(21) Moving to Sicily - Reviewing the DIY To Do List

MOVING TO SICILY - Moving from the UK, emigrating to Sicily Italy, renovating an abandoned house that hasn’t been occupied for 35 plus years. Rotten Windows, grime, leaking Roof, no electrics or water ….. is where we are starting from.

We are Barbara & Milton, have two young girls aged 8 and 10. Please join our family as we embark on an exciting new journey. Moving from UK's bills and cold climate to sunny warm Sicily! I’m 56 and hopefully “Retiring” early. We plan to sell up and emigrate to the wonders of the warm Mediterranean Islands that make up Sicily, Italy. Becoming an Expat - join us as our adventures begin!

  / wearemovingtosicily  
BUY US A SLICE OF PIZZA: https://buymeacoffee.com/movingtosicily

IN THIS VIDEO:
Moving to Sicily Italy - Blimey. Sold up, driven all our things to Sicily from the UK and doing up an old noble mans house that hasn't been lived in for 30-35 years. Most repairs are done. Just taking some slow steps to prepare for a move in - habitation. So much has been done and so much left to do. Hopefully you get a good sense of where we are now and see some progress. We are Moving to Sicily - specifically the Kasbah is Sicily, Italy.

Starting from the front of the house, this Video serves as a to do list whilst I show you around the entire house. The two drain pipes on the front of the house need to be unblocked as no rain comes down them rather over them. The front doors to the Grand Entrance (don't know what else to call it - Courtyard Entrance maybe?) needs to be sanded and repaired a little. Inside the main entrance there is a bit of painting and sanding to do and then at one point I need to open up a wall which has been bricked up to see what is behind it - a hidden room.

Then into the Garage and a room off of the Garage that I'm using as a Gym currently. Still not sure what do do with the room. The Garage I can use as a workshop whilst I repair the house.

Then onto the Light Well which has an old lift shaft. Walls need to be plastered / cleaned up and repainted as they are just disintegrating. Then into a four room would be apartment still on the ground floor.

Now in the Garden which I'm using as a dumping ground from all the building work. Priority is to clear the Garden this week if I can. The Garden has a water well / tank that holds 45,000 is litres of water. Not great if its not used. Will think about reducing the size of the tank once we have an idea of how much water we will use over a week. Various pipes to be cut away, old gas pipes, redundant water pipes and old electrical pipes.

Onto the balcony, to get a good view of the Churches around us and the Orange Trees before going into the house via a door that leads from the Garden into what will be out bedroom. The what will be an ensuite, then the kids room. Marble floors throughout the house that need to be polished. Thought are to have a mezzanine to split the kids room into two sleeping areas as it is such a large space. Then into the lounge which is nice and central to most of the rooms in the house.

00:00 INTRO TO THIS SICILY RENOVATION OF OURS
00:45 OPENING CLIPS FOR THE CHANNEL
01:00 FRONT OF OUR SICILIAN DREAM HOUSE
02:28 TRADITIONAL SICILIAN DOORS / GATES
03:30 THE GRAND ENTRANCE
04:30 HIDDEN ROOM
05:40 THE GARAGE / WORKSHOP
06:20 ROOM FOR A GYM?
06:40 MARBLE AND GRANIT STAIRWAY
07:29 INTO THE LIGHT WELL
08:18 GROUND FLOOR ROOMS
09:28 THE GARDEN
12:15 MASTER BEDROOM
12:50 ENSUITE
13:00 KIDS ROOM
13:23 LOUNGE
14:50 DINNING ROOM
15:10 KITCHEN
16:25 1ST SHOWER ROOM / TOILET
17:20 2ND SHOWER ROOM / TOILET
18:13 MY OFFICE
18:30 B'S OFFICE
18:50 MUSIC ROOM
19:29 2ND FLOOR 3RD SHOWER ROOM / TOILET
20:00 2ND FLOOR KITCHEN?
20:25 THE TERRACE
20:36 2ND FLOOR LOUNGE
20:45 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM
21:06 THE TERRACE AGAIN

ABOUT MOVING TO SICILY / US:
Im 56 years old. Waking up one day, exhausted as normal from shift work, and on that drive to work figured out that thanks to the Government extending retirement pension yet again, I had another 22 years of this. Working 60 hours a week just to scrape by each month after covering living costs. The Mortgage, Council Tax, heating costs going up 5%-10% a year. The radio spoke about increasing crime, inflation, tax….. I love my Country but it was now time for me to be selfish. Did I really want to do this for the next 22 years? I then realised that by giving up a £40k a year job wouldn’t be that bad. All I had to do was eliminate my biggest costs and reduce the other costs. Refinance our home to buy a cheap house in a cheaper country, somewhere that had low crime, easy living. Somewhere stuck in time that appreciate a work to live rather than live to work attitude. YouTube research gave me places like The East / Orient, Mauritius - all very good options. We settled on Sicily Trapani Italy.