21/01/2024

#3 House Renovation Italy | relaxing sundeck and the rustic roof.

Following on from the main tour of my italian house, the renovations and building starts. Welcome back to my rural italian house and my old farmhouse DIY renovation project where I hope to help those that want to know more about moving to Italy and what the lifsetyle is actually like. Relaxing, peaceful and tranquil, this video shows a little of the Italian region around the hilltop town where I live, which is near Corinaldo in Le Marche region of Italy.

I construct a temporary wooden sun deck that I build from wood ordered and delivered from my local DIY and building supplies store. I manged to skimp on wood cuts which allowed me to also build a temporary kitchen out of the wood that I bought ! Bargain.

For those of you that want to know how much things cost and ask what is the cost of living in Italy - the wood cost me around 300euors in total, including delivery. At the time all building material prices in Italy were quite high. I think they were high everywhere at that time in fairness.

My first attempt at using a diesel chainsaw went well. Although, as you will see, I was very nervous! I was asked to clear the trees around the powerline and told that keeping the line clear was my responsibility to upkeep. My Italian house, like most Italian houses, is connected to the mains electricty supplier on grid. I am considering solar and going off grid in the near future but I am unsure if I will ever go fully off grid and cut the contact to the mains electricity supplier on grid. The weather in Italy suits solar and wind power and I hope to use as much as I can for certain DIY project.

The old rustic roof tiles needed some realignment so I attempt that also. I am learning as I go and it seems that as the Italian roof tiles are not fixed and sit there securely under their own weight, the wind can move them over time. As this old Italian house has been empty for a while, it seems that nobody had looked after the rustic roof. All good though. A simple fix as it is a small, single story, farm house in the countryside.

Why did I locate the sun decking in that location? It was to allow access to diggers and excavators when the building work and groundworks start. It gives a great view accross my corner of Le Marche from where I built it and has been useful for me to see what it would be like to have a terrace in this area before all the renovations and building work start. It gave me options incase I need to change the design and plans.

If you are new here and, like me, are inspired by the likes of Josh and Erin on Wild Wonderful Off Grid WWOG or what Martijn Doorlard, the man living alone renovating a cabin in mountains of Northern Italy, then I hope you a in the right place. There are many moving or planning to move to Europe so I hope I can help give you a feel for what is involved in that also.

When will I move to Italy full time - that is the big question!

Please feel free to ask me questions. I try to read all the comments and am humbled by the warm and positive messages that you have all sent. I am planning ahead for my next videos and your comments are helping me shape future videos. Thank you so much for your support.

The Chapters

00:00 - Corinaldo

00:47 - Wood delivery

02:14 - Building a deck

04:50 - Weather proofing deck

06:05 - view over Le Marche

08:40 - first time using a chainsaw

09:28 - felling an awkward tree

10:01 - chansaw pt2

12:33 - enjoying the framed view

17:52 - fixing roof tiles

19:33 - stargazing tent

21:23 - Thank you for watching

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#5 Italian house Renovation | town hall SAID NO to my planning application.