Where do you start?
Opening up a wall. What's inside?
¨Water pipeline, electricity?
10 rooms. But where do you start? You need kitchen, bath room, bedroom and eating area /
living room.
We started by cleaning the kitchen and bath room in the low building.
Then the entrance to the tall building, which was dry. (Now TV room).
We prepared the first bedroom upstairs in the low building, but during
the first night we had to escape. Raining outside AND inside.
Naive optimists?
Well prepared?
Super romantic?
Some said "Madness"!
The front of the house, with 2 entrances.
Apartment right:
Entrance/living room, kitchen, bath room, upstairs 2 bedrooms.
Apartment left:
Entrance/living room, staircase to 1st floor with one bedroom and
a kitchen, 2nd floor bedroom and bath room.
We wanted to make it into one house.
Made a plan in Google Sketchup
to explain friends and family
what it could become
of our investment if we
followed our dream!
Roofs
Rooms
Windows
Walls
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.2
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
16 - 16
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>
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.2
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
16 - 16
<
>
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.2
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
16 - 16
<
>
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.2
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
16 - 16
<
>
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.2
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
16 - 16
<
>
2 houses with a front porch,
Garden and outbuilding/
capanna.
The structure of the roof of the low building totally broken.
The roof of the other: 50% broken.
The front porch.
In good condition but had to be
cleaned by high pressure washer.
Entrance and living room low building. Staircase to the 2 guest rooms upstairs.
When raining dripping everywhere.
The entrance to the low building.
Living room and door to the garden.
The curved shelf = opening to the second house. To the right the kitchen.
The kitchen was OK and after having cleaned it properly and bought a couple of shelves and new frig it was something we could live with for the time being.
The old frig out of order.
A big fireplace, working well.
Needed repair on the sides but
otherwise OK.
The entrance to the tall building.
Cement on the walls had been repaired
through history and needed a lot
of work. Floor, when cleaned, OK.
The fireplace and chimney was OK.
But the walls? They gave med
a lot of experience and also knowledge that helped through the process.
Rain through many seasons
gave the bedrooms a grim look.
The humidity was both on and
INSIDE the walls.
Master bedroom top floor.
Lot of repair work on the walls needed.
1 of 3 dry rooms in the house.
12 windows in the house,
all needed extensive repair or to
be replaced.
The old cistern at the top of the stairs
would be removed.
Top of the tall building.
On this side the roof was very poor
and the walls very humid and needed to dry out before repair.
Main room in the capanna in
the garden. No floor, leaking roof
and very humid.
The utility room in the capanna.
Washing machine OK and
running water. Roof OK!
6 - 16
<
>
Buying the 2 houses
Still remember when we got the keys. We were the proud owners of a property in Italy.
The day before we had signed the contract with the previous owners, at the lawyer’s office,
handed over the cheques, and with both parties “geometro” (agent/architect) as witnesses.
Our geometro had checked all documents about the property and houses with the commune
and provided the floor plans and borderlines for the property. Everything except the
small roof above the door to the garden was approved. If we had needed a loan we would
not have been given one because of this tiny element that was considered “not legal”.
And this is an important reminder: Never buy a house/property from an other foreigner
abroad. Do the process in Italy, with your own geometro. Otherwise it could turn out to be
a lot of surprises and cost you thousands of Euros, both to be paid to the commune,
but also to put everything in order with the law and regulations with local builders.
The houses we bought are heavily restricted when it comes to the way we repair / improve
because they are a part of this small, protected village. No “Aluplast”. Wood only.
No enlarging of windows and doors. About everything externally forbidden.
But inside – almost no limits.
We chose one bedroom upstairs in the lower building as our preliminary bedroom. During the night it rained heavily both outside and inside.
We decided to use the entrance
to the tall building our preliminary living room / TV room because it was dry.
A light yellow color on the far wall.
Organized a working area inside the entrance doors to the tall building after we had opened up the wall to make 2 apartments one house.
Looking better.
The walls in this part of the house can be some 300 - 500 years old. Easy to see the previous repairs. Want to keep it that way. Living history.
The fireplace is burning just great.
Nice in a cold, humid house that has been abandoned for many years.
This is the first room we finished.
Hurray!
Today we can relax in a nice room, warm and dry, even if its raining or snowing outside.
YESSSS!
We deserve it!
6 - 10
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Welcome
The story
The Garden
The House
Petrognano Capannori (LU)
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