Our French farmhouse build thread.
Discussion
Was on my own again yesterday as Millie was still off school. First order of the day was a quick tip run then back to tidy and sweep. With room to work I secured the half height wall in the 2nd bedroom and put on 2 boards. The last one needs scribing to fit against the stone wall. After my last attempt I will be leaving this to cargeekswife to do.
Having got as far as I could in there I headed out onto the landing to box in the last velux window. Makes such a difference now that is done. Looks closer to finished rather than just started!
While walking the dog last night on one of my regular routes I saw that someone had decided to set fire to a small area of the woods that had an old rusty van buried amongst the ferns growing there. Wasn’t expecting that and surprised we hadn’t seen the smoke from it as only ¾ mile from our house.
Having got as far as I could in there I headed out onto the landing to box in the last velux window. Makes such a difference now that is done. Looks closer to finished rather than just started!
While walking the dog last night on one of my regular routes I saw that someone had decided to set fire to a small area of the woods that had an old rusty van buried amongst the ferns growing there. Wasn’t expecting that and surprised we hadn’t seen the smoke from it as only ¾ mile from our house.
Not much in the way of progress to report on. Has been a very disjointed week. At the beginning we placed one of the water heaters in place to get some heights of pipes and distance from wall.
Next up was to get into the plumbing of the manifolds for one side of the barn. A neat job in the end I reckon, but find it very hard to motivate myself to get the plumbing done.
We also removed the stair tread that was neatly squeezed in before so a riser could be fitted. Cut away the 4mm off the stringer and put back in place with riser.
That’s about the sum total of a week’s work. Not very impressive and I hope to find my motivation over this weekend to get back into it.
Next up was to get into the plumbing of the manifolds for one side of the barn. A neat job in the end I reckon, but find it very hard to motivate myself to get the plumbing done.
We also removed the stair tread that was neatly squeezed in before so a riser could be fitted. Cut away the 4mm off the stringer and put back in place with riser.
That’s about the sum total of a week’s work. Not very impressive and I hope to find my motivation over this weekend to get back into it.
Back into the work today. Damaged my wrist over the weekend so now have a support for it and no more excuses not to work. First job was to inject the resin into the wall for the locator pins to hold the first water heater in place. Got everything ready, threaded rod cut to size and ends tidied up so the nuts would screw on easily. Started on the first hole and half way through filling it the sealant gun jammed and then with a bit more pressure broke. Mild panic as I always think it sets fast but doesn’t. Cargeekswife drove to the local hardware store to try and find a replacement while I got a rubber mallet out and placed the head in my shoulder and the shaft in the tube to force the resin out and get the first hole filled and pin in place.
10 mins later and less than 8€ lighter we have a new gun. Filled the rest of the holes and we moved the heater into position to make sure it all set in the right place.
After lunch I did the second heater so we now know where we can put the walls up for the airing cupboard.
While I was doing this cargeekswife has glued and nailed all the risers in on the stairs. They are really taking shape now.
Last job was to start framing the bathroom out. We have our new doors so I can take all my measurements. I did only manage to get 1 floor rail in but tomorrow will see the third wall go up, which will define the 4th bedroom.
10 mins later and less than 8€ lighter we have a new gun. Filled the rest of the holes and we moved the heater into position to make sure it all set in the right place.
After lunch I did the second heater so we now know where we can put the walls up for the airing cupboard.
While I was doing this cargeekswife has glued and nailed all the risers in on the stairs. They are really taking shape now.
Last job was to start framing the bathroom out. We have our new doors so I can take all my measurements. I did only manage to get 1 floor rail in but tomorrow will see the third wall go up, which will define the 4th bedroom.
This is a post I have on a couple of other threads if any readers of this are around the local area or holidaying close by.
Who's up for the French Sunday Service at mine on the 22nd May. We are 2km's away from Brizambourg.
https://www.google.fr/maps/@45.8022185,-0.4709614,...
Our field is the one in the middle of the screen and entered safest in the middle at the right. Will be nicely mown around this to make it obvious.
Who's up for the French Sunday Service at mine on the 22nd May. We are 2km's away from Brizambourg.
https://www.google.fr/maps/@45.8022185,-0.4709614,...
Our field is the one in the middle of the screen and entered safest in the middle at the right. Will be nicely mown around this to make it obvious.
Well, I don't need to cross the channel, but you're still 860km away, so, err, maybe not this time! You are in a lovely part of the world though!
(We used to holiday every year in La Tranche sur Mer and/or Ile de Ré and we've visited La Rochelle many times, which is, what, 100km from you?)
(We used to holiday every year in La Tranche sur Mer and/or Ile de Ré and we've visited La Rochelle many times, which is, what, 100km from you?)
5potTurbo said:
Well, I don't need to cross the channel, but you're still 860km away, so, err, maybe not this time! You are in a lovely part of the world though!
(We used to holiday every year in La Tranche sur Mer and/or Ile de Ré and we've visited La Rochelle many times, which is, what, 100km from you?)
La Rochelle is about 70km from us. I am hoping if it is well received it won't be a once only occurence, so maybe a little drive for you another time!(We used to holiday every year in La Tranche sur Mer and/or Ile de Ré and we've visited La Rochelle many times, which is, what, 100km from you?)
We have some progress again. While searching for my motivation it called us in the shape of Wilfrid. He wants to come around next week and wire up the side of the building we are working in. This means I need to frame all the rooms. It’s the kick I needed.
I have the bathroom almost all framed, but have run out of the uprights for the back wall. So this afternoon I worked out my shopping list for cargeekswife to go and collect tomorrow morning. I have 7 long ones left to get cut and installed in the morning while awaiting the new ones.
As long as I get my plumbing sorted I can lock the whole lot in place and board out as soon as Wilfrid is finished. This will then clear the decks of plasterboard lying on the floor.
I have another 3 walls to repoint before I do the boarding though. If everything goes smoothly it is all doable.
Didn’t take pictures today, but here is one from Friday.
I have the bathroom almost all framed, but have run out of the uprights for the back wall. So this afternoon I worked out my shopping list for cargeekswife to go and collect tomorrow morning. I have 7 long ones left to get cut and installed in the morning while awaiting the new ones.
As long as I get my plumbing sorted I can lock the whole lot in place and board out as soon as Wilfrid is finished. This will then clear the decks of plasterboard lying on the floor.
I have another 3 walls to repoint before I do the boarding though. If everything goes smoothly it is all doable.
Didn’t take pictures today, but here is one from Friday.
It’s the end of the week but unfortunately for me there is still a lot to do before Monday. Instead of having a smooth run we had a delivery of 40 bare root roses that needed planting. Cargeekswife said she would do them with Millie. All I had to do was make a couple of boxes to reserve space for the fence posts that will go in in due course.
Roll on Thursday afternoon. By this time I had framed all but one wall that has a door in it and the framework for above the other door. Plenty of time to get it finished so knowing how hard it was going to be to shift the earth around as it is about 50% stone I left mine to assist the rose planting duo.
After 3 hours we had 15 planted. A dismal showing but I still had 3 more days until the Monday deadline.
Friday morning and I was out there again shovelling more earth around to get ready for the roses. Stopped before lunch to do some framing and put a plasterboard up so I could secure the water heater in place. I did at this point come across a little flaw in my framing. I had measured from both sides of the wall as there was a door in the middle! This meant I was 5cm out on where my joins should have been. Corrected this and got on with measuring and cutting the plasterboard. With a little struggle I got it all in place, took a photo and wandered in for lunch.
While taking my boots off it hit me that I had used the wrong plasterboard. I had used the 2 edged sort instead of the 4 edged so had a butt joint and 10cm shorter board than what I need to use. Feeling an idiot and a little frustrated I wrote off the rest of the day and we carried on planting roses out the back after a monumental amount of weeds were pulled out of the overgrown borders. While doing this we discovered that the supplier had sent us 53 roses so we need to find even more places to plant them. The wheelbarrow was parked in the back garden for carting off the weeds to the tip.
A surprise find while weeding was a load of spring onions.
Roll on Thursday afternoon. By this time I had framed all but one wall that has a door in it and the framework for above the other door. Plenty of time to get it finished so knowing how hard it was going to be to shift the earth around as it is about 50% stone I left mine to assist the rose planting duo.
After 3 hours we had 15 planted. A dismal showing but I still had 3 more days until the Monday deadline.
Friday morning and I was out there again shovelling more earth around to get ready for the roses. Stopped before lunch to do some framing and put a plasterboard up so I could secure the water heater in place. I did at this point come across a little flaw in my framing. I had measured from both sides of the wall as there was a door in the middle! This meant I was 5cm out on where my joins should have been. Corrected this and got on with measuring and cutting the plasterboard. With a little struggle I got it all in place, took a photo and wandered in for lunch.
While taking my boots off it hit me that I had used the wrong plasterboard. I had used the 2 edged sort instead of the 4 edged so had a butt joint and 10cm shorter board than what I need to use. Feeling an idiot and a little frustrated I wrote off the rest of the day and we carried on planting roses out the back after a monumental amount of weeds were pulled out of the overgrown borders. While doing this we discovered that the supplier had sent us 53 roses so we need to find even more places to plant them. The wheelbarrow was parked in the back garden for carting off the weeds to the tip.
A surprise find while weeding was a load of spring onions.
After working all weekend to make sure every last piece of framing that wire were to run through was in, Wilfrid was a no show. On the plus side I have got ¾ of the field mown and will finish that tomorrow. Should be nice for our Sunday Service.
As it has been all about my work lately, it is time to review the work cargeekswife has been doing. This does not include all the ideas that she comes up for future use that I have to figure out how to deliver!
On her stairs she has been preparing the rails and measuring out the placements. The rails are made of steel tubes and have had to be cut to size with the angle grinder. I had a job the other week that required the multi tool to complete. Asked if cargeekswife would like to do it but was not happy using the tool. So the nice safe oscillating tool was a worry to her but using a table saw or angle grinder is much more fun…..
I drilled through a large block of wood to hold the metal rods and clamped this to my saw stand. Handed over visor and gloves and walked off. All the rods are now cut and having numerous coats of hammerite applied.
Our new driveway is now awaiting a delivery of geotex to cover it then calcaire and gravel to go on top. I am pleased to announce that along with the delivery of this we will have a man and a digger to move it all into place and tamp it down.
As it has been all about my work lately, it is time to review the work cargeekswife has been doing. This does not include all the ideas that she comes up for future use that I have to figure out how to deliver!
On her stairs she has been preparing the rails and measuring out the placements. The rails are made of steel tubes and have had to be cut to size with the angle grinder. I had a job the other week that required the multi tool to complete. Asked if cargeekswife would like to do it but was not happy using the tool. So the nice safe oscillating tool was a worry to her but using a table saw or angle grinder is much more fun…..
I drilled through a large block of wood to hold the metal rods and clamped this to my saw stand. Handed over visor and gloves and walked off. All the rods are now cut and having numerous coats of hammerite applied.
Our new driveway is now awaiting a delivery of geotex to cover it then calcaire and gravel to go on top. I am pleased to announce that along with the delivery of this we will have a man and a digger to move it all into place and tamp it down.
citizensm1th said:
Neil
Mrs Smith and I cannot thank you and your family enough for your hospitality today ,lunch was wonderful and Mrs Smith said the Tea was a life saver!
Your property is going to be awesome when you get it finished ,let us know when you are back in the UK and we will arrange Meal.
Was great to meet you both and a welcome break from our normal routine. Glad the tea was well received. Shame the sun decided to stay hidden. Safe travels and we will see you when back in the UK. Mrs Smith and I cannot thank you and your family enough for your hospitality today ,lunch was wonderful and Mrs Smith said the Tea was a life saver!
Your property is going to be awesome when you get it finished ,let us know when you are back in the UK and we will arrange Meal.
After waiting a week for Wilfrid to turn up he arrived on Monday to wire up the other 2 bedrooms and the last bathroom. Half an hour in and he appears in the garage to tell me there is a little problem! I follow him upstairs to be shown that the 2 bathroom doors are not opening the same way as on the plan. We have shifted them around to open into the bathroom as per the other 2 bathrooms. He also didn’t think they should be opening onto each other. Roll on to the afternoon and he speaks to cargeekswife about it.
After this little meeting mind has been changed and I have to remove the doors and frames and swap them over. Not impressed as they doors were put in before some of the framing so access is now too tight and I am not taking half the framing down. Out with the air ratchet driver so I can access the screws and Tuesday was spent just moving 2 doors around.
Wednesday and Thursday was swallowed up with plumbing our waste pipes and making sure all the levels were correct. I have had to run the water pipes for the bath above the window as we don’t have the space below to run water and waste pipe as the toilet waste is also in the wall. With running the pipes over the window they had to cross the overflow from the water heaters. This could only realistically be achieved by getting the grinder out and making a “trench” in the wall.
With this done it was back onto framing and getting the uprights locked in the right place. Nice and simple along the bedroom wall as they were all cut and just needed placing and crimping. With such an easy job I was thinking about insulating while doing it and then realised I needed to get the VMC pipe straight. With off cuts of uprights I attached to the frame to hold the pipe straight all along the top.
After this little meeting mind has been changed and I have to remove the doors and frames and swap them over. Not impressed as they doors were put in before some of the framing so access is now too tight and I am not taking half the framing down. Out with the air ratchet driver so I can access the screws and Tuesday was spent just moving 2 doors around.
Wednesday and Thursday was swallowed up with plumbing our waste pipes and making sure all the levels were correct. I have had to run the water pipes for the bath above the window as we don’t have the space below to run water and waste pipe as the toilet waste is also in the wall. With running the pipes over the window they had to cross the overflow from the water heaters. This could only realistically be achieved by getting the grinder out and making a “trench” in the wall.
With this done it was back onto framing and getting the uprights locked in the right place. Nice and simple along the bedroom wall as they were all cut and just needed placing and crimping. With such an easy job I was thinking about insulating while doing it and then realised I needed to get the VMC pipe straight. With off cuts of uprights I attached to the frame to hold the pipe straight all along the top.
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