In 1994 we embarked on our first (and only) new build – a thatched-house build!
We bought a large well-treed block in the suburb of Glen Lorne just on the outskirts of Harare. The block was on the side of a hill which provided a few challenges getting building materials up the hill.
Sadly, the quality of the photos is not very good, I used photoscan to convert them to a digital image, which improved them slightly. So apologies for the poor quality.
The bare block
We wanted to build the house at the top of the hill and leave as many of the msasa trees as we could. They are a beautiful indigenous tree especially in the spring where the new leaves are a dozen different shades of red and orange.
We wanted to save as much money as possible for the build and that meant not paying rent. So we built a pre-fab double garage that included a workshop and laundry . The workshop was temporarily converted into a bathroom and the laundry into a kitchen. It was pre-fab so it went up quite quickly.
The driveway
We needed a quick fix for the driveway to get building materials to the top – so we used the waste product from the local coal fired power station, which cost us nothing except transport.
The double garage
We added a verandah to the side of the garage in an attempt to increase our living space – it was a really good idea and so useful!
Garage interior
This was the interior of the garage. It was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer! As you would expect with no ceiling or insulation of any sort. We bought some cheap calico and hung it over a few poles in front of the garage doors to try and soften the look a little.
I am not sure if living in your garage was legal, but we thought we would go with the premise that asking for forgiveness would be easier than asking for permission!
Starting on the main house
This is the view from the front of the house.
We wanted a thatched house, with 4 bedrooms. 3 bedrooms were downstairs and the master would be upstairs with an ensuite and sitting room. The areas above the lounge, dining room and kitchen would be double volume.
The walls are up – this is the view from the front of the house. We would add a very large thatched verandah in front of the lounge.
View from the side of the house showing the kitchen bay window and back of the house.
The back of the house – we started developing the garden while the build was in progress.
These two pictures show what height the double volume will be in the lounge, dining room and kitchen.
The roof structure starts
The first of the massive gumpoles go up – they were enormous.
The roof structure is well underway now. The beauty of thatch is that covers the house like a blanket!
Thatching starts!
A view from the back of the house.
This one is a view from the side – looking into the kitchen bay window and lounge windows.
The thatching is done!
This one is taken from further down the driveway.
Tennis pavillion
We built a sand tennis court and decided it needed a pavilion to go with it! First photo bomb by the child!
The garden
Living on site while the build was going on enabled us to make good progress on the garden. We were lucky enough to drill a borehole which provided us with a good water source.
Sadly we dont have many pictures of the house when it was finished – but here are a few that we did find.
This is the upstairs sitting room linked to the master bedroom.
The verandah.
The view from the kitchen down to the pool and BBQ. Contented little cutie!
The house is a few years old here, you can see how beautifully the thatch has aged. Still lovin’ the camera!
Thanks for looking through the pictures of our thatched-house build. We have other blogs showing our renovations in Zim and Australia here.