Our French farmhouse build thread.
Discussion
SydneyBridge said:
excellent thread, very interesting..
If you have time to reply, what is your long-term plan for all the buildings and the rest of your land?
For the barn we are doing at the moment, this will be a 4 bed gite. The next barn will be split in 2 and the larger side will be a 2 bed gite and the smaller side will be a maison d'ami which will basically be a studio with a mezzanine bedroom. This will be for friends to stay in so they can do their own thing and we won't get on each others nerves. The 3 pig sty's will probably house chickens in 1, garden tools in another and the third which is closest to the bread oven might turn into an outdoor kitchen kind of thing. If you have time to reply, what is your long-term plan for all the buildings and the rest of your land?
The small forge at the back will be knocked down as it blocks the view from the back barns. The barns over the road, at the moment, the plan is to knock them into one and have what we will describe as a big room. Could be used for conferences or dining for large amounts of people.
With regard to the land, the orchard is destined to house some pigs and other stuff that we can eat, so potentially the chickens could go in here and free up a pig sty. The original plan for the field and may still end up like that eventually was to fence off for horses. Present thinking though during the summer months is it would make a great place for a kind of Sunday Service. Great roads to get here and would help us meet like minded people!
IF demand is strong for what we are planning the back barn could be increased in size to accommodate more bedrooms by building under the hangar and would still leave enough space to park 4 to 6 cars underneath. Also should we need more undercover parking there used to be a large barn on the other side of our front entrance that still appears on the cadastre so we could potentially build another hangar there.
Almost finished the flooring and have 2.5 runs left to do. Need a couple of bits of plumbing fittings before I can finish and tomorrow is a bank holiday so will be left with about three boards that I can’t fit in place. I would have probably reached this point today but we went to look at another school for Millie this morning. We are not impressed with the school she is at so the decision has been made to shift her to a school in one of the towns. We are hoping this will stretch her as she isn’t very engaged with the whole schooling thing at the moment.
While laying the boards this afternoon I reached my second support pillar that I had cut for the boards to slide underneath. Alas this cut was not bob on like the first and it was a little too low. A quick search around and all I could find was a very fine grade sandpaper. So I wrapped this around a block and started sanding it down. A bit of a pointless exercise as I wasn’t making any inroads into fitting my boards. A bit of scratching head and I came up with the solution below.
Now, had the saw been sharp I would have breezed through this in about 5 minutes I reckon, but as a power tool junkie I have, up to now, never needed to resort to a hand saw. Half an hour later I have a perfect fit and can slide boards underneath to my heart’s content.
Pleased with this job and learning from yesterday’s mistake nothing was nailed down until it was completely surrounded by flooring.
A quick tidy up of wood off cuts to light tonight’s fire and sweeping up the sawdust ended my day. Photos of where it ended today.
While laying the boards this afternoon I reached my second support pillar that I had cut for the boards to slide underneath. Alas this cut was not bob on like the first and it was a little too low. A quick search around and all I could find was a very fine grade sandpaper. So I wrapped this around a block and started sanding it down. A bit of a pointless exercise as I wasn’t making any inroads into fitting my boards. A bit of scratching head and I came up with the solution below.
Now, had the saw been sharp I would have breezed through this in about 5 minutes I reckon, but as a power tool junkie I have, up to now, never needed to resort to a hand saw. Half an hour later I have a perfect fit and can slide boards underneath to my heart’s content.
Pleased with this job and learning from yesterday’s mistake nothing was nailed down until it was completely surrounded by flooring.
A quick tidy up of wood off cuts to light tonight’s fire and sweeping up the sawdust ended my day. Photos of where it ended today.
Happy Jim said:
Looking great - have your knees given up yet ??
Thanks. Knees have been in knee pads since the start! I takes me 5 minutes to get ready in the morning. It's go outside, take jacket off. Put 2 elbow supports on as they are knackered now, put jacket back on. Put knee pads on, change footwear so as not to walk on un-protected boards with outdoor shoes. Turn radio on and power up saw. Oil nail gun and then can start working. The worst part at the moment is having to change shoes to come in and pee! It really interrupts the flow.Flooring done and nailed down. Took an extra day as sent cargeekswife off to get me a reducer for the plumbing soil pipe and she came back with the wrong diameter. So off we went today to show her the error of her ways. This chump should have checked it out beforehand as they don’t do what I wanted so just got a reducer to go from 40 to 32 and it all fitted snuggly under the boards.
This afternoon we made a start on putting the top and bottom rails in for the wall studs.
Tomorrow I get to abdicate my duties of being dad to get the uprights in as the electrician is in on Monday morning to mount the consumer unit and start wiring it up. We might even be able to ditch the extension lead then that runs between the house and the barn for power. This has worked well so far for us but I was greeted earlier on in the week by bird poo on my newly laid floor but no sign of the phantom poopers. The following day I walked out and saw a small flock of birds fly away from under the kitchen window. This is on tilt to leave the cable running through it so guessed this is where they had been accessing the barn to keep warm over night! Rounded the corner and arrived at the kitchen door to be met with the site of a bird sitting on the floor inside.
Tried to coax him out but he flew everywhere apart from out the open doors and then settled upstairs. Gave up trying to aide his escape and just opened the windows and cracked on. Checked later and with no sign of him I closed up and pulled the kitchen window to close the gap. No further poop so think we have vacant possession again.
This afternoon we made a start on putting the top and bottom rails in for the wall studs.
Tomorrow I get to abdicate my duties of being dad to get the uprights in as the electrician is in on Monday morning to mount the consumer unit and start wiring it up. We might even be able to ditch the extension lead then that runs between the house and the barn for power. This has worked well so far for us but I was greeted earlier on in the week by bird poo on my newly laid floor but no sign of the phantom poopers. The following day I walked out and saw a small flock of birds fly away from under the kitchen window. This is on tilt to leave the cable running through it so guessed this is where they had been accessing the barn to keep warm over night! Rounded the corner and arrived at the kitchen door to be met with the site of a bird sitting on the floor inside.
Tried to coax him out but he flew everywhere apart from out the open doors and then settled upstairs. Gave up trying to aide his escape and just opened the windows and cracked on. Checked later and with no sign of him I closed up and pulled the kitchen window to close the gap. No further poop so think we have vacant possession again.
Uprights done and a couple of pieces of insulation in for good measure. The floor has been covered in polythene and awaiting the electrician to arrive tomorrow. Hopefully he doesn’t find anything he is not pleased with.
Now for the afternoon job, I had to move 30m2 of travertine stone as it is blocking where the power cables need to come in to my workshop to connect up. Fingers crossed he gets that far tomorrow as will be a big moment.
There they are
Space to make a hole in the wall now
Their temporary home
Having moved them the space left behind gives me a good indication of how spacious my workshop will be! Also hiding behind them was a box with 15 bottles of wine in. Great result.
The next big thing is to get the framework on the double height back wall. It is about 8 metres long by 5 metres high and a different system to what we have been using as it will be secured to the wall instead of floor and ceiling. It should be straight forward once we start but a little daunting at the moment. Once done and plastered we get busy making the stairs and can move stuff upstairs, like the water heaters.
So much needs doing still and it all seems to be the most important part. Could be worse though. The sky this evening looked good.
Now a question for anyone reading, is this thread going into too much detail or narrative and would less regular updates be better?
Now for the afternoon job, I had to move 30m2 of travertine stone as it is blocking where the power cables need to come in to my workshop to connect up. Fingers crossed he gets that far tomorrow as will be a big moment.
There they are
Space to make a hole in the wall now
Their temporary home
Having moved them the space left behind gives me a good indication of how spacious my workshop will be! Also hiding behind them was a box with 15 bottles of wine in. Great result.
The next big thing is to get the framework on the double height back wall. It is about 8 metres long by 5 metres high and a different system to what we have been using as it will be secured to the wall instead of floor and ceiling. It should be straight forward once we start but a little daunting at the moment. Once done and plastered we get busy making the stairs and can move stuff upstairs, like the water heaters.
So much needs doing still and it all seems to be the most important part. Could be worse though. The sky this evening looked good.
Now a question for anyone reading, is this thread going into too much detail or narrative and would less regular updates be better?
I get into work every moring and check "My Stuff" love it when I see this is updated. There are tonnes of people reading this and not making comments. Not always a reason to just to say "good update" but don;t think we dont; enjoy reading it.
I love the messy non jobs (moving the tiles for example) helps build a picture of the place. Also9 love the before and afters as well as the progress. In other words their isn;t too much detail you can put in. I learnt the saw trick for the post by you photographing it.
Good work, love the updates, keep it going.
I love the messy non jobs (moving the tiles for example) helps build a picture of the place. Also9 love the before and afters as well as the progress. In other words their isn;t too much detail you can put in. I learnt the saw trick for the post by you photographing it.
Good work, love the updates, keep it going.
Tampon said:
I get into work every moring and check "My Stuff" love it when I see this is updated. There are tonnes of people reading this and not making comments. Not always a reason to just to say "good update" but don;t think we dont; enjoy reading it.
What he said. Keep up the good work.First thing this morning the electrician turned up. All day he has been walking on my floor and no comments about it. I am glad it has passed without mention. As he is here doing electrics I was charged with drilling holes to run the cables into my workshop.
But first he needed a plasterboard to mount the consumer unit on. Bugger we had moved them all upstairs 2 weeks ago with quite considerable effort as there are no stairs. So up the ladder to fetch a board and hang it over the edge for cargeekswife to hold until I can run down the ladder and we could lay it on the floor for cutting. Managed it without crippling the wife and then we looked at it. I brought the wrong type down. It had 4 thin sides and we needed one with 2 thin sides. Up the ladder again to get the right board. Board was cut and the electrician can crack on.
Now onto my hole drilling. Started off breaking more concrete off so we could start the holes lower and go up to come out above the concrete slab. It all started out so promising! I have noticed that my SDS drill has been getting slower but has still completed everything I have asked it to do, albeit a little slower. Today drill said no. After struggling for half an hour I hadn’t even got half way through drilling the first hole and was dripping in sweat.
Shall start referring to the electrician as Wilfrid now as that’s his name, so Wilfrid came to laugh at my progress and told me he would bring a proper sized drill back with him after lunch. Thank heavens for that as I think I would still be there now or sulking that my drill had completely died. Without a job to do and the probability that we can board out the living room around Wilfrid we trundled off to the builder’s merchant to get some more plasterboard and insulation. Time to put my plasterboard carrying framework in the back of the truck. Found a dead furry thing on the flatbed, so I guess one of our owls didn’t like the look of it.
Turning French with our baguette on the dash!
After lunch Wilfrid turns up with the proper sized drill and bit. What a difference the proper tool makes.
In half an hour I had drilled all 4 holes and to my amazement they all came out at floor level.
Feeling very happy I thank Wilfrid for the drill and start putting it away. Then he stops me as he wants 2 more holes drilling for the aircon drain tubes.
Drill packed away and time to help cargeekswife with some plaster boarding and insulating.
As we sit here tonight we have the cables fed into the workshop awaiting connection and some plasterboards attached to the frame work.
But first he needed a plasterboard to mount the consumer unit on. Bugger we had moved them all upstairs 2 weeks ago with quite considerable effort as there are no stairs. So up the ladder to fetch a board and hang it over the edge for cargeekswife to hold until I can run down the ladder and we could lay it on the floor for cutting. Managed it without crippling the wife and then we looked at it. I brought the wrong type down. It had 4 thin sides and we needed one with 2 thin sides. Up the ladder again to get the right board. Board was cut and the electrician can crack on.
Now onto my hole drilling. Started off breaking more concrete off so we could start the holes lower and go up to come out above the concrete slab. It all started out so promising! I have noticed that my SDS drill has been getting slower but has still completed everything I have asked it to do, albeit a little slower. Today drill said no. After struggling for half an hour I hadn’t even got half way through drilling the first hole and was dripping in sweat.
Shall start referring to the electrician as Wilfrid now as that’s his name, so Wilfrid came to laugh at my progress and told me he would bring a proper sized drill back with him after lunch. Thank heavens for that as I think I would still be there now or sulking that my drill had completely died. Without a job to do and the probability that we can board out the living room around Wilfrid we trundled off to the builder’s merchant to get some more plasterboard and insulation. Time to put my plasterboard carrying framework in the back of the truck. Found a dead furry thing on the flatbed, so I guess one of our owls didn’t like the look of it.
Turning French with our baguette on the dash!
After lunch Wilfrid turns up with the proper sized drill and bit. What a difference the proper tool makes.
In half an hour I had drilled all 4 holes and to my amazement they all came out at floor level.
Feeling very happy I thank Wilfrid for the drill and start putting it away. Then he stops me as he wants 2 more holes drilling for the aircon drain tubes.
Drill packed away and time to help cargeekswife with some plaster boarding and insulating.
As we sit here tonight we have the cables fed into the workshop awaiting connection and some plasterboards attached to the frame work.
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