Our French farmhouse build thread.

Our French farmhouse build thread.

Author
Discussion

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

126 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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Just found this thread - wow... Some great work there.

Lovely area, too. We bought a 2cv van from near St Jean a few years back.

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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Thanks for the good comments. Glad people are still enjoying it.

We have now started putting colour on the walls. The bathrooms have been painted and the kitchen has its first coat on. The living room is just also getting its first coat.




Now for an admission of not researching and finding a massive mistake! Having never fitted a shower before I thought it would be a case of sticking it to the floor by magic and sealing it in! Having now done my research I know it isn’t held in place by magic but by a mortar base or you can get ones that sit on feet. This does not fit with the vision and as we are not tiling the floor after it is fitted I have had to cut out all my well laid flooring to sink it below the floor level so it doesn’t sit too high. Pictures will be taken of my progress in this, as I correct what is hopefully the last major cockup I make! Thankfully all the waste pipes sit low enough to allow me to countersink.


Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Tuesday 13th June 2017
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Well overdue for an update. The showers flooring is now ready, all we need to do is get the sand and cement to make the mortar base. Unfortunately when we went away for a couple of weeks, the back door of the truck was slightly open so the battery was completely dead, so much so that the battery chargers won’t even recognise it!


Once it is sorted we will get our next supply of building goods. In the meantime, I have tiled the first bathroom and will be grouting it tomorrow. Apologies for all those who posted their opinion on how the tiles should be laid. The wife had the final say and chose to stack. All 3 bathrooms have their towel radiators fitted and wired in.


Every wall has paint on it and the double height wall and landing have had a 2nd coat. With the double height wall finished I started to put the light fittings in for the landing light along with fitting the second wall light. Where I wanted to put the junction for the light I had the misfortune to drill into the metal work. Not the end of the world but took a little longer than a hole in plasterboard. Along with this I had to chase out a bit of the plasterboard, so my finished wall is no longer.


3 more lights have had their fittings put in the wall without incident. No matter how many photos you take it is never quite enough to show you where you have framed when you want to drill a hole.


Work in the kitchen has included putting up and extractor fan and starting to tile the back splash. I have also stuck in the back box for the light into the stone wall. Now all I need to do there is point it to fill in the gaps. Will soon be at the point of mixing some more lime mortar to fill around the switch, render the bottom of the trough and fill in around where the new windows were broken in.




4 lights have gone up in the living/dining room. We have the 2 wall lights that match the upstairs ones and a collection of lights that hang over where the coffee table will be placed. The dining light is in the ceiling but will be secured to the beam when we know how the dining table fits so it can sit over the centre.




That’s the progress so far. We are definitely now on the home straight.

croakey

1,193 posts

188 months

Tuesday 13th June 2017
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Looks great bud - should feel very proud of your work so far

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Tuesday 13th June 2017
quotequote all
croakey said:
Looks great bud - should feel very proud of your work so far
Thanks croakey, hard to believe where it started out now. How is fatherhood suiting you?

dionbee93

227 posts

89 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
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Very good progress - the house looks lovely. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.
I particularly like the floorboards. Very nice!
Good luck with the rest of the renovation.

croakey

1,193 posts

188 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
quotequote all
Neilsfirst said:
croakey said:
Looks great bud - should feel very proud of your work so far
Thanks croakey, hard to believe where it started out now. How is fatherhood suiting you?
Very good thank you - albeit with work I've had no motivation to do much to the house.

I'll post a menial update shortly!

RC1807

12,532 posts

168 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
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Nice to see updates and that not everyone with major projects in France had their thread closed frown

magooagain

9,981 posts

170 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
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Looking good Neil. Home straight now. Hot isn't it!

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
quotequote all
magooagain said:
Looking good Neil. Home straight now. Hot isn't it!
Thanks Joe. It is a little bit warm. Had to change my t-shirt at lunchtime. The air-con is looking very tempting to switch on!

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
quotequote all
RC1807 said:
Nice to see updates and that not everyone with major projects in France had their thread closed frown
Sounds like this thread could be on borrowed time. Any reasons why?

Jimbo NW

828 posts

177 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
quotequote all
Read the entire thread, hats of to you OP. Big life choice and fair play for taking on the challenge yourself.

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
quotequote all
Jimbo NW said:
Read the entire thread, hats of to you OP. Big life choice and fair play for taking on the challenge yourself.
Cheers, hasn't been what we expected but are both loving the construction side. Especially now the finished look is starting to appear.

RC1807

12,532 posts

168 months

Thursday 15th June 2017
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Neilsfirst said:
RC1807 said:
Nice to see updates and that not everyone with major projects in France had their thread closed frown
Sounds like this thread could be on borrowed time. Any reasons why?
Apparently Nick asked the mods to close it. Dunno why.

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Saturday 17th June 2017
quotequote all
Bathroom has now been grouted, plumbing fitted and around the bath has had silicon sealant done. Now awaiting a shopping trip to go and get more silicon to finish the job. It’s not quite the same having places that are an hours round trip at least instead of just down the road.



The living room and first bedroom have now had their last coat of paint on. Backsplash in the kitchen has now been finished and today I will be cleaning the floor up in the kitchen to test lay the floor. The travertine we bought at a very good price and is to be laid in the opus or versaille pattern. That should keep me on my toes getting it right. At the moment it is stacked up in the trough after moving it into the barn yesterday.



Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Sunday 25th June 2017
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Shower screen is now up and sealed in. Still need to seal a couple of bits around the bath when I next get the silicon sealant out.


Shower trays are in in the other 2 bathrooms so next job in there is to tile.



The ladder that is to hold the lights is up in the stairwell and awaiting the wife to decide what heights she want the 3 lights at.


Kitchen floor is going down. I have now reached the point where I need to render the trough and then finish of. I also have a little square that I have to level off before tiles go down there. Pleased with the results so far and only broken one tile when I trod on it with a little bit of debris under it.




Friday we had a day trip to Paris to apply for mine and daughters Australian passports. Detour on the way back to pick up a Sheen Paraffin flame gun for weeding. Should be fun and games doing all the weeding now!

On Wednesday we have a delivery of calcaire and then on Thursday our gravel is being delivered so the drive can be finished. It is due to rain so I should be kept cool while shifting the 15 tonnes around.

Once this is done it will be time to arrange another Sunday Service.



citizensm1th

8,371 posts

137 months

Sunday 25th June 2017
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loving that floor mate

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Sunday 25th June 2017
quotequote all
citizensm1th said:
loving that floor mate
Cheers, I wasn't so impressed at the prospect of laying it but it hasn't been too bad. There are some amazing colours within the tiles.


gemini

11,352 posts

264 months

Sunday 25th June 2017
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You're on fire!

Neilsfirst

Original Poster:

567 posts

157 months

Sunday 25th June 2017
quotequote all
gemini said:
You're on fire!
It felt like it last week with 37C temperature!