One Year Transforming Abandoned River Paradise

welcome to the project of my heart  in June 2022 I bought an abandoned Riverland but it had a new wood cabin on it so  I could move in right away without electricity   and no water connection what we did was building  some stairs this is when I met my project buddy   Paul and my neighbor Sheri. I was always a city  girl so I had no idea how to build stuff or how   to even use a drill. I had to do a lot of land  cleaning since the land was very overgrown it   had been abandoned for decades. After I had  to leave to earn some money in the winter,   the craziest and busiest year of my life  started so I thought I'd make a video to   show you all of the projects since the spring  of 2023 So I experienced all of the seasons   spring summer fall and winter and I truly enjoy  to live so close to nature and feel the seasons change let's dive into the first  project Woohoo I'm getting a solar system yay the electrician is here so we need to get the wood out [Music] [Music] the battery is charging now let's  go let's get some power to this tiny house for now we laid the connection  from the Stone House to the wood cabin overground The power line will go in here into the cabin wow it's so different to have light inside  the cabin really! woohoo the fridge is coming just   in time because this weekend it's going to be over  40° C this is just incredible I have so much space   now for my veggies The next project was one of the  biggest on the land and it was very daunting - an   off-grid water system! Casey the excavator  guy came and make trenches all over the place wow it's so much soil - it's crazy how much comes  out of such a small trench! the source of water   is the creek that has very clean water and from  the pump house it will go down to the wood cabin   and then up the steep hill to all of the stone  houses and a T off to the tent and little food   tree terrace. this is Christoph from Austria who  joined me for a week to do this crazy [Music] project good morning today Christoph  and I will continue to prepare the [Music] trenches [Music] so at first we will put the electrical lines so  we're putting the electrical line to the wood   cabin underground and also putting little  posts with taps and sockets on most of the terraces Finally it made it through! this  was such a pain. Never touch the sides of   the trenches or the rocks are going to  fall in again. Closing the first [Music] trench and Christoph has  been working down here, so [Music] amazing. Everyday morning routine: siffing  some trenches! But this is going to be the   last trench to siff so it's fine. today  Christoph, Paul and I are hopefully going   to set up the water system it's a very  exciting day and so nice that it's not so hot. Getting closer and closer! Great so let's  fill up some pipes this is the creek the source   of water and we need to pre-fill the pipe for the  first time so the pump doesn't suck air. Ready! - Ready! oh that's better! well go grab a tap! yes water! Now I can finally water the trees  that I've been neglecting. Trench filling time!   These are some crazy days thanks again to  Paul and Christoph, we were totally crushing   it together. [Music] wow this is the moment I've  been waiting for all my life having a hose pipe! [Music] The effect of this project  will grow and grow over time and the   importance that it actually has for the [Music] land. I'm painting now my kitchen sink. now I need to make a hole into the deck of the cabin. that was so [Music] quick It's finally done! the first sink on this  property. such a milestone then Selina   from Germany and Mareike from Switzerland came  over and we did a lot of projects in one week.   Mareike and Selina are starting with a little  pump house because the pump has been just under   a plastic sheet in this rain this is not very  good. And Paul is installing the water filter we're building some stairs from the cabin  terrace to the river terrace. it's so   cool to have all these rocks on the land.  yes that's right clap for yourself! good job! these steps are still not really finished,   but they are a big improvement to before.  in the meantime Paul installed the outdoor   shower behind the cabin. so this is a real  teamwork project- after Selina painted it   the first time now it's ready for the second  coat. May I present my outdoor bathroom with   a little compost toilet and the shower with  hot water! it's a very hidden place here and   this is my bathroom till this day although I  moved the compost toilet under a [Music] roof [Music] that's a lot of soil I've never built a drain so I'm very  excited to [Music] try it. the stones are   so pretty now when they're white. as you can see  these three tiny houses are connected and then   there's this separate house that is connected  to another open grill area down there there's   a main entrance area here which is kind  of cute so I started with the renovation   of this single house because it had a floor  already this is how it looked when I bought the property the wall is under the  ground level here's the ground   level outside there so today a big  excavator is coming to excavate this   whole wall because I'm going to stay  here for the winter and I need a dry [Music] wall amazing what a huge [Music] hole [Music] well if we ever need rocks here is more than enough that's a trench! watch your  step or you're going to fall into   the dark abyss! okay let's get into the dark hole oh I'm so excited to try the pressure [Music] washer. shade, finally! as you can see  the higher part are already cleaned   and now it's just the bottom [Music]  part I love this machine so much fun [Music] I won't tell you about the nervous breakdown  I had when the excavator uncovered this   very messy wall that's not really a wall  that's just rocks this task is a big big challenge now the walls can dry and  are ready to be sealed against any   water volunteer Mike from England just [Music] arrived he's one of the hardest working men  I've ever met he helped me to make the trench   deeper with a pig axe for some reason  I never thought of a jackhammer at that point yay as complete newcomers to  building we still tackled the task   of restrengthening that wall. soup of the  day! yeah [Music] we're so tired or I'm so tired what a day! it's a long process it's a slow  process so it needs a lot of patience. or   more hands! I asked my family for help and  they came and I'm super grateful that we   got this job done it's just about supporting  this wall it doesn't need to be pretty it's   going to be the earth again [Music] anyway  final day of rendering has arrived hopefully   and also Paul is coming today hopefully  and in return I am helping him on his roof [Music] [Applause] [Music]  Action! basically we finished!   I'm so grateful for Paul and  Mike to help me finish this project we're jumping around in time a bit  the girls actually came after this. Cheers!   could be some really good chocolate cake yeah lava  cake! and we waterproofed that wall. it's really black! Yoohoo successful! we're going  to do the second coating today. after   three layers of bitumen this wall is finally  waterproof the team rocks totally! the next   guest is Dave from England and we brought this  monster project of damp proofing to completion done um perfect stay I see a big yellow a little yellow  excavator! so this is the round river   gravel that is going to cover the perforated  pipe down here. now the worst job of all times   begins we have to spread this gravel evenly and  time is running because the excavator only has   a few hours and he couldn't reach further  because of the big pile of [Music] earth.   hey it looks really good from here! seems like  the endless task is slowly coming to an [Music] end then a little accident [Music] happened but luckily Casey was fine everybody was fine it's done the wall is finished!  I'm exhausted! after this crazy   day Dave and I started to replace  the roof tiles so this is how the   old tiles look and they are super  cracky so in a few years they would crack. try and keep three points of contact. [Music] we already took off three solar [Music] panels oh that's good  put them the end somewhere our   test fit and it's not easy because  walls are not straight of course,   fun stuff. all right the mix is mixed  the mix of truth, it's very scary [Music] woohoo one day progress amazing! good morning,   it's day two of roofing. well but it still  means the first row is in?! [Music] yoohoo we did it! I mean the first half is on  just in two days! so [Music] beautiful   yay no more old tiles! time for the first corner [Music] tile that went fast [Music]  though. we're done all these edges   are finished! can you catch? are you serious yeah wow Dave was really a powerhouse and together   with Paul I'm now finishing the ridge  tiles oh they are like the cherry on top   hello little lizard how are you doing?  are you stuck? are you having a little nap? the last tile this is such a magic moment yo thank you so much for Dave  who was volunteering here and Paul such   an adventurous week we are no professional  roofers but I'm quite proud how this turned out let me show you something very exciting  we found this old system and restored it and   it's actually working we suspected that  this lower water tank had something to   do with the water wheel so when Dave  was still here we started to clear it out here's a pipe coming out of the top  going down into this Basin it opens   cool [Music] yay I hear it it's coming  out I can have a water wheel this pipe   in the bottom leads all the way to the water  wheel whoa is there anything a rake can't do   it's perfect so whatever they did it worked  there's just random bits of metal welded in   but I mean I've scraped out a lot of rubbish  oh thank you so much but I haven't found a hole yet now this is full power two boys having fun  my neighbor Sher also came over to figure out   how this used to work gear then neutral  then gear then to B we're going to try   to fit the chain that we bought for the  water wheel this one was one that turned   wasn't it the other one didn't turn it how  free that is look how many years it's been there now there's a little bulp  here before I can let the rain   fill the pool up I need to seal  it to make it [Music] waterproof yay the tank is filling up and the fren strain Works should I turn on the Water Wheel so the generator was on here this  motorcycle gear box as well and the shaft   needed a new chain and that was all if this wheel  would be in the river it would have been amazing   I plan to put almost all the rainwater from the  roofs in there let's try the water wheel in the night I'm going to use the rain  water now to just let it spin a bit it runs much better now with the shorter  pipe. well to really produce power it should   run like this. so hydro power is to  be further explored in the future.   it's just so exciting to finally start  building and to learn everything on the way. with the damp proofed wall,  the renovation of the Stonehouse can begin! to renovate the room I'm so fortunate   to get help from Jose and Carlos,  two very classy traditional stone masons wow wow these guys are amazing what they can  do in one and a half hours just with their hands [Music] all of   this in one day! I I can't believe it these guys  are amazing really. I decided to make that window   into a door. I'm so looking forward to having a  door that's actually tall enough. one of the most   amazing days of my life. who would have imagined  this house to be so [Music] beautiful [Music] the next project is going to  transform the Stone House even more [Music] time to make some concrete for the  balcony! this is such an exciting project [Music] I'm about to cry I have a balcony now! the  reinforcement grid goes wider than the door is,   so that this little terrace can actually float  in the air. now the balcony has dried and Paul   is coming over together with his friend Kaori  we're going to pour the screed in a slope onto the [Music] balcony [Music] so I'm going to point these walls [Music] now [Music] actually my mother is helping me today to point  these stone walls which is [Music] nice [Music] let's do [Music] [Applause] [Music] this  [Music] it's really a patience job but   I love [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can  tell by my face when I'm really concentrated [Music] yeah I finished pointing the stones One Step Closer! I finally bought a  chainsaw so now I can make   my own firewood. my neighbor  Sher is coming over to show [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] I'm going to mix some lime with water to turn it  into paint later this is going to save me hundreds   of dollars if it works out and now I need a lot  of water 10l - 60l! now comes the tricky part lime   powder in Portuguese cal viva is coming into the  water and it's very dangerous because it's very   corrosive to the skin so yeah if you do this you  really need to be protected it's going to start to boil this is what it looks like  now and now the lime needs to sit   minimum 1 month two years are better  and 100 years should be the best paint ever [Music] they are coming! soon there will be a door here! the door is not easy to fit  one corner is not really [Music] straight [Music] it's a real house now oh my God very important in Portugal to have portadas to   have sun protection and I think  they turned out so beautiful ciao now I'm going to rain prep and  winter prep the cabin and the [Music] land my next project to make this cabin more  waterproof to seal these edges because   inside there appeared some water marks from last [Music] [Music] winter [Music] I finished painting all  the edges so the rain countdown continues   tomorrow it's supposed to start raining so  I have a lot of drainage trenches to make [Music] still. come on rocks! this is the ugliest  thing I ever produced but it's just temporary as   they say. now this is a bigger project I'm going  to try to make this into a nice drain trench,   so that the water doesn't go into the walls down  here, not very motivated to do this. my friend   Paul has come over Paul is doing the fun part -  the installation of the pipe into the water tank [Music] okay so this looks kind  of good but in the middle here   it's too high so time to smash some  [Music] rocks are you building a mini [Music] dam? thanks for your help Paul! well  I'm kind of excited now for the rain to come one trench is not working  so I'm going to try to fix it it's working quite well what is the problem? trying hard to film  me fixing it but it just didn't work. I just   fixed it so so the walls wouldn't get wet it's  actually working now the water is flowing in the trench wow the tank is almost full now it's  a orange brown River it's going so fast this   little wood burner keeps me warm and happy  but the rain is just getting stronger and stronger seriously this is right next to my  house I'm sleeping right here this   is how it looks in the summer I hope this wall is holding okay I got to get  inside this is so scary [Music] successful 11 glasses of marmelade! so nice that the rain is giving us  a little break now hi Valentine a friend of   the family joined me in November and  all we basically did was insulating things so now we come to the most  important part actually the pump house and it works quite well with  these little insulation tubes he's   just hungry everything covered in  cheese that's how it goes it's just tasty. So the plan is to make  the fourth wall and put some insulation yeah you can feel that it's already warmer inside you want to try again? yes! nice! and  this is the handy door that Valentine built [Applause] [Music] [Music] yay it's done there's some frost here  this is the first time I'm here when there's Frost yep it's 0° tiny little stove the next big step on the Stonehouse  renovation: the insulation of the roof!   are you ready let's go we are all a  bit frozen bit frozen here learning   to handle this foam gun it seems a bit moody  [Music] actually. one is [Music] done [Music] [Music] wow are we done yeah a foamy foamy roof  the next coat is going to be the membrane let's go wow it goes super fast with the [Music] stapler now comes the last layer of insulation.  because I want to tape the seams we have to put   them up in huge pieces then we just put this  first here because it's a little tight on my side [Music] amazing [Music] perfect okay since Paul is  here we have improved quite a lot oh you're both [Music] I that was tough the last part can we do it  today let's push it and finish it up [Music] [Music] [Music] today a Blue Roof it's so cozy in  here now and so quiet Valentine helped me   so much alone I could have never done this and  Paul too this tank gets all the rain water from   the roofs so it's always full and now I want to  use that water for the water wheel so if we put   this tube a little bit further down it begins  to flow so much water is coming out this is so exciting now let it r a this is the beginning of Christmas  time the first fire ever here Cheers Cheers two Masons are coming to  help me to finish the wall in the Stonehouse we are using lime mortar that  consists of lime the fine yellow sand   and water I'm learning so much much  by watching these guys it's really [Music] [Music] cool second and last  day to finish the [Music] walls thank you you're welcome [Music] I'm going to get these walls ready  so that then the floor can come in [Music]   what's happening I need to wash  this off everything's fine just   a little paint YooHoo the walls are painted [Music] now it feels almost like there's snow and today we are going to put  in the electrics and prepare the [Music] floor but we finally figured out how  to get electricity everywhere I   want and need it let the mess of condr and cables begin welcome to the mess of today  so this is going to go all around   the room I'm going to pull it through the conduit my brother is here this is Ferdinand my oldest  brother! hi happy to be in this beautiful nature   spot hello good morning good morning Ismael who  rended this wall so beautifully is going to help   us with the floor next step is to make some  concrete points that are Level to each other   up and it's good good let's stick it out here we  can see Maya in action and Ferdinand in action yes today is the floor day we're going  to pour in the screed today and also   my stepfather and Ismael are going  to join us concrete cam Happy New [Applause] Year [Music] [Applause] [Music] last mixes  okay it's done I can't believe how well  this turned out it's amazing we made this   floor good morning guys today we are going  to do the tiles on the floor it's so rainy   it's still super dark outside similar to the  roof tiles laying the first row is key for   a whole floor [Music] yeah watch the master  spreading the mud it's so much fun to learn this is fun the mixer yeah this is  a weird cut 28 okay we got 28 right   here okay we can do it is this a joke  a floor in my own house I can't believe [Music] this [Music] filling in every little  gap I'm getting faster [Music] now [Music] [Applause] thank you to Angelo and  everybody who helped me to do this floor I'm so grateful [Music] this is the first night in 50 or 60  years when somebody sleeping in here   I'm very excited it's so quiet in here  my life is changing completely because   the heating is being installed and I can  move into the ston housee I bought this   wood burner secondhand in Germany and my  family was so kind to bring it over in   their [Music] car so now we will light the  first fire to see if there's smoke coming out the first fire of this fireplace so I'm now a moving business [Music] today so this how my evenings are now compared  to being cold freezing cold in the wood [Music] kabin [Music] it works I have power now I  have sockets now not always this mess   of cables laying around on the floor so now I know more today I'm going to start to  clad the ceiling a friend is going   to help me but she doesn't like to be  on YouTube so you're going to see only me okay okay first [Applause] now it's nail gun time got more okay with four it's not so [Applause] easy Yoo one day's worth of work so now  comes the tricky part around the pipe hi   so this is Sheri my neighbor and he came over  hi nice to see everybody not that I can see you [Music] yay one side [Music] done the last piece of a million [Music]  pieces go that was a long day 11 hours as you can see some boards are kind of  yellowish so I'm going to sand them off and   then try to glaze the ones that are a bit too  pink what I didn't know was that I actually   signed up to repaint the whole ceiling [Music]  now getting closer closer and closer [Music] YooHoo I'm finishing the ceiling today I'm [Music] done this room is finally  completed all of the ceiling all of the walls   the floor have been finally done I'm so grateful  for everybody who helped me to get here all   the volunteers friends and my family and all of  you guys thanks for all of your support and for   believing in me that I would be able to actually  renovate this house and move in here the best view ever if you enjoy my content please  subscribe to the channel and I hope   to inspire to do things you've never done before

Channel: Maya Feliz

Views: 1,066,811

Keywords: living off-grid, off grid, tiny house, permaculture, how to, outdoor, aussteiger, auswandern portugal, portugal, cabin life, wood cabin, van life, alternative living, vlog portugal, eco community, self sustainable, homestead, renovating, adventure, wilderness, life hacks, diy, farm life, daily vlog, mindfulness, relax, yoga, peaceful, find peace, happiness, stone house, natural building, eamon & bec, hannahleeduggan, project kamp, renovation, vanlife, dream home, gardening, cottagecore

Id: us1cle8YYGQ

Length: 58min 32sec (3512 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 17 2024