We were contacted by the client to come inspect an old abandoned labourer cottage on their farm in the Overberg. The roof was completely gone with some walls busy falling over. The one room even had a tree growing out of it. The walls were built with unfired clay bricks that were made on site about 100 years ago.
Our plan was to rebuild the house using entirely locally sourced materials from the farm. We started by clearing the inside of the building and identifying the walls that need repairing. We then used the fallen bricks and bricks sourced from other buildings on the farm to rebuild the walls. The doors and windows were bought from a second-hand salvage yard in Hermanus, all teak and Oregon pine. The roof structure we built with gum I cut from the farm, dried in the shed and debarked by us. The walls and floors were made with local clays and cow manure from the farm.
What we ended up with was a beautiful little cottage made with completely natural materials from the area. We gave this building a new life and the owner is still enjoying this 100+ year old building – and will be for generations to come.
