Easter Progress Part 2

After a good night's sleep we popped into the local Gedimat ~ builders merchant ~ and bought a spirit level and some wooden planking to use in the new kitchen wall.  Using a spirit level rather than the iPhone made things speedier and, before long Smiley and I had the rest of the framework up for the wall.

We shoved (very technically)  the insulation under the frame, boarded the first piece and drilled the holes for the electric sockets.  Our electrician had popped in and very kindly lent us the round drill bit.

We were a bit worried about hanging wall units straight into the plasterboard so we have filled the framework in with wood where the cupboards will be.  This means when we drill into the (new) wall it will that bit stronger.

More insulation went in and with a lot of fettling ~ Smiley is a Northerner ;-) ~ around the beam, we finished half of the wall.

Of course, we stop for lunch and a cup of tea on the picnic table.

When our friend M changed the attic floor he discovered that there was an unsupported bit of floor.  It hangs with nothing under it so he placed a large cross on the new boards to warn us not to walk there.

S the very nice roofer found us a decorative piece of wood and has attached it along the wall and under the offending bit for more support.

He then capped off the open bit too.  Definitely better,

When S walked down the stairs he was concerned about the state of the bottom step.  It had begun to bow and was very bouncy.  "It's fine," we said but he was insistent that it was dangerous with tradesmen going up and down.  Actually he was right, it had been eaten away by woodworm.  We took the old unattached step away and discovered a huge pile of earth that it was resting on.  As we shovelled it out we found two mouse skeletons.

Unfortunately when the new concrete floor was laid it had been poured around the step so S promised to dig out the remaining earth and fill the hole in with more concrete when the tradesmen had finished.

Back to our little chalet and the bar for a beer and food.  We skyped back to The Boss to tell of our progress.

The following day Sarge, hammer in hand again, removed that wall between the living room and the stairs.  the plaster was very flakey and it looked like it would be an easy job to remove it.  The lathes and plaster came off no problem but they were stuck onto a wooden planks.

After a fair bit of banging the stairs were suddenly opened up.  We pulled the door and it's frame off too.  This has made the living room seem so much bigger and a lot airier.

The plumbing/heating engineers arrived and unloaded lots of boxes.

The chimney turned out to be blocked somewhere (and the chimney pot had already fallen off) so we decided already to have an internal chimney.

The men started to make a hole above the fire place for the the pipe to go in.

 On the first and second floors they borrowed the very nice roofer S's chainsaw to cut through the floorboards and trim a little bit off the joists.

 Looking down from the second floor.

The boxes were unpacked and a lovely shiny chimney emerged.  

Through the attic bedroom.

 First floor bedroom.

And a new shiny chimney pot too.

Before the plumber left he looked at our new piece of kitchen ceiling.  "You'll have to take that down," he said, "I need to put my pipework there."  We let out a collective sigh.  The ceiling came down.

In the attic we needed to start the walls of the bathroom to enable the plumber to put his pipes in for the bathroom.

When building new walls I have discovered, you need a ceiling first so Smiley and Sarge started by screwing the rails to the beams.

Once all the rails were in place, I cut the insulation to fit in between the beams.  We made a criss-cross of wire attached to the beams to stop the insulation touching the roof felt, S had warned us not to let it touch, if it does, your insulation will get wet.  We screwed on the plasterboard, green this time, which is waterproof.

Once the ceiling was up we could then build the wall down.

And insulated.

We then screwed the frame that was already made to the floor.

Our week had come to an end, so we said goodbye to our friends 41 and 42, in the field next door....

.....popped to the supermarket to buy 'essential supplies' and hit the road, passing fields of oil-seed rape setting the countryside aglow.

 8 hours later we were back on English roads heading for the setting sun and The West Country.

We return again the last week of May.

Easter Progress ~ Part 1!

Hello.

Sarge, Smiley and Me have spent our week at La Petite Maison.

Instead of our usual 2.00am get up, this time we were booked on the 8.30am train as we had six work days in the house instead of three or four.   The journey around the M25 was pleasant and we arrived with time to spare at Eurotunnel.  

The terminal was full of people, much busier than at 5.00am!

The journey to Burgundy was uneventful although the amount of things stuffed into British cars heading south was amusing.  There were skis and bikes on roof bars, trailers with building equipment and one four wheel drive with a large packet of loo rolls.  We arrived at our little cabin on the campsite in La Clayette early evening, time enough to check in

and go to the local supermarket for essential supplies.

  As you can see when I said little cabin, I meant it ~ best described as compact and bijou but it had everything we needed, good comfy beds, a hob, fridge and a hot shower.

We sat watching a local football match in the sunshine drinking the essential supplies.

Sunday was our first day of work which we had to undertake quietly, as in France Sunday is a family day and we didn't want to annoy the neighbours.  We painted the kitchen ceiling with woodworm treatment before the plasterboard went up and woodwormed the floor above.

The crumbling wall in-between the kitchen and living room ~ more mortar than brick ~ we're not removing any of this as it is the supporting wall.

Early Monday morning and our delivery arrived.  The very nice driver bamboozled us with French, we resorted to hand signals and he stopped bothering.  We all smiled and nodded, I managed to fill in a French cheque under instruction from Smiley and he was away.

 We had insulation, plasterboard and railing for the walls.

Smiley and Sarge attached the rail to the beams of kitchen ceiling and filled the gaps in between the beams with insulation.

  The three of us then man (and woman) handled the board up.  Plasterboard is extremely heavy and it was a struggle ~ I'm sure there is a better way than using your head to balance the sheet on.  A bit wonky but we were pleased with our efforts.

 This piece was smaller and easier.  One job done.

 Sarge then set about removing the wooden door frame in the cupboard under the stairs in what will be the first floor bathroom.  The plumber wants the frame out of the way so he can install the hot water tank and the shower will be in here as well.

Sarge came across more evidence of mice from the past.  In the nooks and crannies we have found mice nests, grass seeds, wool, fabric and paper and friend M found a desiccated rat when he replaced the attic floor.  There are none now, but in the years gone by there must have been lots of mice in this house.

The Sarge and his hammer removed the door frame and whole wall, so at the moment you need to be bit careful when going into the attic.

Meanwhile, as bricks hit the floor above, Smiley and Me set about building the kitchen wall.  Smiley has done a plaster boarding course, so I was The Apprentice.  There are two different types of framework,  montants (uprights) and rails which attach to the ceiling and floor.  Unfortunately we forgot the spirit level, and had to use a phone app, which to be honest, wasn't that great.  

 We had a crimping tool to join the corners, which I didn't have enough muscle for, so I left that to Smiley.

 It took us half a day to make the bottom half of the wall.

After a hard day's work, we retired to our cabin and a treat of Mille Feuille and Tarte Citron.

I'll leave you today with the lake the campsite overlooked, the wonderful chateau in La Clayette and the town itself.

February and March

February and our neighbour, S, the very nice roofer, strips off the old tiles.  He is reusing everything he can, the ridge will be replaced.   He's promised us a good job 'Because if I do a bad job, I will see it everyday and it will annoy me.'  Sounds fair enough.

This photo was sent by our friends J and M.  Much excitement back in Angleterre.

We ask S to take the TV ariel off the chimney as we don't need it.  The chimney comes too.

A few days later another picture arrives.  The Velux in the front is in, the tiles back on.

Two new Velux  in the back.

Mid-March and The Boss and Smiley pop out for a few days.  S the very nice roofer, had put our kitchen window in.  We have a view!  (The bit down the middle is the frame.)

The locals turned up to have a look.

The new roof has a plastic membrane.  The velux fits under the oak beam.  Smiley admires the view up to Le Mont St-Cyr.

And from the bathroom in the back.

The builder has filled in the gaps under the eaves and brought the height of the wall up under the eaves.  Unfortunately some builder's boot sized holes appeared in the attic floor.  New floor laid by friend M and a big bonfire of wormy floor boards.

The bathroom framework had to come down.  Floor looks good though.  We've even got a new hatch.

The Boss and Smiley went to Gedimat ~ diy store ~ to buy some bits.  They discovered that for the princely sum of €11 you can hire a van to bring the bits back.  

S, the very nice roofer had a bonfire in the front garden and took lots of rubbish for the tip for us.

The electrician has now done as much as he can, we need to start putting up plasterboard before he can proceed.

The Boss has painted the first floor bedroom.  The plan is to get the bedroom and bathroom ~ loo, shower ~ useable so we can stay in the house on subsequent visits.

The Boss put her 80 year old mum to work clearing the back garden.

Not bad.

La Petite Maison, with new roof but minus chimney.

Me, The Sarg and Smiley are now going out for a week, there will be a delivery of plasterboard, insulation and timber when we get there.  We've got our gloves ready.
Wish us luck!