Settlement

Settlement day has arrived. The "Spirit of Tasmania" docked in Devonport, we had breakfast, and then it was time to meet the agent for final inspection. Initial feeling was "home", and then we looked at how high the grass had grown since last we were here. Robert had to use a shovel to slash a path to the back door!

We received a phone call just after 2.30pm to say settlement was final - so now Birch Cottage is ours!
Now the work begins!

First task was to prune some branches from the silver birches down the driveway, and to reposition a concrete post, to enable the container to be delivered.

Now our belongings are on site. We have decided not to stay here for the first few nights, we'll stay at "Helvetia Retreat" in Sheffield so we can have the use of a shower, washing machine, cooking facilites and a bed! We went to Harvey Norman in Devonport and ordered a new side-by-side fridge/freezer. The realities of now being "rural" is being told we're on the country run, and it'll be a week before it can be delivered. 20 mins from town, and we're "country"! Oh well, we'd better stay at Helvetia Retreat for a few more nights.

Robert started cutting back the growth from around the house, and light is beginning to flood in. Now we can really see what we've bought! There was a tree fern with 3 trunks in the corner between the office and a lounge window and was effectively blocking all light, Cutting the fronds off that made a big difference!

We've decided that even though eventually all the internal walls will be replaced (they are masonite at present) that we will give them all a coat of cheap white paint. It will give a fresher feel to the place, and help with lightening it up. The front bedroom was painted first - the room we will sleep in till the extension is built. We had a few litres of "Dulux Solitude" left from the bathroom in Melbourne - white with a touch of blue - so we painted our room with that. Appropriate name too.

We've put the deposit down on a rain water tank. At present the house is only serviced by bore water. We would prefer to use rainwater for the house, only using the bore to flush the toilet, and use in the grounds. We have decided to have a large tank built on site: it will have a capacity of just over 48,000 litres, be made of Colourbond, and have a food safe bladder insert. It should be installed end of January.

Robert found that the growth requires a brushcutter with a little bit more grunt than the one he has, so we made a trip to the Stihl store in Devonport and bought a straight shaft model. A man's toy!

The back of the house had a clematis vine growing up a trellis, into the gutters, and up the roof. We decided that it's travels needed to be curtailed.

It hasn't been all work. We've had a chance to look around our new neighbourhood. The fields around are awash with shell pink poppies - an alkaloid commercial crop that is grown to produce coedine. As the blooms finish, the seed pods are visible, and should be ready for harvesting in a couple of months time.

The Purchase

October 2011

We are back on the mainland now and, after much discussion, we decide to let the agent know we would like to buy the house - and at the asking price, no bartering. We know other people are looking at it, and that will cut them all out of a bidding war. We rang him and, after his initial shock that he didn't have to try a counter offer, the wheels were set in motion. Then the paperwork began. Arrange to pay a deposit, employ a conveyancer, do some basic research, arrange a settlement date - all while packing up our current home.

Next we organised a building inspection. This took place one sunny afternoon, and I think the interior was a bit of a shock to the inspector. Most items listed had written next to it "the item described is performing the function it was designed for and its condition is very typical for it's age". Painting had "generally in poor condition, and will need repair to improve appearance". Well isn't that stating the obvious! We will replace the walls that has the paint on it - entirely! There were thankfully no surprises. Everything he saw as needing work was as we had already surmised. It was necessary to do, and I'd recommend the process to anyone buying a "renovator's delight".

The house was built about 1900, and is named "Birch Cottage". That's a good name - think we'll keep that. It brings an instant image to mind, and even suggests a colour scheme. We are thinking blue grey Colourbond roof, cream weatherboards, and perhaps a terracotta trim. The front door will have to be terracotta and cream - it needs to have impact. The blues and greys reflect the colours of the mountain. The Federation cottage revamp plans have started.

November 2011

A couple of weeks after the deposit has been paid, we arrange with the agent for Robert to visit the property again - this time with a trundle wheel to measure the property to make sure it measures up, and to take lots and lots of photos of the interior, and exterior. He takes this opportunity also to take a load of fragile goods to a storage space we have rented nearby - the things we are reluctant to be entrusted to the removalist. We have booked a container to be delivered to our Victorian home a week before settlement, which we will load ourselves. The container will be collected and stored in Burnie until the Tasmanian settlement date, after which it will be delivered to the site. We have decided to leave it on site for 3 months, while we start the renovations. Then we can unload pieces direct to their final position.

The first job for Robert will be the French drains. Without that being done, the septic overflow will continue to ooze up to the surface and leave the ground permanently wet. The next task will be to get the stumps looked at, and arrange for them to be repaired. Then will be the replacing of the roof and guttering (so that rain water can safely be collected off it), removing the cladding and repairing the exterior weatherboards. The aim is to get these tasks done before winter sets in.

Discovering Birch Cottage

September 2011

I had viewed this house on the real estate website for some time, but couldn't even think of looking at it until our current home had sold. Ours had been on the market for 5 months without a bite, so we decided we needed a holiday in Tasmania. The morning we docked in Devonport, we got a phone call from the agent in Melbourne with an offer we decided to accept. Now I could look at that house!

Deciding we'd like to look through it turned out to be the easy bit. The house was being sold by the bankruptcy trustees, and the previous owners were reluctant to relinquish the keys. Eventually we got the call that we could visit, 5 days after we docked.

We'd driven down the road, and past the house, so that we could see the lie of the land. A gravel road, that's good, better than a dirt track. The house sits on the front left hand corner of the 5 acres, so there is plenty of scope to work with. The slope of the land is fairly gentle. The driveway has silver birch trees down one side and . . . across the road from the house, is green pasture and Mt Roland in full view!!

When we met the agent on site, he and Robert decided to walk up the rise and see the site, and I go inside for my first viewing.

The back screen door opens into a little porch, about 2m square, and then a left turn through one half of double doors into the kitchen. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, I look straight down a passageway to the front door. The wall that would have separated the kitchen from the passage has been removed, so it is a large space. Ahead and to the right a bit is a fireplace - blackened with obvious recent use. Beside that is a built in pantry.

Following around to the right is a free standing electric stove, with rangehood overhead, and some waist high cupboards with sink. The cupboards have no doors. Between the pantry and the stove is a doorway, which leads into a bedroom. Standing in this doorway there is a window to the left, and French doors to outside on the right.

Back in the kitchen I head towards the passage, and to my left is an open doorway. This room is a bit of a shock! In the floor directly in the doorway, is a yellow plastic bucket, in a hole in the floor. It appears a leak has rotted the floor at that spot. Behind the bucket is a little half wall, which hides the toilet. If one was to sit on the toilet, you would see a shower recess directly in front of you, sunken in the floor. To step in it would require you to step down perhaps 6 inches. The rust colored stain on the once white tiles implies it hasn't been cleaned in a long time. To the left of the shower are the water outlets for a washing machine. So this room is laundry, shower & toilet in one!

I'm back at the doorway to the passage. As I step through, to the left are two doors (to bedrooms) and to the right one large space that would have been 2 rooms at some stage. The dividing wall has been removed, as has also the passage wall. On the back of the kitchen fireplace is the other half. This half has a wood heater installed in it. There is a small window on the right wall, and towards the front are double French doors, opening on to the front verandah.

The two bedrooms share a fireplace also, but this has been boarded up and shelving with louvre doors installed on either side. They each have a small side window, towards the driveway. The front bedroom has one other window facing Mt Roland.

When Robert comes in to look, he points out that the walls are all masonite board, or brown board, as the agent calls it. The wall covering would once have been white, but it is all now smoke stained with years of living. All the internal walls would need to be replaced with plaster.

Apparently there is a small problem with the septic system. A plumber had had a look at it, and said it was all operational, it just needs a new French drain installed. He quoted $3000. When we googled that later, we discovered what that means is it needs a trench dug, lined with screenings and an agricultural pipe outlet from the septic overflow, to take away excess moisture from around the house.

The outside has been clad with vinyl imitation weatherboards. We would definitely remove them, and refurbish the original exterior boards. With advance in paint technology, painting is no longer an annual chore

This house has definite potential. To wind the clock back and bring it to it's original glory days will take some work, but other than the laundry room, it looks sound. We could learn to live with a septic system, and the current bore can be a back up to rain water - once tanks are installed.