A single English woman rebuilding a life in rural Spain

EL MOYANO-near Gaucin REBUILD ARTICLE

Undertaking any building Project is no mean feat, let alone in a foreign country and as a single woman. This was my dream, my ambition, I had the vision which gave me the drive to do it. Having bought my finca (country house)  in 1998, it was in various states of ruin and it was my base during the 3 year restoration project.

I lived in the most habitable part, whilst the other side of the house, was occupied by chickens. I had installed running water from the mountain stream which came with water rights for the finca and the electricity was, and still is, self generated by solar power, with a decent generator, as back-up.

Parts of my Spanish finca, dated back to the early XVII century, steeped in history, there was and still are, no foundations. Dwellings built back in those days hardly ever had foundations, the thickness of the walls of 60cm thick were what held the house together. The walls consist of rocks and boulders filled in with dry mortar, lime and on some occasions egg, to bind it all. If those walls are exposed from the top to the rain, then eventually they will deteriorate and crumble away. But if they are protected with a roof, they will keep standing for many more decades to come. So for a while, the various parts of my roof were covered in plastic tarpaulins, to protect them from the rain, until I was eventually able to scrape together funds including re-mortgaging the property.

I started with the pigsty, an outbuilding, first. Myself, a builder/carpenter and two labourers were employed on an “as and when needed” basis. This out building is in the garden, though it also housed the only bathroom, amazingly with a full bath, wc and bidet. Everything was installed and plumbed, though at first no running water was connected, so it was all a matter of buckets!

The pigsty was to be transformed into a self-contained studio apartment for rural holiday rentals, with a temporary kitchen, whilst the main building was being reconstructed.

Typical old Spanish fincas nearly always have the kitchen as a separate building with its own fireplace; this one had a store room attached to it as well. The main building and the kitchen are separated by a paved, vine covered patio, which was eventually glazed, so that it could be used all year round.

Being fluent in Spanish, this gave me the benefit of being able to source and purchase all the materials locally and request the necessary licences from the town hall. As this was only a restoration project, having the roof intact, or the majority of it in tact, as in this case, there was no need for costly architect plans to be drawn up. Just the paid building licence was the only legal requirement.

I was doing some of the work, wherever I could, to cut costs, sometimes mixing cement, labouring and sometimes for what seemed to be an endless time astride 6m -long chestnut beams, stripping the inner bark off them. Being un-stripped made them cheaper.

We had to work fairly quickly to get old roofs off and the new ones on, before winter and the rains set in.

At the same time we worked on the kitchen and converted the storeroom into a one bedroom apartment with its own small bathroom. We raised the height of the storeroom by a couple of meters, to allow the attic area to become a living room and below the bedroom. Now it was near the end of February and I was ready to move into the storeroom apartment and back into the new kitchen. It was the right month to start as we knew most of the winter rains had passed

Being a restoration we could not extend the size of the building, though we could go up.  Underneath all the dirt and rubble was the original flag stone floor throughout the house, which we brought back to life by carefully lifting sections, levelling off and cementing them back in. With the roof off, we then strapped the whole thing together with, what is known as a ring beam, made of iron rods. This stops the walls from moving out and gives a good base for the roof beams to go on. As the house has a tendency to move a little, we also built against the main façade wall, a couple of flying buttresses, disguised as seats.

We raised the angle of the roof just enough to give plenty of height in the mezzanine  for windows and the terrace door, bookshelves and benches were built in.  I had sourced second hand wooden doors and windows, which were old to fit in with the rustic feel. Yes this was yet another labor of love: stripping down decades of paint to unveil beautiful wood. Many came without frames, so these we had to make up. We had to be selective as to where the windows could go, especially in the older part, where the walls were made of massive boulders. We used existing window holes and I found windows to fit.

Old Spanish homes are renowned for not having much natural light, but that’s to keep it nice warm and cozy in winter and cool in the summer. An open, curved, fireplace was built in one corner, the shape being the ingenious idea of my builder, to take up less space and the chimney on the inside which proves an efficient way of heating in the winter.

The roof beams were up ready for the next stage. On went the pine planks lovingly treated by me, insulation, wire mesh then the concrete. This had to be laid in one go, so that the concrete would set properly once the roof was on. The tiling of it could wait. We were now protected and we could get on with the interior and as in Spanish tradition, we put the flag on the roof and cracked a bottle in its honour.

My aim was to celebrate the first Xmas in my newly renovated home, with all the family. The raising of the roof and all the rendering and re-flooring was relatively quick, compared with what was to come.

The whole place now needed its top coat. Being old stone walls with a lot of depth and movement, we decided that plaster would be better to give it a more softer look, including the ceiling in-between the chestnut beams. 

The weekend before Xmas, I invited as many friends as I could think of to come and see the new house with their old clothes on. A paintbrush was handed out at arrival and we lime-washed the whole place, a messy business, but fun and at least it’s easy to clean up.  On Christmas Eve I was running around like a headless chicken having just finished hanging a few pictures, positioning the furniture and not to forget decorating the place by the time Santa was to pop by! The turkey had to be prepared for its ritual baking, but this time in an old stone oven. It was the best Christmas ever. What a lovely feeling of satisfaction, knowing that all that sweat, sometimes blood and tears were worth it. I'd done it and having my Xmas deadline made it all the more easier.

Summary of My Challenges

• Convincing family & friends I was doing the right thing buying the finca in first place
• Access was a challenge as it was by foot at first and the last bit of  track was nearly insurpassable in winter
• Keeping the dream going when sat all alone, damp, under a leaking roof for a whole winter!
• Ignoring the local Spanish builders advice to knock the whole place down and build new
• Earning a wage at the same time as  labouring and cooking for the build team on a daily basis
• Landscaping the garden, digging and planting by hand before starting the rebuild
• Having to be constantly on the go for nearly 3 years, living and breathing the project.

Written by Eve Charlier and edited by Louise Reynolds of Property Venture

Posted by Louise Reynolds
Property Venture^®

^{Posted 3rd February '10} 

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