The cottage was in desperate need of rescuing and needed our attention first. After a heavy rainstorm we discovered that
one of the cottage walls was on the brink of collapse. The cottage had lost its
pitched roof sometime in its life when converted from living space to a garage.
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| Front of Cottage before restoration |
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| Back of Cottage before restoration |
When the pitched roof was removed the corrugated iron was placed on the level
ceiling beams. With no proper slope for the water to run off the roof it leaked
into the walls eating away at the mud bricks. This left the walls with only the
plaster standing with mud dust at the bottom.
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| Front of Cottage after initial renovation |
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| Back of Cottage after initial renovation |
We realised that the buildings needed to be saved and made secure
until we could start the actual restoration.
The first emergency renovation secured the buildings and allowed us some
time to research the building style of the Swellendam district (under whose
jurisdiction the property fell) to inform us of the approach we would need to
take with the restoration of the building.
The renovation of the buildings to their best current state as the first phase of the restoration project was accompanied by the phased planting of the traditional werf garden, which Thys had designed, starting with the trees.
ReplyDeleteQuite remarkable
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