myabruzzohome's activity

thanks Steve -yes I am a bit bruised and battered from the abruzzolutely forum lately  so I'm seeking refuge here in the hope of finding a nicer class of person to argue with !!I think you can live in another EU country for 180 days before you need to pop over the border then return to Italy.If you are from outside the EU then its another matter.Thats what the inland revenue told me anyway!!I'm not sure that I'd want to enter into the process of signing up and paying fees to the Flea Market trust or whatever as I was probably thinking of a fairly informal affair just selling at Festas from my boot which I'm going to rig up with shelving and retro fabrics! 

Another thing you'll find if you are lucky is a whole fossil -we found a scallop which I incorporated into a section of outside wall.I also found half (but still havent found the other half) of an ancient stone font.It was in the garden chucked into a genera pile of stones.Keep your eyes peeled.  

HiThere are some great plumbers in Manoppello Scalo and I have used them to do most of the work at our house.  Email memy blog is www.myabruzzohome.blogspot.com

HiOur our was a church but a local historian told me that it was probabably made into a house in 1860 due to heavy taxes levied on the church authorities meaning that they 'gave up' some of the small rural chuches.On our wall we can see where the original church door was and there are some incised stones that date back to about 1200/1300 coming from a ruined monastry further up the valley.In areas where most buildings were built from cut or rubble stone all buildings are likely to have an older core or at least some sections of wall which contain very old cut stones.It is possible to age the stones by looking at the marks made by tools used to cut them.Interestingly where we are in Abruzzo a pre-roman head (a sculpture) was found actual incorporated into an inside wall.This was most likely just picked up from a pile of stones left ready to build the wall from.So if you do have a very old house it might be worth doing a very though search of the walls just in case you have any valuable artifacts there! 

As a newcomer you'll need all the help and goodwill you can get which is why I've given lifts to the elderly neighbours and brought out presents for other neighbours as I never know when i will need their help!I would give him the table perhaps making a joke out of it and asking for some of his wine/olive oil as an exchange! 

Yes I would go there as soon as possible -it may even be worth offering the woman some money to get her out -cheaper that having to get builders in to take off the roof.If she has been offered somewhere to go then that is helpful to know -can you offer to take her there?Whatever happens going down the legal route is a last resort.   

My passport was all that I needed but they did ask me what my job was in the UK and I replied that I was self-employed so I wasnt asked for any other docs.The bank clerk did know me so it made things easier. 

Yes I went to my Uni Credit bank in Chieti and was not allowed to withdraw any money until I had been to my main branch and completed these forms!

Hi Rebecca here! We have been doing up an old stone house in Abruzzo for 5 years and I think that just about qualifies me to answer your questions! First just a warning about using mecanical means to remove plaster.We had some horrible grey cemenet smeared liberally all over part of our lovely limestone building.When we chipped off the cement underneath we discovered some ancient carvings which we would have destroyed had we used a power tool! Sometimes you do need to use power tools but try hand tools first -Limeplaster is soft and will come off easily and even cement if old should come off in sheets. Get all of the cement off the walls then you will need to leave them to dry out.If you can leave windows and doors open all summer then you will get them dryer quickly - if not it may take a year!You'll probably need to do some repointing at this time or you will get some unwanted visitors coming in! My best tip is to buy yourself some sacks of dry lime and mix lime putty (see my blog) and use that with sand 1 to 3 ratio to fill in any voids to keep out rats etc. Any part of your house that is underground is going to be a difficult place to make habitable as the damp levels will be unacceptably high. Tanking will also be a problem as the moister will be forced up and appear in the floors above as damp. btw I can't agree with any of Penelope's comments and going down the damp proofing route is a disaster for an old stone house where walls need to breath. And why would anyone want a horrible 'false' wall' when they can look at the beautiful stone wall tha could be centuries old! I recommend the SPAB website and the UK Period Property Forum and buy a book called The Old House Book.I think Spab publish it. Pleae do feel free to send me a PM. www.myabruzzohome.blogspot.com

Manoppello Municipio emailed me a completed F24 form just 24 hours after I sent them an email asking for help! Bravo Manoppello! www.myabruzzohome.blogspot.com