Our French farmhouse build thread.
Discussion
Today I decided to look at the system for mounting the boards on the back wall and have made a start on getting the frame up. It’s at times like this that I would give anything for a straight brick wall. As it is we have uneven stone walls, so have spent the day chipping off protruding bits of stone with a hammer and cold chisel to allow the rail to be mounted on a relatively flat surface. Normally I would use the hammer action of the drill to chisel into it, but as it is expiring I needed it to at least finish off drilling some holes.
By the end of the day I have only 4 rails out of the 7 that we need to start the uprights. On the other hand though, we have put up our scaffolding that gives us a place to stand half way between the ground and first floor. It has a trap door in the floor that doesn’t open all the way vertically but not to worry as we just step down from the landing instead.
Yesterday while we were at the builder’s merchant we also got ourselves a new toy.
So now we can raise the plasterboards off the floor for attaching to the wall instead of shoving plasterboard off cuts under which are a little too high.
Been invited to friends for supper tonight which finishes off the day nicely as no cooking or washing up.
Result.
By the end of the day I have only 4 rails out of the 7 that we need to start the uprights. On the other hand though, we have put up our scaffolding that gives us a place to stand half way between the ground and first floor. It has a trap door in the floor that doesn’t open all the way vertically but not to worry as we just step down from the landing instead.
Yesterday while we were at the builder’s merchant we also got ourselves a new toy.
So now we can raise the plasterboards off the floor for attaching to the wall instead of shoving plasterboard off cuts under which are a little too high.
Been invited to friends for supper tonight which finishes off the day nicely as no cooking or washing up.
Result.magooagain said:
All looking very good Neil. Great progress.
Why are you putting rails on the wall? Don't they go on the floor and ceiling. I am happy to help if you explain what you want to achieve mate.
Thanks. The rails are attached to the wall as we are going over 3 metres high and there for stability. Once in we then have yellow plastic bits that snap into place and hold the uprights that are also held in top and bottom like normal. It just uses the ceiling rails instead. Happy with the system now we have started it and allows for fine tuning of the depth away from the wall. Why are you putting rails on the wall? Don't they go on the floor and ceiling. I am happy to help if you explain what you want to achieve mate.
These are the bits but the back is different to allow them to snap into the horizontal rails that we are mounting on the wall at the moment.
Not sure if I've said it before, but if you are ever over this way, coffee and a poke around is on offer.
Edited by Neilsfirst on Tuesday 17th November 17:52
magooagain said:
Thanks for the coffee offer Neil. Will let you know when down your way.
I get your rail reasons now.
I just use board adhesive and stick a rail behind for support once uprights are in place. Cheaper ,but your way looks much better.
We did that upstairs as the ridge is at 3.5, but we have had this system from the start so thought we should have a go at it. I get your rail reasons now.
I just use board adhesive and stick a rail behind for support once uprights are in place. Cheaper ,but your way looks much better.
Moving forward with the double height wall at the back. I have the horizontal bars all attached to the very uneven stone wall. This was the bit that I was not looking forward to and having now finished I was right. But on the plus side I don’t have to do it again in this barn. The verticals do go in easier and I have 6 up so far. As is always the way in this barn, one of my uprights is right on the edge of a beam so can’t take it floor to ceiling. Will mess around with that when I have finished the rest.
While I have been doing this cargeekswife has been doing some plasterboarding. Me being a helpful chap, decided that as she had to leave early to pick Millie up from school and there was a sheet cut and ready to go on the wall, I would do just that. Wrestled it over to the wall and lined it up. This in itself took longer than it should as on my own, but we have our all singing lifter to raise it off the ground and pin it into place I could screw it in without having to hold it. Got one side all attached and started doing the top. The third screw along just went straight in. This not being right I pushed the board back to make contact with the rails. It didn’t budge so I slapped it a bit harder. I got it against the rail, but broke it in the process. As it is right next to an uplighter there was going to be no hiding it.
When they arrived back from the school run I told them how helpful I was! This board is now going to be our downstairs loo ceiling as can cut the top off. No more Mr Nice Guy I reckon. Also seemed to be suffering memory loss yesterday as kept putting stuff down to help Wilfrid or wife and couldn’t find it again. Normal memory returned today as only did my own stuff apart from helping replace the board I had ruined.
A few more circuits have been wired in. Power will be connected next week.
While I have been doing this cargeekswife has been doing some plasterboarding. Me being a helpful chap, decided that as she had to leave early to pick Millie up from school and there was a sheet cut and ready to go on the wall, I would do just that. Wrestled it over to the wall and lined it up. This in itself took longer than it should as on my own, but we have our all singing lifter to raise it off the ground and pin it into place I could screw it in without having to hold it. Got one side all attached and started doing the top. The third screw along just went straight in. This not being right I pushed the board back to make contact with the rails. It didn’t budge so I slapped it a bit harder. I got it against the rail, but broke it in the process. As it is right next to an uplighter there was going to be no hiding it.
When they arrived back from the school run I told them how helpful I was! This board is now going to be our downstairs loo ceiling as can cut the top off. No more Mr Nice Guy I reckon. Also seemed to be suffering memory loss yesterday as kept putting stuff down to help Wilfrid or wife and couldn’t find it again. Normal memory returned today as only did my own stuff apart from helping replace the board I had ruined.
A few more circuits have been wired in. Power will be connected next week.
A later update than I was hoping for. Tonight was like going back to 70’s Britain as we had a 2 hour long power cut and not a storm in site! Back up and in the 21st century again. It has been a day of good progress today with my back wall. It is now all framed out and asked Wilfrid if it was ok. Got a perfect from him! Doubt I will get another one of those so it is noted here for posterity!
Another piece of plasterboard is up on the wall and the consumer unit is all wired up. Now all we have to do it is pull the wires out from behind the insulation and Wilfrid will connect us up next week.
It has been rather a wet day today and what was a trench now looks like a moat. If I was a Tory MP I would be expensing the cleaning of it. More plasterboard, insulation and sand has been ordered today so on Tuesday we can start filling the trench back up and hopefully press on with plastering the back wall. Also on Wednesday the wood for the stairs is being delivered to our windows man to cut up for treads.
We’ve also come to a decision on what we are going to use for window sills. This has been on the back burner for a while, but today I cleaned up one of the old floorboards that was on the first floor of this barn. It has come up a treat so we are putting some of the original character back in.
Once I had finished in the barn tonight I had a little job to do in the house. Apparently our bedroom door bangs with the wind in the middle of the night as it doesn’t shut thanks to the bodgers putting stairs in where the top spindle is too far back. So a plank of wood has been attached to the doorway and an old door lock metal hole plate has been fitted to hold it shut. It has been countersunk in by sticking a router bit into my pillar drill and whacking that up to full speed to get a half decent finish. Have yet to buy the router that we will need to do the shutters and the one we do have the plunge lock just releases whenever it feels like. It is a very shoddy solution but should do the job for now.
Another piece of plasterboard is up on the wall and the consumer unit is all wired up. Now all we have to do it is pull the wires out from behind the insulation and Wilfrid will connect us up next week.
It has been rather a wet day today and what was a trench now looks like a moat. If I was a Tory MP I would be expensing the cleaning of it. More plasterboard, insulation and sand has been ordered today so on Tuesday we can start filling the trench back up and hopefully press on with plastering the back wall. Also on Wednesday the wood for the stairs is being delivered to our windows man to cut up for treads.
We’ve also come to a decision on what we are going to use for window sills. This has been on the back burner for a while, but today I cleaned up one of the old floorboards that was on the first floor of this barn. It has come up a treat so we are putting some of the original character back in.
Once I had finished in the barn tonight I had a little job to do in the house. Apparently our bedroom door bangs with the wind in the middle of the night as it doesn’t shut thanks to the bodgers putting stairs in where the top spindle is too far back. So a plank of wood has been attached to the doorway and an old door lock metal hole plate has been fitted to hold it shut. It has been countersunk in by sticking a router bit into my pillar drill and whacking that up to full speed to get a half decent finish. Have yet to buy the router that we will need to do the shutters and the one we do have the plunge lock just releases whenever it feels like. It is a very shoddy solution but should do the job for now.
A Pistonhead problem has reared its head. The MX5 battery appears to be on the way out and has water leaking on it. I made the decision to clear out some space in the garage to get it under cover and keep it out of the worst of the weather. I fitted a plug outside for power and have had the car on charge but it appears too far gone so will have to jump it to put it away. Seems like it really doesn’t want to go back in the garage after the roof fell on it.
Back in the barn we have finally put the ceiling up in the downstairs loo. This enables us to put the last of the railing up to do the back wall. It also gets us 1 step closer to stairs.
We had another delivery in of plasterboards, insulation and sand to put in our trench. We were all set for a 10am delivery which fitted nicely with the rain forecast for 11am. Unfortunately we misunderstood and it was a late morning delivery instead. Pop up gazebo came in very handy.
More boarding has gone up and had some double plugs fitted into the walls. By Friday we should have the power switched on and can then finally close the window that the extension lead currently goes through. I’m hoping that it retains more heat in overnight as it is starting to get cool in there. Quick edit to say we have power in the barn as of half 5 tonight and most of the sand has now been shovelled into the trench.
The cat is starting to feel the cold too.
Back in the barn we have finally put the ceiling up in the downstairs loo. This enables us to put the last of the railing up to do the back wall. It also gets us 1 step closer to stairs.
We had another delivery in of plasterboards, insulation and sand to put in our trench. We were all set for a 10am delivery which fitted nicely with the rain forecast for 11am. Unfortunately we misunderstood and it was a late morning delivery instead. Pop up gazebo came in very handy.
More boarding has gone up and had some double plugs fitted into the walls. By Friday we should have the power switched on and can then finally close the window that the extension lead currently goes through. I’m hoping that it retains more heat in overnight as it is starting to get cool in there. Quick edit to say we have power in the barn as of half 5 tonight and most of the sand has now been shovelled into the trench.
The cat is starting to feel the cold too.
Feeling really lazy today. I am sat on the sofa watching telly. Yesterday we straightened up the back wall to start insulating it and got most of it straight before Wilfrid asked us if we had treated the old wood for woodworm and termites. Nope would be the honest answer. So yesterday afternoon I dug my spray gun out and we started spraying all the old wood. Fortunately none is boxed in yet.
Wilfrid reckons 3 coats should do it and one of our old roofers told us to keep doing it until it will accept no more. 5 coats is what it is going to end up with so it is ready for us to crack on with on Monday morning. First thing in the morning spraying is not a great way to wake up and shall see how I get on with motivating myself to spray late afternoon. Nice sky this morning though.
Friday morning we also cut and fitted our last 2 bits of ceiling that has been unfinished for the last 3 months. Hasn’t made any difference to the acoustics but puts the ground floor one step closer to finishing. The main reason it got done was we had the plasterboard lifter in to take down a section of ceiling as the living room light wasn’t in the right position. So it had to be moved 30cm over and 40cm back. Looked fine to me!
After opinions now. If you stayed in a place at winter time, and the place is heated well but there is a wood burner installed, would you use it?
Wilfrid reckons 3 coats should do it and one of our old roofers told us to keep doing it until it will accept no more. 5 coats is what it is going to end up with so it is ready for us to crack on with on Monday morning. First thing in the morning spraying is not a great way to wake up and shall see how I get on with motivating myself to spray late afternoon. Nice sky this morning though.
Friday morning we also cut and fitted our last 2 bits of ceiling that has been unfinished for the last 3 months. Hasn’t made any difference to the acoustics but puts the ground floor one step closer to finishing. The main reason it got done was we had the plasterboard lifter in to take down a section of ceiling as the living room light wasn’t in the right position. So it had to be moved 30cm over and 40cm back. Looked fine to me!
After opinions now. If you stayed in a place at winter time, and the place is heated well but there is a wood burner installed, would you use it?
Craikeybaby said:
Another yes to the wood burner! we stayed in a nice cabin in Scotland in April, the cabin was heated and it wasn't that cold out, but we lit the fire one evening, as sat by the fire with a nice single malt (or I'm guessing glass of wine in your case) is a great way to spend an evening.
It is the way we spend every evening as it is our only source of heating. I am not against fitting one as long as it will be used. And so far it looks like we need to start looking for a suitable one!IanA2 said:
If you're not looking for state of the art highly efficient heat machines, you could try antique french stoves.
See: http://antiquefrenchstove.com/Antique%20French%20S...
As it happens I'm moving soon to a city flat so could let you have one or two of mine very cheap. You'd just have to get to Northamptonshire!!!
Funny you mention that. We will be in Northants over Christmas! Will let the designer know. See: http://antiquefrenchstove.com/Antique%20French%20S...
As it happens I'm moving soon to a city flat so could let you have one or two of mine very cheap. You'd just have to get to Northamptonshire!!!
IanA2 said:
Neilsfirst said:
IanA2 said:
You're welcome to drop in.
Any chance of you sending some pictures over for the boss to look at? Il est froid et il pleuvait just at the mo, so I'm not going out to the garage. Will have a gander tomorrow.
An awful weekend of spraying the wood in the barn. Had to get kitted up each time and spend an hour and a half every time spraying. At least now we can rest easy about our wood.
Thanks to the opinions over the weekend I now have to change the below plasterboards to pink fireboards around the proposed position. I really can’t tell you how much I love manhandling that around!
This morning I spent my time extending out the rails on the back wall as one end was too far away from the proposed interior wall position. We had to find a way of shimming it out so we could lock the fixers in position. I was all set on Friday to make wooden shims, but Wilfrid was on hand to give another tip. All we needed to do was put another of the rails on top facing the one already there and secure this top and bottom. Then we could screw another one to the back of that to accept the fixer. Simple solution and worked a treat.
The main part of the wall is now all fixed in place and we started filling with insulation late afternoon.
Had a little intermission before lunch to make this as we have no table near the sofa for me to perch my wine or coffee. Not been happy with keeping them on a rounded arm.
Thanks to the opinions over the weekend I now have to change the below plasterboards to pink fireboards around the proposed position. I really can’t tell you how much I love manhandling that around!
This morning I spent my time extending out the rails on the back wall as one end was too far away from the proposed interior wall position. We had to find a way of shimming it out so we could lock the fixers in position. I was all set on Friday to make wooden shims, but Wilfrid was on hand to give another tip. All we needed to do was put another of the rails on top facing the one already there and secure this top and bottom. Then we could screw another one to the back of that to accept the fixer. Simple solution and worked a treat.
The main part of the wall is now all fixed in place and we started filling with insulation late afternoon.
Had a little intermission before lunch to make this as we have no table near the sofa for me to perch my wine or coffee. Not been happy with keeping them on a rounded arm.
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