblebee nest in the shed I have to deal with because both of these two are too chicken. We have extra hands today. Lucy, who is our local postie. She is here to clean for today and tomorrow. It takes her all day but she gets the kitchen to a more reasonable standard.

For such a small section of land we sure get a lot of biomass out of it.

Monday; final day with extra help.

Lucy cleans the bathroom. Then onto the windows. It doesn’t sound like much but it makes a difference. Cory gets water blasting but our machine isn’t cutting the mustard. It probably needs a full service after years of no use. Rowan and I race down to TK hire and grab there one with the paint stripping nozel. We need time for the house to dry out and it makes sense to do it now.

When Cory has to leave, I get on the water blaster and do all the fence and a bit of the pathways. We will need another hire of this as we only did a half day! Looks like our wee house was yellow once.