Our decision to go up to the Charlton House every three or four weeks was short-lived when we decided to make the trip up the Calder, only 2 weeks after our last visit, for the Charlton Show. We thought the show would be a good chance to get to know the locals a bit better and we met quite a few of our neighbours there.

The show was a typical country show with local animals, produce, craft & needlework on display, some rides for the kids and of course sheep dog trials, although I was disappointed that not one sheep dog was found guilty!

After spending a couple of hours at the show we went back to the house to start a few of the jobs we had earmarked to do – me to mow the grass (again!) then fix the water pipe we broke on the last trip when we demolished the old laundry, and Shirleen to continue the cleanout of the front rooms.

With grass mown (actually it was more like hay) and tap fixed I joined Shirleen in demolishing the wardrobes in the front rooms, some of which went on the firewood plie and the rest earmarked for the tip.

Speaking of the tip, the rubbish pile which had grown since settlement was taken away the day before. It apparently took six trips with a seven cubic metre tip truck before it was all finally gone! Thanks Randall.

Around 6 o’clock we finished for the day and headed back to mum’s for the usual shower and wine.

Sunday morning we loaded the trailer with wood from the wardrobes and set off for the tip, in what I suspect will be the first of many trips during the renovation. It was a pleasant surprise to be changed only $20 for what would cost closer to $100 if we were at home.

Whilst I was at the tip Shirleen had started to rip up the carpet in one of the front rooms – boy, what a dust storm that created! The carpet obviously hadn’t been vacuumed in a long time. This room had traditional loose laid carpet and underlay – unfortunately the other front room had carpet with a yucky black rubbery foamy backing and had been glued down and when the carpet came up the backing stayed down. Scraping the floor with a shovel and then vacuuming it seemed to remove it OK but the process created this fine black cloud of something resembling coal dust – I hope we don’t get black lung disease as a result!

That done, we loaded all the carpet from the front rooms and the hallway onto the trailer, added the four mattresses that didn’t make it to the tip on Friday, and headed off to the tip again.

On our return from the tip we had just started packing up for the weekend when we had a visit from our lovely neighbours Ken and Hazel, who we had a good chat with, and then from Randall who had taken our rubbish to the tip on Friday. After a late lunch at mum’s we showered and set off for home, pleased with the both the work we did and the friends we made.

Roll on Melbourne Cup weekend!

Rubbish Pile

No More Rubbish Pile

Before

After

Ripping up the Carpet

Under the Carpet

AFL Grand Final weekend we decided to do the opposite to everyone else… instead of heading to Melbourne for the weekend we headed to Charlton to do some more work on the house.

On the list to do was demolition of a shade structure outside the back door and the old laundry, complete with bricks from the old copper.

Emily’s boyfriend Jayden joined us for the weekend and we wouldn’t have done half us much if he hadn’t helped out, particularly as the weather was extremely warm with 30 plus temperatures.

After arriving mid afternoon on Friday we started removing all the old plant pots from the shadehouse and emptying them into random holes in the yard. The thing was covered in chicken wire, shadecloth, corrugated iron and ivy which, along with a piece of fencing wire wrapped around a tree, was all  that was holding it together. By the time we finished early evening all that was standing was a few uprights.

After removing the uprights the next morning the next job was to cut down the cypress tree growing at the corner of the house. The combination of Jayden and the reciprocating saw made short work of that! We heaped all the branches on the growing green waste pile then proceeded to empty the old laundry of what must have been years of accumulated junk… magazines, material, an old TV, antique typewriter (unfortunately not working) hundreds of unused insulin syringes (the previous owner was diabetic), boots… you name it it was probably there!

Once emptied we all had a heap of fun ripping off the weatherboards then culminating in the best fun of all – attaching a rope and pulling the entire frame to the ground with an almighty crash! Whilst Emily, Jayden Shirleen and I stacked the frame on the ever growing firewood pile (once we move there we’ll have firewood for years!), Abbey started demolishing and old timber and corrugated iron dog kennel.

With the temperature well into the 30s the kids decided to head off for some R&R whilst we adjourned indoors  – Shirleen started ripping up the floor coverings in what will be the master bedroom while I fitted a few new latches to some of the windows.

Once the carpet, vinyl and underlay in the bedroom were removed, we found that the baltic pine flooring was much better than we expected although still with some large enough gaps between the boards to see daylight!

After calling it quits for the night we went back to Mum’s for a much needed shower and a well deserved wine and to plan Sunday’s work.

As the forecast for Sunday was for 30 plus temperatures again we decided that half a day’s work would be more than enough, so we concentrated on de-mortaring the bricks from the copper and some general tidying. While Jayden, Emily and Shirleen worked on the bricks, Abbey finished demolishing the dog kennel and I decided to rip out the built in wardrobe in the bedroom.

What a surprise it was to find that behind the wardrobe were the original lath, hessian and wallpaper walls, with remnants of the original wallpaper still in tact – even more of a surprise because the walls in that room are fibrous plaster… they have obviously been renewed at some time in the past.

By late morning we had had enough so packed up and headed back home, satisfied that we had a very productive weekend.

Thanks to Emily and Abbey for their help this weekend and for keeping up the humour, and a special thanks to Jayden for – we wouldn’t have achieved any where near as much without his hard work.

Before

After

Before

After

Demolition in progress

Original lath and hessian wall with wallpaper

We had always wondered why 2 rooms in the Charlton house – the kitchen and the lounge room – had 8′ plaster ceilings rather than the 12′ baltic pine the other rooms have.

We though that perhaps at some stage they were lowered to make heating and cooling easier and to reduce energy costs.

The mystery was solved on our last visit when a neighbour, who grew up with the son of the previous owner, told us that there had been a fire some years ago.

So, now we finally have an explanation for the lower ceilings, the new roof over those two rooms and lack of a chimney.