Rebuilding a Forgotten Homestead: From Ruin to Rustic Haven (Introduction: Discovering the Abandoned Homestead)
This story began 2 years ago when we acquired this abandoned, mysterious homestead in the forest. As a result, we want to reconstruct it and create a new cozy place for permanent living, make a secret hideout, and much more interesting things. First of all, we decided to take a look around. In the end, the homestead looks like this, and a little off to the side stands a dilapidated barn with a very interesting history, which we will tell in this video. But let’s go in order, so make yourself comfortable and enjoy watching.
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First Steps: Exploring and Clearing the House
First, we open the antique door—there is a very interesting mechanism here, and its operation is clearly understandable. Next, we look around inside and find a small stash of vintage wallpaper that has been here for over 60 years. We take out everything valuable and start dismantling and removing the remaining junk. We spent half a day on this, and the second half of the day was spent loading all the junk into the truck bed.
Tidying Up the Property
The next day, we decided to tidy up the area so that we could move around freely and do some cleaning. After mowing the grass, we discovered a lot of construction debris that is useless, which means it will go into the bed of our old truck.
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Uncovering the Attic’s Secrets
The next step is to head to the attic—this is the last cluttered place. First, we cut out the gable boards, and it immediately became significantly brighter and easier to breathe. There is a lot of junk here, but at the same time, there are artifacts from the past. In one of the chests, we found old letters and notes that turned out to be very touching.
A Glimpse into the Past: The Orphan’s Story
*Character reference for seventh-grade student Nikolai Marara, Village of Kichi Jansy, Rural Council:*
*The boy has no academic abilities. Throughout the school year, he only studied at a grade of three. The reason for his poor performance is that the boy is an orphan. The boy’s father died at the front; his mother is not biological. The boy is completely abandoned. The boy loves carpentry and metalworking very much; he loves to work at any job. He enjoys participating in artistic activities. There is no opportunity to continue studying—there is nowhere to live and no one to live with.* *June 10th, 1959. Class Teacher.*
Dismantling and Reinforcing the Structure
After we cleared the attic from the inside, we began the dismantling from the outside. The first thing we tackled was the chimney, and carefully, brick by brick, we started to take it apart. After that, we lightly cleaned the roof and went back up to the attic. After we removed the wooden flooring, we found a huge amount of sawdust mixed with straw underneath—this is how the ceilings were insulated in the past.
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Rebuilding the Roof
Our plan is to make this room livable, which means we are collecting the retro insulation into bags and sending it to the landfill. Now, we need to reinforce the roof, as it has become very worn out, and the load on the new roofing will be much greater. For this, we are preparing beams, which will be our new rafters. We cut them to size, threw them up into the attic, and are installing them between the old rafter system.
Adding Panoramic Windows
We also decided to make an insert with panoramic windows. For this purpose, we will need metal beams. We cleaned them of rust, degreased, and painted them in our workshop. The next day, when the paint dried, we loaded them into the car and took them to the farm. Now, it is necessary to prepare the place for the installation of the panoramic insert. Using a saw, we make an opening of the required size.
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Another Piece of History: A Letter from 1959
*Hello, dear parents. Mom, brother Kia, and uncle Mikale. In the first lines of my small letter, I want to inform you that I am alive and well, and I wish the same for you. Mom, you write that you sent three letters, but I received only one from you. I don’t know why that is.
I am writing the correct address, but please send me envelopes with stamps—otherwise, letters do not reach me without a stamp. It cost one ruble to send it. This letter without a stamp is considered to require additional payment, and so the postman receives the letter at the post office but may not take it, as she needs to pay one ruble. And so, she brought it and told me to have a stamp affixed to the envelope…*
Completing the Roof and Terrace
As a result, over the next week, we managed to completely dismantle the old roof decking and replace it with a new one, leaving only a few load-bearing rafters in the foundation. Before installing the glass, we added the missing metal supports and crossbars, reinforced the structure, and properly prepared the surface by degreasing it. Once the foundation is perfectly prepared, the glass is installed as quickly and easily as you can see on the screen.
The Barn’s Dark Past
Not far from the house stands an old barn that has practically collapsed over the years—a very strange place. It makes no sense to restore it, so we started to dismantle it. In the end, we will build a nest house in its place. We will talk about this in the upcoming episodes. And now, we decided to learn a little more about the history of this barn.
A Local’s Tale: The Moonshine Factory
In the forest wilderness, not far from our hamlet, on the edge of the forest, there is another house where an elderly grandmother lives. We asked her about the history of this place. It turns out that there used to be an underground moonshine production in this barn many years ago when producing moonshine was prohibited. Such places often appeared in the forests. And here, the story ended as follows:
The moonshiners who operated in this barn would dump the spent mash right next to it into a huge pit. At that time, timber was being harvested nearby, and the lumberjacks came to investigate the smell—and there, they discovered a real factory and called the police. Since then, the homestead has been abandoned, and we will build a fairy-tale house in its place. But more on that in the next episode.
Final Touches and Future Plans
Now, we have the task of renovating the old house, and while the weather permits, we are first focusing on the roofing. They brought special panels for insulating the roof and started insulating a small section that completes the panorama. According to the plan, there will be a small green insert here. For this, we welded this kind of structure in our workshop. We are placing this metal frame in the future lawn area, securing it, and covering it with soil. Grass is intended to grow in it, and while it germinates, we are working on the rest of the roof.
Conclusion: A Labor of Love
After 3 years of daily work, we have this picture. This is not the end of our story, so be sure to subscribe, as there is still a lot of interesting content ahead.
