11/08/2011

Next chapter - restoring our earthen house

 east elevation
 east and north elevations
 south and east elevations
view from the top of the hill

After one year of going back and forth and dealing with the usual bureaucracy we can finally can call this bit of land in Alentejo (Portugal) ours! The next step, which should take another year, is restoring the house and make the place liveable so that we can move back to Portugal for good!

The plan is to start the building process with a composting toilet and a shower outside, and then crack on full power with the house. I would like to organise a few workshops during different stages of the construction, so that the community - and others interested - can be involved in the process. Probably the composting toilet will be the first of these series of workshops, but I shall post further info here about the workshop when everything is properly arranged.

The rammed earth walls will all be replaced, as well as the roof. The foundations appear to be in a very good condition and there is a beautiful slate oven on the south façade that we will of course keep (I can already imagine the bread I’ll bake there).

In the future, the plan is also to build an eco swimming pond or natural swimming pool, however, from what I gathered from the prices, this will have to wait a bit more...

So, for now the focus is entirely on the house. Myself and my partner are fully aware that this will be quite a challenge, but surely a rewarding one! We cannot wait to start ramming the earth!!
Any updates will be posted here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Sounds like a great project! Congratulations! xxx Marisa and Tony

Anonymous said...

We are happy for you...
Kisses dear friends

A & H

EW said...

that is a very nice project! You will find a lot of pleasure in restoring and will have a very nice house in the end!

I will follow with big interest!

cmcm said...

My friends, many thanks for your visit and comments.

EW, thank you for being so positive. Yes, hopefully this whole project will be a wonderful experience and will bring us great joy.
Best of luck with your own construction project!
:)

cmcm

BioPiscinas said...

Information about natural swimming pools in Portugal are availabe here: www.biopiscinas.pt