torna Residency - Restoration Process
The work will probably never end but so far we have done quite a lot.
We did every job ourselves, except for the wood and tiles of the roof and the electrical connections.
Merve was responsible for all the mud and lime rendering and Dave for all the carpentry work, plumbing, carrying a thousand buckets of mud to Merve and everything else!
Below are just some of the highlights from the diary. If you are specially interested in the process of restoring an old house with respect to following original craftsmanship, we have a private blog for friends and family. Do let us know if you are interested and we'll give you access to it :)
2016 / ROOF TILES - MUD RENDER AND WHITE WASH THE FRONT FACADE
• We arrived today. Made plans with the carpenter for the roof, bought some water proof (breathable!) membrane, got a couple of boxes of Coco Pops (Dave wanted them!), and ordered some timber. While we were in town, we were introduced to the previous owner of the house.
• The carpenter has been bossing us around, telling us how we should do the rendering fast and better. It has worked though. He's been happy with the result. He said we were hardworking, which made our day!
• Our next door neighbour has a massive olive grove. He took us there and made us pick a whole bucket load of green olives. Neighbours are constantly giving us food and fruits. It’s pomegranate time. The older aunty from the house in front of ours gave us a whole crate of them!
2016 August / WALLS
• I have been taking off all the old paint off the first floor's walls. Dave has been filling the gaps with the old mud bricks.
2016 September / TIRED
• We are tired and really dirty now, have no clean clothes left and to be honest can't be bothered to do anything. It is time to get back home for a short break.
2016 / BUILDING ONE OF THE SIDES OF THE HOUSE
2016 October / TAKING ALL THE OLD CONCRETE OFF OF THE KITCHEN FLOOR AND WALLS
• We've been working on the concrete floor. We broke the layer and took out the stones previous owners had placed underneath. All the way down is the original mud floor! Then we started taking down the stone bench by the wall. We found out that it is not an original part of the house. It was built on around in the 80s in order to hide the rock bed the house is sitting on. So we decided to take it down to let the rock breath.
2017 May / WATER PIPES
• We've been working on the water pipes for the last 5 full days.
2017 June / 3 LAYERS OF WHITE WASH
2017 June / ROOF TILES FROM ANOTHER OLD HOUSE
• A couple of days earlier while we were strolling around İznik on our break day, we saw an old house about to get demolished. Dave wanted to go and speak with a guy and his enormous belly who were both standing right by the house and telling the workers what to do. Dave asked him if we could buy the old traditional roof tiles and the original timber pieces. The man and his belly were kind and they said we could have anything we want as long as we pay for the workers to take the tiles down and drive to our house. The following day we started - greedily - demolishing the 100 year old house with the workers.
--> Someone is on the roof taking the tiles off ---> Gives the tile to the guy on the ladder --> The guy on the ladder gives the tile to the guy by the trailer --> finally the guy by the trailer gives the tile to the girl (me) standing inside the trailer who lines the tiles... We did this non-stop for about 4-5 hours. It was crazy hot and the men were fasting which made us shy to drink anything. It was a day!
2017 November / DAVE'S SASH WINDOWS
• Dave came back to the village for a week on his own to work on the old oak timber for the sash windows. He spent the whole week cutting the over 80 year old, massive and extremely hard oak into amazing pieces to be used as window frames in the house. Dave's using the ground floor as his wood working studio. He's now finished with cutting old wood into pieces. He is working on cutting the pieces in special angles. They look amazing! They are heavy, sturdy, and would probably live for another 80 years or so.
2018 February / CLEAN ROOM
• We are back in the village. This time we thought it was time to get out of the tent and make one of the rooms our safe and clean room. We bought a new wood burner for this room specially, bought a cheap-ish traditional rug looking floor mat from Eminönü, borrowed a double bed from my dad, put the curtain on and we finally have a nice warm and clean room in the house!
2021 June / BACK TO THE VILLAGE & FINISHING OFF THE FRONT FACADE
This is the first time we could be back after so long. First we had a baby and couldn't come with him, then there was the pandemic and we weren't allowed to come. But we are back now and are learning all the fun impossibilites about how to restore an old house with a toddler! Things do get done but only 10 times slower.
2022 June / More but final work to be done later this summer!