Uncovering a 200 year old window. Episode 29 

Collie great choice of dog they train so easy they are beautiful the kids will be over the moon i bet Toby will love him as well good job done Sam hard graft looks good

Fantastic team work guys. Big pat on the back. Your doing fantastic work, so exciting for you. Sam's enthusiasm is amazing. Becca no work for you tomorrow, have a relaxing mother's day❤ Love Nell. Now you need some sheep😂

The light shining through the window looked like you had discovered the local leprechaun’s stash of gold!!! You both are an inspiration!💕

What you are doing is amazing and love watching the progress. I grew up in an old Irish crofters cottage (live in the UK now) and I would like to suggest for inside the cottage instead of the concrete floor I would use lime mortar on walls and lime mortar to hold a flagstone floor or clay tile floor which you can pick up in salvage yards or reclaim for a natural old traditional look with old tongue and grove on the ceiling the cottage will look amazing

Well done, Sam, on that window. Great job on the stones over the lintel. That window could have been closed up in the times when there was a window tax. Less windows , less tax. It will be nice to have the extra light coming through, too. Nellie looks lovely,she seems right at home with all the other animals .

Hi guys, the chicken look right at home lol. I love your channel and videos they have such a nice vibe to them. It's also really nice that the kids like having a go at everything and helps them bond with the land/building. Love that you're keeping all the special features in the barn. Sam looks like he's enjoying every minute and his enthusiasm is just amazing. It sounds like the kids absolutely love the rope swing, and it's so good for them to be outside these days instead of on computers etc. Awww Nell is beautiful, thanks for a great video 😃👌🌈🤟

So nice to see you without heavy jackets, Spring is coming😊

My husband happened to be watching this episode. An engineer by trade, he is wondering if your window was never a window at all, but external access to the loft.

Hi, you guys are all amazing, and you have got what it take to make your Irish homestead magnificant. So pleased you didnt knock those beautiful buildings down.(yes, a lot of work but it will be worth it in the end). You both work so hard & well together & look how much the fam has grown ......dog, cats, chickens and a rescued donkey🇦🇺😊 Keep up the great work.

Brilliant teamwork. You encourage us all to believe that we can do more. What a super achievement and what a lovely dog!

Great job as always guys…I agree a glass link between the 2 buildings would be amazing,and also extra light!😉👍

You have managed so many rewarding achievements this past week. I love the exposed window. Well done with your lentils. Nell seems very intelligent plus the chooks and cats all seem to tolerate each other . Enjoy your growing tribe....😂

The window area looks great! You all as always do a fantastic job on everything you do! The chickens are saying"Hey dad I want to sit on your lap too".

Wow, what a transformation and honouring the old builders. Loved watching this video. Many thanks. Kx

7:45 ya know, breezeway windows in there would’ve been beautiful as well! ❤️ Edit: Nell is adorable! 🥰

I always enjoy waking up on Saturdays to watch your video and coffee before heading out busking here in Calgary Canada, looking forward to many more videos of your journey, Cheers James

Ye are all going to look like entrants to the Mr. Universe Contest with lifting all those huge stones.😊❤ Congratulations on acquiring Nell and fair play for rescuing her😊❤

It would be interesting to research the history of your property. The "barn" is probably an older dwelling from a time when humans and animals sheltered under the same roof. The dividing wall would bear this out, animals on one side people on the other.

I was so excited as you were to see the window! My heart was racing! This is one of the coolest channels! Here in the USA, we don't have buildings that old!! The East coast has, of course, older buildings, then us, all to the West coast!!

Back in the day Ireland used to have a window tax so a lot of people blocked them up as can be seen quite a lot around dublin

Nell is adorable. Love your channel ❤❤❤❤

Well done that wall is coming on nicely 👍, hang on though have you hidden some sheep 🐏🐑 somewhere for next week?😀. Take care, have a good week and enjoy.

There was a tax on windows, thus the origin of the saying 'daylight robbery'.

Love what you are doing, you will hopegully get the good weather now to make progress! Did you consider using glass to join the two buildings together rather than redoing the wall? You often see that on linked extensions to separate old and new.

Oh, my heart was in my mouth, watching that lintel. You’re lucky that you have some pretty big stones, so they do tend to stay in place, without the wood holding them up. But I was looking at the vertical seam to the left of the lintel, going up almost uninterrupted, most of the way to the top and waiting for it to shift. Much safer, once the first lintel was in, but still scary, because the middle is always loose rubble and soil, so it could potentially all come pouring out, like sand in an hour glass. When our lintel let go, thankfully, nobody actually saw it. We had just finished for the day and were out on the road, sweeping out the barrow, before loading up the car to go home. But it felt like an earthquake, as stone after stone came loose and bounced off the window sill, before hitting the floor. By the time it stopped, the wall was open the whole way to the wall plate. The snow last week loosened it some more and now the gap above the window is vee shaped, about half as wide again at the top. I’m resigned to dismantling the walls, when I go to do mine. Luckily, there’s not much above the rest of mine. That window was almost a foot (30cm) lower than all the others. The rest of them have about 18” (45cm) of stone to remove for safe access, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m so relieved to see you didn’t precipitate a similar event with your gable end. The window opening looks great. What a milestone! Rinse and repeat, for the others. Let’s hope they go as smoothly. Nell is a wonderful addition to the family. I can’t convince either of our current dogs to play with a ball. Their predecessor would play happily for hours, even without human participation. That will provide plenty of non screen entertainment for you guys, when you’re not building. Very interested in your plans for the floor. Your experience with that may well change my plans for ours. We have cracks in the existing concrete, now, thanks to the window catastrophe, so digging it out might make sense. Insulation would be a nice addition, as well as the already planned damp proofing.

Interesting…unraveling history

I literally found these superb, seriously addictive renovation videos yesterday evening. After watching your very first video, I lined up 30 more and literally watched them all, one after the other until 04.30 this morning, I took a break, had a shower, made some breakfast and I am now settling back in, to watch the last videos! Captivating stuff, nicely put together, in a manner that just draws you in, as if you are there, having a coffee as you relate the pitfalls and updates! I genuinely guessed, earlier on that the Donkey would become a part of the family, well done you for giving the poor soul a much nicer life although I bet your neighbours will forever damning him and your Cockerel!!! 🤣 It is a lovely setting and the structures are simply a "great save"! I bought 3 cottages from a farm that unfortunately sent bust, near my home town of St.Andrews, in Fife and did a very big refurb and upgrade to them after knocking them into one unit. They were nowhere near as demanding as yours but you are doing a terrific job and I wish you every success and happiness, your videos are captivating and I love seeing your "ranch" progress. All the very best to you all. Kenny

I think you guys are doing a wonderful job! It has to be tedious and repetitive day in and day out. I think the sewing machine is dead in the water. Squaring off the stone to give you two or three flat planes is a real skill. I was watching someone else learn that last Sunday, and he was getting the hang of it, but he left the fine chisel work for the expert. Someone had some amazing skills while building your house. I wonder how they lifted some of those stones to the top, don't you? Super video today! I was holding my breath for so long that I'm ready for a nap! Well done! 👍👍👍 Nell is wonderful! Dirty paws and all!

Just love what you are doing to this character property. So many were demolished needlessy and used for filling. I was lucky enough to work on the refurbishment on several Of these old properties. It's sobering to think that most if not all the tradesmen who built these precious properties are no longer with us. Best of luck with your huge undertaking.

Love all the animals. Those chickens amaze me, they don't seem to be afraid of anything! 😊 so friendly .

Hi Sam Good to meet you in Carrick the other day . Keep leaning in .

Don't envy the work you have ahead of yourselves. That said it's all about the experience and learning from experience and others knowledge. Love the Donkey. All the animals, and there is me with one dog and he wears me out...lol. All the best guys x

Just came across this channel today. I have been binge watching your videos. Giving a beautiful old building a new life is a wonderful thing. The fact that you guys are doing so much of the work is inspirational! Well done!! What county are you guys in? The views from your house are fab.

Amazing stuff guys 💖 " if I don't see you through the week I'll see you through the window" made me chuckle 😂

Very very therapeutic watching you clear the cottage walls of old mortar. Love the chickens and cats supervising 😂 LOVE the lintel and idea of facing it with wood. That wee window is adorable 😍😍😍😍What fantastic work and seeing the sunlight come through after all those years made me feel emotional and look at the depth of the wall..... wow!! Nell is MAGNIFICENT and what joy you will have ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

The old rusty Singer would make a great door stopper. Just clean the rust up a bit with steel wool! It will always be a fun conversation piece ~ "found it in the barn"

The reason many windows were blocked off by landlords, was because of a window tax the English government imposed on Ireland in 1799. This was later changed to a glass tax, so people just filled them in.

Great stuff you two, keep it coming 👏👏👏 I love the content and brilliant effort you guys put into the renovation, my great grandfather was a stonemason Sam and he was from Dublin and moved to North Wales where my grandad was born in Caernarfon 😀 Dave Liverpool.

So nice to see how well your animals get on with each other 🐓🐕🐈🐕👍🏼

Great work on the new old window. Your new arrival seems to be at home and everyone is getting on well 🙂

There was a tax on how many windows so people blocked some up

Wow! It's so good to see you able to move forward without waiting for bureaucracy or weather or anything else!!

It looks like you are a natural with the stone work. It looks a good job. Well done. You guys have got a proper small holding going now , with the chickens , Donkey , Cats and now a Dog. Great to see you are off to a good start on the renovation. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

You guys are amazing. I feel tired just watching you!

How fantastic the stonework is looking. An awful lot of very hard work and a great lot of team work. Sam what an amazing little window and well done on the lentil and windowsill. Well done for your first time Sam.Becky I hope you are taking it easy tomorrow and having a happy Mother's day. It is great to see the dog fetching the ball for Euan and the cat's and chickens not worried about the running around them.I have seen a glass panel joining stone buildings Looks really good and let's extra light into the buildings, but I am sure you both have to keep control on your budget..Take care and mind yourselves God bless xx

To bad they used all that trash rock on the inside walls but I guess since they were going to be covered up it didnt matter !! It is tedious work though cleaning out the joints ! The end result will look awesome I am sure !

Love the new doggo, border collies are precious!

The window is a triumph so far, well done.....but Nell...is fantastic! I hope she settles well. Xxx

You look right professional with your hard hat on Bec!! I find it very soothing to see the progress you are making on the mortar. 👍🏼😊😊 Oh, wee Nell is lovely. ♥

Good evening family +1 now. Nell the lovely pooch lol 😂 This is the first up to date video for me and I simply loved it Well done Sam fir bringing light into the building by opening up that window 🤩 Love what your all doing keep it up 👍🏻 love Stevie xx

A really nice episode guys, the pooch looks like she’s fitted in quickly and easily with the “herd”. He may not realise it now but I suspect your young fella’ will be chuffed to look back on this episode and watch his dad opening up his bedroom window and laying essentially the very first piece of new material for the entire rebuild project there.

Some bubble levels have two markings on them, for years I've always used the second marking as a 40 to 1 fall, so the edge of the bubble is outside of the first level mark. You should buy a cheap 2ft one and try it or even try it in store no need to buy 24in long should give you a half an inch at the markings above

What a reveal... great window and great job restoring the lintels... so exciting... Looking forward to more... And Nel... what a beauty... A lot of hours of fun there... If dogs are man's best friend... then you have a winner there... she has a keen eye... is she a border collie? Blessings to all ❤

Welcome Nell

Blimey u have a managarie! Lovely Nell welcome to LIH . Love the chooks free ranging they look great. Toby looks healthier than before. Loving the window Sam u can see what the cottage has to offer u all ❤

Great progress, just putting in those 2 lintels is enough of a boost to spur you on to bigger and better things! Have a good week, hopefully not too wet or windy to curtail your outside progress❤

Would you consider two glass panels to join the buildings to give a contemporary v old look. It would let more light in and save a lot of work.

Amazing. So glad y’all are restoring…

Brilliant video! It was awesome seeing the window, well done. Im so happy for you all and love how you have pet #13. Nell is beautiful, love her colouring. ❤❤❤

Fantastic work on the window. Love wee Nell. She has got a lovely new home😍

Great job not a bother to you 🎉 love that Nell is an older dog, as the are usually forgotten about. She's beautiful ❤

My brain heard, 'I don't take it for granite that I have some amazing stone facing here...' LOL

I'm a first timer to your channel, it's 4am in Australia.I love to watch your type of videos, so I'll have to watch a few more videos to catch up, what also attracted me even more was seeing that you are animals lovers, I also love old stone buildings.Noreen Australia 🦘

Not even sure how I happened upon you folks, but am interested to see your adventures and cheer you on!

What a fantastic step forward !!! Great Job. So exciting.

Maybe use a mortar bag to fill the spaces in the wall and then tool it once it is in place.

Welcome in the family to this new window! ;)

Well done sam and becca

Heads are rough side down for plastering helping for gripping Smooth side down if exposed no plaster

Absolutely love watching your progress! The world needs more people who persevere and restore the beautiful buildings and possessions that we already have! And wee Nell, how gorgeous!

The reason that it was blocked up could have been because of the tax on windows in the 17th century. Everyone was taxed on how many windows they had in their houses. That would also mean that the building is more than three hundred and fifty years old because that tax came into being in the 1690s.

Well- I could just watch those chickens….!! Love chickens that are free ranged

I have watched you both from the start but dithered about subscribing because I was bothered by your then priorities, you are now on task and your filming has greatly improved. Subscribed today.

I’m so thankful to people like you that are saving these lovely structures. Great job

Widow looks fab.and have to say the sound from the farm yard animals just adds that touch of the old days and ways love it lads.

Just loved watching this video, ooh the window, is beautiful 🤩 it’s getting exciting. Love the dog, gorgeous, so happy for you all,it’s all coming together, the music is fab, well done guys so happy for you xx🤗

rough side on the Lintel faces down so the Render/Plastering will get a grip 👍

That back wall is stunning.

Great job , opening up the window. In a previous life I replaced a few myself ( won't talk about the one that got removed and the old wall above it collapsed). A tip.. I gathered up old slate, specifically slate to use as packers under the lintels, it won't crush like stone or mortar. Your getting quite a collection of animals now, Is the dog a rescue?

Sam do you notice all the scaffolding over here in Ireland is rusted up lol Great work keep it up guys Keep to your budget you will do it 👍👍

It is great to see your progress every Saturday.

A wonderful choice of dog a Collie is a great dog to have especially on a farm, the children will love her and she has a lovely face. I love the hen having a close look at Nell and Toby watching from afar the work you are doing. That bee hive was a lovely find. Another lovely video and have a lovely week.

That open window is looking great! Love the collie now just need a few sheep to teach her herding 😊

Great work,but I’m scared the whole thing will fall down on top of you.🤩🤔

I agree - soothing to watch the stonework.

We got the red fur version of Nell we call her Maple, she'll be a great addition for your family well by you might not be an expert stone mason but your goin to be its lookin good...

Great work lovely window opening and gorgeous dog ❤.

Awesome job just fascinating and how loose are some of those stones !! And all the inside looks like mud looking forward to next episode x❤😊

Brilliant love ye videos

This channel is absolutely superb - all the right ingredients and really genuine characters with oodles of enthusiasm and appeal. It always brightens my day watching your videos. I too am an expat a bit further south from you so I understand your vision - I shan't say 'keep up the good work' because I know you will! Best wishes.

one block at a time

Honestly guys, these videos are SOOO good for my headspace. Enough said, but please keep doing what you are doing 😊

I am really enjoying your videos. Your homestead is beautiful.

A lot of hard work but the stone is beautiful...well done.

So amazing to see all the progress and additions to your lovely farm. When you finish the raking out. Have you considered having the walls sandblasted before you point the walls? It could give you a nice surface apply the new lime to. All the best

How jealous are we all going to be when the cottage is finished

Great work being done all around. Have you someone to consult about drainage under the house? That dog Nell is beautiful

Sam, great job! Love your new family member. I look forward to seeing you all. I'm beginning to feel like a part of your family, too. Until next weekend, stay safe and take care.

Great job on the window reopening! It's nice to hear Sam appreciate the good stone work of the people who came before. I've done the same with my stone terrace cottage...the amazing work they did, with far less tools than we have now! It's such a shame that our public census only goes back to 1911, makes finding out the history that much harder. Nell looks gorgeous, you can't beat a lovely collie 🙂

Lots of hard work but it’s definitely paying off. Well done!!