#33 Raining cats & dogs (and poo), but getting lots done - Italian farmhouse renovation
A very rainy week where lots of things got done. We've been clearing out the chicken coop, building a dead hedge, chopping next winter's firewood, demolishing another metre of cow manger and more.
We got to test the CIGMAN CD-60 bilateral dual laser meter and we're very much in love with this little tool. If you'd like to get your own CIGMAN CD-60 click here:
- USA Cigman.com --- cigman.com/products/cigman-cd...
15% off code: STOR15
- USA Amazon.com --- amzn.to/3PyUMea
- EU Amazon.it --- amzn.to/49912jJ
10% OFF CODE: TU9OSL7O, End Date： 12/04/2024 16:59 CEST
(We make a tiny commission on your purchase that helps us renovate the farm).
We're Isis & Bertus. In the summer of 2023 we moved into a neglected farmhouse in a tiny village in the northwest of Italy. The last inhabitants left some 10 years ago, but large parts of the property have been empty for over 20 years.
Thank you for joining us on our adventure!
Your support is deeply valued | www.buymeacoffee.com/cascinas...
Instagram | / storiesfromthecascina
#homerenovation #diyrenovation #farmlife #cigman #lasermeter
The guy who built those cow stalls should have been a fortress expert!
fact 😅
Isis, I have found in gardening, moving furniture, lifting heavy things, it is easier when wearing gloves. A better grip means better muscle management and splinters.
It's wonderful to watch you reveal the original structure of the buildings.
so satisfying to peel back all the layers of clutter and dirt one by one. ❤️
I found myself holding my breath watching all the dust, dirt, faeces falling everywhere 😆
even with masks we would have liked to have been able to hold our breath for the whole day 🤣🤣🤣
Bertes, hope you didn’t ruin your unique hat while doing that clean out. 😮
Lots of work, but it will be a beautiful home!
That is satisfying watching the clear up. So much wood. Love your channel.
so much wood, so many possibilities 🥰
I liked when you made the dust go back up. Very cool ❤️🇨🇦
buy sawmill,get woodland timber,do cut list,and just refurbish,not replace roof,that is allowed,unless youre changing or renewing the roof❤
we had hoped to to exactly this but it's complicated 😅 that would be totally ok if you weren't changing the cadastral destination/use of the building.
that said, a portable sawmill is definitely on our wishlist ☺️
could you notb refirb first,then change classification,with only roof refirbished❤@@storiesfromthecascina
Big steps forward! Looking better everyday !
What a beautiful chicken coop, they would have been happy hens. The wood from the ceiling is beautiful too, I’m sure you’ll use them in some wonderful projects. I’m glad the sun returned! 🌄
Lots of nice wood 🪵
Great teamwork Isis and Bertus and such incredible progress everywhere despite the rain. I also really loved the drone shots above those dense rain clouds, everything is so cinematic.
glas you enjoyed it ❤️
Aaargh.... what a dirty job, bet you're glad that's over! 🤯But with a gift of wonderful old thick wood and that old hay rake and yoke, I've seen people in Italy clean and oil up those old farm tools and hang them in groups on walls, makes a nice memory collection of days gone by! 👍🏼 🙂
this definitely goes in the top 3 of dirtiest jobs so far but also of the most satisfying ones 😅
@@storiesfromthecascina 🤣 Well you've got a clean slate now!
almost! still need to clear up the layer of dust and poo that's now on the ground. 😅
All good fertilizer, don't let it go to waste!
My you have had wet weather this week! Still as you say there are plenty of other inside jobs to get cleared off the list! Your dead hedge is looking good, great way of repurposing all the large pruning rather than burning them. Nice to see spring is at least allowing the daffodils to bloom! Here in uk we have had a very wet and gale force winds for the past week. It seems all of Europe has been very wet so far this year. It does put a stop to getting any outside jobs done. Then of course because it’s rained the grass and the weeds need attending to on top of all those jobs that were on hold because of the rain! Oh the worries of frustrated gardeners! ❤
it should be a good year for haymaking with all this rain. the grass is growing like crazy here. 😊
I would agree that it looks like a few replacement roof tiles, and a good insurance policy, and you are ready to move folks in! Your real plan to use the main house is still the way to go, easier to get to your first paying customer.
Those bunker style troughs are so sturdy! I suggest fireworks to celebrate the day you have finally pulled them down.
we'll definitely crack a bottle of prosecco :-)
Kudos to both of you! That was one dusty, grimy job! Hopefully, there will be no more this bad. Thank You for this video ❤
we suspect a few more dirty jobs ahead of us but probably (hopefully) with less poo involved 😂
You have done a great deal despite the inclement weather, the troughs are solidly built, you have to put in a lot of effort to deal with them. The worst thing about this clean-up is the huge amounts of dust, which has the weight of many years, maybe decades. The chicken coop looks completely different, airy bright, nice, and the wood that was on the ceiling will certainly lend itself to various projects. Good luck and see you there.🍀🍀
Wat een schitterende beelden... Wat een rust!
As medievalists, I’m sure you are very happy about that space!
absolutely! ❤️
Actually it seems that the "outbuildings" are in pretty decent condition. I was truly shocked at how much wood had been stored in this building (coop). All that wood is amazing and big pieces as well. The spring grounds are so beautiful.
it just kept coming! looking forward to using it towards beautiful things ❤️
What a beautiful video, so calming to see the Easter dinner after all the amazing hard work you’ve done! Brawo you! It’s fantastic to see how organized you are. Best wishes :)
Thank you so much!
The buildings are looking great, but I wanted to mention the dead hedge. Even though I've only got a small lot to live on, I've learned about brush and such for critters so I have been putting a lot of my clippings and dead leaves along my fence line. It makes a nice background for the native plants I like planting in front of them, and the bonus is watching the ground feeding birds, like our Robins and Spotted Towhees scratching the leaves out of the way to get to the juicy bugs and worms underneath! Loved this video! Take care!
Hi Isis & Bertus🇧🇪🇳🇱 , Wow that`s was a dirty job cleaning the attic or wood storing under the roof🇮🇹,Well you guys did it for sure, I have to catch up time by time when I able to it, so I`m still following your channel,What`s very intresting is the construction of the walls and the foundation it looks like the have build all the walls as we say cold on each other with out morter if I did seen that correctly.Further on great progress onthe property and buildings, great you did got help nfrom your Step dad and his & Partner,I just will recommend the storage from the boards & planks read planken,the should be stored Horizontall.with betwee each layer small wood pieces for the best conditions of those.There is a lott of reuseble wood there 👍🏻so take good care of these resorses.Greetings.Hubertus.see you at the next video.🙏🏻👍🏻🇳🇱🇳🇴☮🙏🏻🇮🇹
hi hubertus! yes we will be storing the wood horizontally ❤️ and the stones are indeed placed on top of each other with only mud in between, no mortar. it's the traditional way of building here.
Come sempre..bel lavoro ragazzi i vostri video sono una meraviglia e emanano tranquillità. Bravi davvero, ciao belli.
I was watching the dust come down and started coughing 😂😂😂
understandably so! thankfully there are masks 😅
Great dirty vid hats off to you two great job
I thought those post were holding up the roof. 😅 How nice to have a wide open space. Love the stone work.
They weren't structural :-) They were used to divide the room in two with chickenwire. We took out the wire in the flash-back towards the beginning of the video :-)
Bello avere famiglia e amici in visita. Complimenti, vi ammiro per tutto il vostro lavoro. Bello vedere la casetta vuota e che spazi. Quante belle tavole di legno. Castagno? bene speriamo che la bella stagione arrivi veloce. buon lavoro . take care en...veel success met jullie project.
Si, penso la tavole sono castagno e quercia :-)
4x5 m surface could be an excellent living area, open kitchen diner of a guest house. Reopen the bricked door for bedroom and ensuite bathroom. Wow amazing space
We agree!
It's amazing how much wood there was in the chicken sheds roof. It looks like really beautiful thick timber, if it's survived. Great progress all around, it's sometimes nice moving between things so that it gives you time to recover from doing the same thing too much. Great video again.👍❤
the wood is largely in excellent condition 🙌
What a change in the cottage?…no vinnie this week…hope he is well…things look great and seem to be busy and going well …blessings to you and your family 😅
he's well! 🥰 he just gets really anxious with stormy rainy weather! 🐈⬛
You work so well together. It's great to see such progress. I love that you reuse everything. Hope the weather is better over the coming week for you. In NZ we are just heading into winter so it is wonderful to see Spring at your home. Take care.
It looks like the weather is clearing up here - fingers crossed it stays like that for a little while!
I love the dead hedge idea, wish I'd known about them when I was clearing my own little farm property. Your home is looking great. It's nice to see your relatives!
When you live in an area without wildfire hazards they are an absolutely amazing way to deal with branches!
That's a beautiful building, and there's something so satisfying about clearing out a space! I really enjoy your videos so much. Thank you!
Glad you're enjoying watching! And yes, that chicken coop is more like a chicken palace :-P
I have thought it before; that you are so fortunate in your property to have so much undercover work space. For cutting wood, carpentry works and repairs. You could also have space for your vehicle too! Not to mention a space for sewing and projects! Happy Spring, regards from Susan at Hobart.
we use the big warehouse for the cars, but when it's raining a lot like this week the ground gets sooo soggy. we've started putting down gravel but we'll need more to finish the job :)
It looks a lot better when it’s been tidied up 😁
Great clean-up. It would be marvellous to open up those old doorways and put in doors which open up to the view.
looking forward to that moment! as with almost everything, that requires permits in italy so even though we'd love to do it today, it might be a little while ☺️
Have you ever thought about making a fire pit and use some of the old and rotten wood to keep you warm in one of your areas that you set and have tea or coffee?
Definitely! Might be a project for the end of the summer, perhaps :-)
Great progress! Such hard work demolishing those feed structures. Perhaps rent a mini-digger with a jackhammer attachment?
We have considered that but we don't want to take the risk before properly consolidating the vaulted ceiling above. For now it's just gonna be a few more weeks of this :-)
Good keep as much of the wood as possible
all of it! minus a 2 or 3 boards that have rot/woodworm. ☺️
Bravo to the whole crew 🎉 you all worked so hard and the change is amazing. I love the way you put your video together, they are such a joy to watch. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much!!
Nou … dus… lekker bezig denk ik! Tot volgende keer
Beautiful, thank you.
Great progress! Love the drone footage!Watching in Houston Texas.
Awesome! Thank you!
Italië zou een zonnig land zijn. Klusjes binnen doen vanwege de regen had ik niet verwacht. Dat tafelblad voor buiten ziet er goed uit.
het heeft hier in de Langhe twee jaar bijna niet geregend, dus het was wel eens nodig. ☺️ gelukkig regent het ook in italië, maar zo veel als afgelopen maand is wel eerder uitzonderlijk.
Thank you 🙏🏽
It must be the wettest winter ever in Europe, I live. In Shropshire UK and it seems to rain every other day.❤❤❤❤
Here it's been mostly March that has been super wet, but after two very dry years it was much needed.
BEST
Look like there were more openings in the original building with a second floor judging by the rafter holes in the walls
yes a lot more openings (doors and windows) originally! the rafter holes were for construction scaffolding.
AI Parenti e agli Amici, non conviene venirvi a trovare, Li mettete a faticare di Brutto 😂.
abbiamo 3 regole per la famiglia e gli amici intimi: 1) lavora solo chi vuole lavorare, 2) ognuno può scegliere il lavoro che gli piace fare, 3) ognuno può fare delle pause quando vuole. Ti prometto che faremo molte pause, ma la nostra vita non è un reality show e non vogliamo che la telecamera riprenda continuamente i nostri momenti familiari. 😉
@@storiesfromthecascinapiù che giusto 👍.
Such progress!
Very nice video sharing thank you
I am enjoying this series...beautiful place
Glad you enjoy it!
Looks more like chicken brooding boxes than dog boxes. Just put up some perches and keep chickens there for the time being🙂🐥🐓🐔
We know this room was used to house the farm dogs from a photo from 2013. But it's of course possible the boxes were built as brooding boxes. The room that was used as the chicken coop was on the floor below this one. We've definitely considered housing a few chickens here, but we didn't want to bring in new animal manure into this building.
Hope you can keep that wood, it must be 100 or more years old! Missed Velluto.
Velluto gets really nervous around stormy and wet weather so he has been around a bit less frequently this week and mostly during the night. We did catch him sleeping in our kitchen window one night ❤️❤️❤️
@@storiesfromthecascina We a cat that looked exactly the same for 19 ( ! ) years. He was reserved and shy with strangers, but affectionate with us family members. And he got nervous, too, when there was stormy weather . I' m sure you'll feel so happy once Volluto has become more confident with you. 🐈⬛
Yo too are such hard workers…..haven’t seen Velluto for awhile?
between the visitors and the (for him) stressful weather he hasn't been around long enough to to capture him on film, but he's still here! 🐈⬛❤️
Are the big planks from the ceiling Chestnut wood?....very impressive and thick these planks
we think it's a mix of chestnut and oak.
wat een prachtige planken! kan je nagaan hoe sterk die balken zijn!
🥰🥰🥰❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏
🎩😂😂😂👏👏👏👏
Haha, mooie sh*t-klus, maar wat een leuke ruimte en prima oude planken. Is het nog interessant om onder de houten lateien de opgeblokte deuren weer open te werken?
ja, dat is het plan! eentje leidt naar het kamertje ernaast - nu is er enkel toegang van buitenaf - en de andere was/is een raam met mooie views :-)
@@storiesfromthecascina Leuk, we zijn benieuwd!
🔥🔥🔥😊♥️🇧🇪
What was the purpose of those logs that looked they were holding up the beams in the chicken coop? They weren’t supporting the beams I’m assuming, but I can’t figure out why they were placed like that.
they had chicken wire stapled to them to separate the room in two. you can see us take it away in the little piece of flash-back.
Why did you remove the wooden support poles?
because they are not support poles :-) they were put there to divide the room in two parts with chicken wire (you can see this in the little flash-back towards the beginning of the video). the beam is perfectly capable of carrying itself, especially with all the wood planks gone.
❤