Scary picture - good vibes needed

Can anyone who has been through a total house makeover offer me some reassurance?
I have just come back from signing the final agreement and the French farm is now legally mine! I made arrangements with the builder and roofer to start work and today they sent me this picture of what they found when they removed the horrid wooden cladding. It is terrifying, but they are confident that they can repair the stonework, which has been the victim of a terrible bodging job, and with a new tiled roof, the place will look wonderful in a few weeks. I am hoping....

Well, I haven't bee through anything like that, but I can picture it when its finished and it will look beautiful! Don't worry. It looks like a great home for Persil and the gang too! (All your cats are sweeties, but Persil has a special place in my heart after all the prayers. )

Sending you lotsa vibes, Jenny!

Jenny, we bought a 15th century half-timbered house a little over ten years ago, gutted it, and did a total makeover. It took a while to get everything right, but the house is great. We don't live in it, but our tenants claim they never want to move out. There were times when, just looking at it, I wanted to cry. On the same note, the school I work at is relocating at the end of August, to an old building that was also gutted. I stopped by today with one of my colleagues, because we wanted to see what progress was being made. The electrician and plumber were there, the walls and windows are in, and it looks wonderful, even without finished ceilings and floors. Your house will come along, and will probably turn out even better than expected.

Too be a bit of a geek, just the concept of owning/living in a French Farm is too cool. I can't imagine it not working out great. But good vibes your way!

Aww Jenny - I've never gutted a place completely but have just finished completely gutting and refitting the kitchen (that was scary enough). Believe me, it's worth it. Even if it is scary when you see it in all it's unrefurbished glory like that .

Your plans for the house sound wonderful and I can picture what it will be like now. It's going to be lovely .

It beats my why anyone would want to bodge a lovely place like that though!

Hubby was reading over my shoulder, and said, "Tell her about Bük!" My in-laws bought an old farmhouse in Hungary in 1990. It had electricity, and a cold-water faucet in the kitchen (well water), a woodburning stove in the living room, and that was it! We stayed there for 10 days about 4 months after they bought it, and really felt that we were "roughing it", since using an outhouse when snow is on the ground isn't exactly "comfortable", and neither one of us had ever been forced to heat with wood. We quite simply froze. The place now has a new roof, nice floors, new windows, gas heat in most of the rooms (electric space heaters in the others), two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a kitchenette, with hot water, an outside deck, a garage, and so on. In other words, it's quite livable. You'll get there!

Thanks guys! I have confidence in my workmen and I know they will do the best they can. I knew this place had been the subject of a do-it-yourself fanatic amateur, but some of what he did is really unbelievable. He managed to ruin the character of such a lovely house and now I have to put it all right.

*Sending super good vibes*

It will look fantabulous when it's done! Don't forget to post the "after" photos.

You can do it, Jenny! My impression is that the house is in pretty good shape, if you want to know the truth. I've seen far, far worse.

Good vibes coming your way from over the border

I agree with Jcat - the house looks in pretty good shape - can't wait to see more pictures soon.

Oh Jenny I'm sure it will be wonderful, nothing looks to grand when it's torn up, once it's all fixed and cleaned up you will probably be in heaven

Originally Posted by starlie

*Sending super good vibes*

It will look fantabulous when it's done! Don't forget to post the "after" photos.

Click to expand...

about the pics!!!!

Sending ((((((good Vibes))))))!!!!

I think the stonework will go well and to remove the metal roof and go with tile-that sounds great. So how many guest bedroom do you have????? I'm quite handy with a paintbrush!!

Pity you can't go with thatch on the roof (ahahaha, just kidding! Although it's a mind-boggling concept ) but I'm guessing that such a house probably had slate on the roof to begin with? Or would the tile be traditional?

And not to worry, any work of art looks awful before it starts coming together !

It will be fine!!!

Good luck with the renovation! Trusting your contractors is a good sign of a good outcome

A woman I worked with and her husband fully renovated their century-plus farmhouse several years ago. While doing so they found neat historical stuff, like letters, newspapers and pottery fragments in the walls. They threw them out at the time, but I know she regretted losing that little bit of her house's history later. If the contractors find anything like that have them save it!

Oh Wow... I can see the potential and the house is going to look GORGEOUS when it is done!

I heard this morning that they are going to have to demolish most of the front wall as it is bulging at the top and the roof won't fit properly! Apart from being unstable. So another large chunk of my budget disappears! But I am sure it will be worth it in the end and they are sure they can reuse all the original stone so it will look lovely. I know this is all true - I spoke to the previous owner and he said that was the main reason he had put the wood cladding on. He didn't tell me before I bought it though!
By the way, we are going to put two dormer windows in and the roof tiles will be the black 'ardoises' which are traditional to the region.

It's too bad about the unexpected expense, but their redoing the wall is probably for the best, since it's unstable. I can picture the dormers and black tiles. Your house is going to be a dream when it's finished.