The Piggery Is Biggery
One of the last remaining renovation projects around my house is converting the 4X12 meter brick building the former owner used to house and rear pigs. In all honesty, I don’t know what to call the building. Is it a pigsty? Or a hog house? Or a pig barn? Is it big enough to be called a piggery? I prefer pigsty because it derives from the Proto-Germanic stija, meaning hovel, which is an apt description of the building’s current state.
Whatever the term, the building is an unbearable eyesore and has been ever since I bought the house, much like the henhouse had been before I renovated it. Although I did obtain hens for the henhouse, I have no plans to rear pigs in the pigsty.
It’s a shame I can’t pack the building into a box and ship it to Adam Piggott, who would probably appreciate the efficiency and functionality of the building despite its somewhat dilapidated state.
In any case, the time to finally fix it up has arrived, and let me tell you, I’ll have my work cut out for me.
I will need to replace the roof, raise the back wall, tear down the interior pens, feeders, and enclosures — all made of brick and/or concrete — pour a new floor, demolish parts of the exterior walls, install new doors/windows, replace the electrical wiring, put up new lighting, and so forth. In short, this is a big project. Three times as big as the brick shed renovation I completed a few years ago.
I plan to use part of the building as a garage and the rest as storage space, but my son has been badgering me to turn some of it into an at-home “kickboxing gym” (don’t ask).
I hope to start the project by mid-June, immediately after I finish the garden tool and equipment shed I have yet to start. Although I pegged the completion for mid-July, I have a sinking feeling that this pigsty conversion will bleed freely into August, maybe even September.
We’ll see.
Whatever the term, the building is an unbearable eyesore and has been ever since I bought the house, much like the henhouse had been before I renovated it. Although I did obtain hens for the henhouse, I have no plans to rear pigs in the pigsty.
It’s a shame I can’t pack the building into a box and ship it to Adam Piggott, who would probably appreciate the efficiency and functionality of the building despite its somewhat dilapidated state.
In any case, the time to finally fix it up has arrived, and let me tell you, I’ll have my work cut out for me.
I will need to replace the roof, raise the back wall, tear down the interior pens, feeders, and enclosures — all made of brick and/or concrete — pour a new floor, demolish parts of the exterior walls, install new doors/windows, replace the electrical wiring, put up new lighting, and so forth. In short, this is a big project. Three times as big as the brick shed renovation I completed a few years ago.
I plan to use part of the building as a garage and the rest as storage space, but my son has been badgering me to turn some of it into an at-home “kickboxing gym” (don’t ask).
I hope to start the project by mid-June, immediately after I finish the garden tool and equipment shed I have yet to start. Although I pegged the completion for mid-July, I have a sinking feeling that this pigsty conversion will bleed freely into August, maybe even September.
We’ll see.
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