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

[sumi]

Posted some pics of my discovery here, https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/a-little-backyard-homestead-project.15332/page-16#post-421387, but decided to start a separate thread for this venture.

Time and a break in the weather, along with the loan of a chainsaw and someone less clumsy than me to operate it, meant work on the shed started… With the tree…

Looking at the outside wall and then inside, I think I'll have to go down about 3 feet to the original floor of the shed. I found the rotted remains of some of the roof beams and something else wood that is so rotted, I can only guess what it may have been. A work bench maybe? Other "treasures" include a lot of buckets, some chain link fence, pipes, etc. And lots and lots of firewood

I surveyed the situation earlier and had to ask myself the question "Am I MAD doing this??" I think the answer would be yes, but I feel I am past the point of no return with this thing now, so I'll continue…

The chainsaw decided to die and refuse to restart, so we got as far as pictured today. I am going to remove all the wood from there that is loose, then the rubbish and then see about digging down along the tree stump. I want and need to remove as much of that thing as possible and KILL it (any suggestions?), so it doesn't grow back again.

 

[sumi]

You can SEE the dang thing now lol Please excuse/ignore the rubbish outside, I need to get it all out before we have it taken away. I started clearing the bushes and other stuff from the side, so you can see the door on the right here. I need to dig out the soil and crap there to lower the entrance to the point where I can walk in and out and fit a door, of course. Inside I'm down to the wall being higher than my head in places.

 

[sumi]

After taking a much needed break I headed out there yesterday and tackled the bit behind the tree… Tree. Roots. Growing through fence wire. After an hour or more of scratch dirt away, yank, curse, cut, yank, curse, scratch, rinse and repeat I cleared about 1 sq foot And called it a day.

On a better note, a friend of mine showed pics of the dish I found to an old man he knows a bit that collects antiques, etc. I don't know how reliable the man is, but he was quite exited about the dish and the pattern, which he said is very rare and quite collectable. Which could explain why I failed to find anything like it online and I spent hours searching. He reckons it's worth a bit of money, in spite of the still missing lid. I got told by another friend about a dealer in a town over in Co Kilkenny that should be able to give me more info and possibly a valuation on it. I'm going to head out that way sometime soon and see what they say. If anything, it's a pretty dish and a cool find and I'd be happy to keep it if it's not worth a lot

 

[sumi]

I bumped into a very nice local man in the supermarket now and chatted with him about the shed, my progress and the ghost. I asked if he knows of anyone with a chainsaw I can borrow or hire for an hour or two and he said he'll send round another nice man I met in the pub a few times. That man apparently knows quite a bit of local history and may be able to tell me some about this property…

 

[sumi]

I had some fun yesterday afternoon… I dug a hole in the backyard to bury the skulls and bones from the shed and my nosy neighbours, 2 doors down, were clipping their hedge and watching me… I could almost see them thinking what is she doing, digging a bloody big hole? So being me I couldn't disappoint them I inspected the hole, waved and smiled at them, then went and gathered up all the skulls (from the shed clean out), made sure they saw me walking with them in my arms, before I carefully placed them in the hole. Then I went and got the bag of bones I dug out and dumped them in the hole. I stole a glance at the neighbours and saw a mop of grey hair and two wide eyes over the hedge. Hedge clipping forgotten...

I started covering the bones and DS came out and said "The neighbours are staring at you…" I said I know!

 

[sumi]

Goodness! I remember when you couldn't even find the shed. What a huge difference!

I know right? It took me 6 months to find the dang thing!

Well… I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to anyone again, ever. I had a look at it earlier and am thinking (once the roof and all that is done) of painting it white and the window and door (once in) I'm going to paint a really nice eye catching blue. Like this:

The roof we decided is going to be concrete, which is a bit dull, so I thought why not toss some good compost onto it and plant some ground cover plants, have a living roof?

My landlord did tell me the backyard "is yours, do with it what you want to"

 

[sumi]

Well, it was bound to happen at some point! Landlord came over to talk the plumber through the drain issues, which they are getting sorted out completely now. With the shed visible from the backdoor now… He was curious and a bit surprised to see it again after all those years of it being overgrown and hidden out there. He went and inspected the progress and said he knows a guy that can remove the tree trunk with some heavy machinery, coming over the back wall. He is going to talk with him this weekend.

He is thrilled with the work done and the transformation of the backyard, the new lawn, flower bed, veggie patch etc I told him I was hoping he won't come before it was all done, so it's an even bigger surprise for him! He liked that.

Them bones… He said there used to be a small abattoir very close by years ago and it's possible that the bones came from there. He laughed when I told him about my more startling discoveries like the bag of bones and the goat skull under the tree. I didn't mention the ghost

So, for now work is clearing the dirt etc around the shed, so we can access the door from the OUTside and not have to climb through the window all the time to get in there. Roof will go up as soon as the tree is gone. I mentioned the need for a window and door… And stones for the footpath I want to lay between the lawn and gardens and to the chicken area. I didn't mention my plans for painting the shed and BLUE window and door Got to leave them some surprises! lol

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Oh. So. Not. Mad!! I'd be right out there with you. That is such a cool project! Thank you for pictures!

I don't know what the stuff is called, but there is stuff you can put on tree stumps to help them decay. But you'd have to make sure it would be safe for the chickens. Otherwise, I'd think of large doses of salt.

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, we all need a little challenge, right?

I'd say that is certainly one!! What is the "hole" in the second pic? Appears to be a drain pipe, actually....wondering. So, is the wall area stone? I can hardly wait for this to play out. Those vines are a challenge themselves. Better cut before it warms & they leaf out.

Ya know what? FREE firewood is really good.

 

[sumi]

My landlord offered a few months ago to take away any rubbish/junk I dig out in the backyard as I'm cleaning it up. He already took some of it away for me. Once I'm ready and done clearing out the shed I'm going to ask him if he can bring round a trailer so we can get that stuff out of here.