Mostly outside work

Work has, as ever, been intermittent. But at last we are seeing some real progress outside, at least.

 The edges of all the balconies have been done on in a slate covered steel. They are still being fixed as you may be able to see from the clamps holding them on on the lower balcony. You will also see that the storm force winds that we had for a whole three days last week scattered chairs and tables!
The two pipes near to this side will be cut down to ground level and have manhole covers put on now that the landscaping is done. Whilst the ground level was being sifted all around them these pipes were put there to protect the drainage from the shifting soil.
The landscaping is nearly finished. All the grass has been sown. Almost too late for this year but we should see a sign of greening giving a little bit of protection from the cloying clay. The drive has been done in crushed limestone for the time being. The quarry is just at the top of the hill and has seen some serious requirements from us.
The lime render has been tinted with natural rock powder so the lighter one copies the colour of the limestone, and the pinky red tries to simulate the red stone of the village that can be seen from the church in the background.
The solar panels provide hot water. Just as well, as we did not have any mains gas back-up until a couple of weeks ago. However, we managed for just over two months, admittedly summer months, with only solar heated water.

From the front the house is beginning to look nearly finished. The 'Elf & Safety gurus amongst you will have noticed a distinct lack of guard rails on all the balconies, not to mention no hand rail on the stairs. After several fruitless encounters with French artisans who could give us exactly what they wanted to give us, not what we had asked for, we eventually struck lucky. A steel fabricant in Rodez works with a glass company, also in Rodez. They have put forward a proposition meeting exactly what we asked for. Work should be done on that early November. In the meantime "Stand away from the edge".
The survival of Zack and Ethan, coming over next week with Sarah for their half-term will prove the power of fear.
You may have noticed that Brennie hadn't put her slap on and hence the timid face out the door!
Finally, a little treat for the boys.

We had a big yellow digger, a little turquoise and yellow digger, an orange bob-cat thing, a white vibro-roller, and a big yellow lorry. Never mind "red lorry - yellow lorry" (repeat as fast as you can), avoid if your are Chinese.

More Stairs

All a bit confused really. The landing stage at the top, when it was taken out of its mold (or mould, if you prefer) a piece broke off. Have made the immensely complicated helical spine to the stairs with no incidents, they then get a flat piece wrong. So they left it for a few days and then started on the bottom.

Some fairly complicated shuttering was involved and millimetre accuracy to ensure that there was enough slope for water to run off, but avoiding the stairs which continued down. The use of lasers has become standard practice. You can see theirs on the bottom step of the picture above.

Then all filled with hardcore ready for the concrete which they mixed and poured this morning.

The table

Many moons ago, whilst admiring a beautiful oak table that John had made an idea was starting to hatch. I had seen a table in Roche Bobois that gave me the start. I wanted something simple, with an almost utilitarian look about it, but made in a lovely wood such as wild cherry.
Not very easy to find, various visits to woodyards provided us with the necessary. Thickness was always a problem. So John decided to laminate boards to get sufficient thickness for the legs.

 Once this step had been made we were still struggling to work out a way to incorporate my idea of stainless steel stretchers.

Whilst discussing this with Kieran he came up withe words star-fangled nut. Although this sounded like a description of George W Bush by a dyslexic, I allowed him to take me into the weird world of bicycle headsets (I think that's what he said). Anyway, this is what one looks like. It's a grippy little thing that once it has been stuffed up a pipe it won't come out.

This meant that we could use long, neat bolts to hold the bars in place. However, the stainless steel tube was pricey, and it was still only an idea which were hoping might work so we bought a short bit of steel and Kieran showed that it could be done.

The next problem for John was that the top was subject to the dramatic temperature and humidity changes that can happen in SW France. The top was changing shape. One day it would be marginally bowed, a couple of days later dished. It might be flat an one diagonal and dished (or bowed on another). So we brought it over here where the variations would be less than in John's outside workshop.
Final construction took place here.

and, boy, does it look good? Even with the boxes that will eventually be part of the kitchen, it looks good, and the chairs look fabulous with it, too. You may have noticed in the photo above that the chair seats are different colours. Each one is different. 

The stairs arrived today - great excitement

Now there maybe some of you thinking "Hang on they're a bit narrow, even for Steve", so I'll explain.

The stairs are a descending quadrant, for which there is no doubt a proper name. They have a central spine and then the steps are centred on this spine. The casting of the concrete was an enormous challenge but so was lifting it into position so that the piece at the end neatly fitted into the square socket cut in the front of the house.

No more big gaps!

These pictures are reasonably self-evident. The seating for the outside staircase needed to go down to bedrock as the soil round here is puddle clay, rock hard when dry but almost liquid when soaked through. We are having a supporting wall to raise the garden bed at the front so it is flatter. Quite why the pictures are all over the place I've no idea. Anyway click on them to get a decent view.

   

  

   

First shot of the table

John has made this table for us in wild cherry wood. The first coat of varnish has been applied, and it looks scrumptious, It just needs stroking all the time! The legs are still with John but we wanted the wood for the top to settle down in its environment.

Holes

September has arrived and work has restarted. The VMC has been installed. VMC, Ventilation Mécanique Contrôlée, has been all started up.
The kitchen one has a booster switch, the loo one, like the bathroom downstairs revs up when someone is detected. All go to a heat exchanger in the roof so that in the winter we don't lose heat when humid air is being cleared.  So far we have been extraordinarily well served by the hot water from the roof, but the small gas boiler that serves as backup will get its gas supply next week.
We had a very good site meeting this morning, The landscaping will take place in a couple of weeks; by landscaping I mean levelling out the ground and putting in the drive. 
We will also be putting in a 4000l tank for surface water recuperation which will take place at the same time.

The most important thing is that at last we will have a front entrance. These holes are to secure the bottom of the custom-designed front stairs. As the ground is clay they have gone down to bedrock to ensure security.

At last. Mea culpissimo

The last blog was on May the 15th. Thanks to all those for reminding me that I was either (a) dead - various reasons for that have been suggested most involving Brenda and a weapon of her choice, (b) handicapped in some way - much the same reasons were given, (c) somehow unable to use a keyboard - very similar to (b), or (d) fed up with blogging/ bone idle.
The last is unfortunately true. I was fed up of showing little progress week in, week out. But then it all changed. Under threats from the architect they all seemed to appear at once and we were able to move in at the end of July.

Kitchen/Dining room

Here are some pictures, more will follow.

Kitchen balcony

Kitchen/Dining room

The kitchen cum dining room is in place but by no means finished. The work surfaces are temporary, the painting needs to be done and there is no hob. I could go on but the list of what still needs to be done is very long. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

Living room

The salon is much in place although the stark white of the walls still give it a rather sterile look with no pictures or other bits and pieces to make it looked lived in. The telly went in yesterday, it will ultimately be wall-hung. It is linked into the wifi, so we can watch French broadband television.

Bren's studio

Bren's studio is by far and away the most finished, although it too requires another coat of paint. There will also be a small sink in the left hand corner as you look at it. IKEA kitchen units with a bit of customisation has made a great room. You may have noticed that all the floors are the same. They are wood effect ceramic tiles. These give a lovely sense of space and with the exceptions of the bathrooms have been used throughout our area.

Our bathroom has a walk in shower. There is a tiled bench on the right hand side so that we sit and do our feet. The overhead rain shower is absolutely fantastic and the addition of the niches on the right means that all the bottles and other accoutrements are all tucked away but within reach. Likewise for the niches besides the sinks, and yes, for the eagle eyed, and I know there is at least one, that is an electric plug in the niche and on the wall.

Downstairs is much more finished, the kitchen/ living room is fully usable, the bedroom likewise although the built in wardrobes are not yet finished. All the windows have electric blinds which help insulate everywhere, very necessary when the temperature reached nearly 40 earlier this week. The bathroom is waiting for the shower screen but is otherwise ok.

And finally, I always try to keep the best to last, for those of you who think that fifty shades of grey describes a hair style rather than a tedious traipse through the seedy mind of some female authoress, our bedroom. And you are right, it is siesta time. I was completely unaware of a peeping paparazzo. But I would like you all to express your delight at the use of the singular form of the Italian. (Don't ask).

Difficult to know where to start.

We have had yet another 3 day week, with a Tuesday Bank Holiday. So we decided to do something ourselves. To start we painted the utility room, first with an undercoat to fix the plaster and then a second coat. We then transferred a load of the units we saved from the original kitchen and set them in position, Very pleased. The unit in the corner will be on little wheels with the laundry bin so that can be wheeled across to the washing machine beside the sink.

Meanwhile we got to grips with the dumb waiter. This goes from the lower level up into the corner of the kitchen. It was very, very hard work, but with some help from the neighbour over the road with some of the heaviest lifting we managed to get it working yesterday evening. There is still a lot to do getting the rope guides sorted and making the rope into one continuous loop but  we are well on the way. It works, that's the main thing. The photo below shows the bottom of the shaft. On the left the car is up in the kitchen, on the right it has been brought down.

When the car is downstairs the counterweights rise up the track so that the two are balanced. We think the whole thing is brilliant and we love it to bits. If you click on the photo you can see it in more detail. Also there is a video on Facebook.

This is the video for those without Facebook.

Now it's getting fun...

After yet another hiatus the plumbing lads have been in. Their first job was to put down the floor insulation. This was all done yesterday, and the pictures below show this and one of the valve sets for the underfloor heating.














Today they have put down just under 1000m of piping, and have filled and pressure tested it.

On the left, the kitchen and above the living room.

Quite what part the dustpan plays in this modern technology is tricky to work out.

Now it starts to get serious.

So we take a few days away. Barcelona, ruined by genuine, bed-limited, full-body-ache, flu.
On our return, they had seriously got on with things. Downstairs the tiling was almost complete. It would have been finished but for tiles being a mixture of 240mm square, and 238mm. Not much you might think, but over 10 tiles one row is an inch shorter than the other. All the other codes were the same and they were on the same palette. Fortunately for us, they decided to sort them and found they had enough for the bedroom in one size and the others would do the rest. Bonus points for the floor tilers. So, in a week, downstairs, screed to cover all the pipes and conduit; insulation, second leveling screed, and tiles. Whoop, whoopee!!! They will finish and grout on Monday, then we can start doing our things. The picture below looks from the kitchen area of the apartment  towards the front door. The box of tricks is the wiring for the whole flat and will contain its own fuse box and controls for the VMC.
VMC, ventilation mécanique contrôlée, is a requirement in France with a fan driven system stopping problems associated with humidity. We have a double system, recuperating any heat that may be lost. 

Upstairs, the first layer of screed has gone down. We are now waiting (again) for the plumber so that he can get on with the underfloor heating. He should have started last Wednesday, but plumbers work to a different timescale from everyone else.
To give an idea of what stage we are at the picture below shows the kitchen upstairs with the first screed down. No more pipes, no more conduits. As I think I mentioned before, the sticky-uppy things in the middle of the floor are the utilities for the island unit.

Seriously grumpy.

One artisan finishes. The next one...
Well, he knew that he was due to start but bearing in mind that he was running a bit late, and perhaps the other guy would be finishing a bit late, just time to fit in another job. Now that's running late. Multiply that by more than ten different trades and you can see the problem.
NOBODY worked on site from the last Tuesday in March till last Thursday and then, oops, it's Easter.
The electric wiring is practically all finished now, and the main plumbing work is also done. the next thing is the screed that goes over all that and then it's the underfloor insulation. However, both the plumber, who's putting the underfloor heating and the floor tiler quoted to do the screeding. So one's waiting for the other...
 A few pictures of pipes just keep you happy. Click on them to enlarge them if you have a considerable interest in pipes.

The one on the left is looking into our en-suite. The one on the right is inside the en-suite looking at the wet-room bit. The niches on the right are for bits and pieces for the shower and there will be a bench at the bottom of that for sitting down and doing sitting-downy things.

The other two are the kitchen lookin through to the hall and the living room beyond. The sticky-up bits are services to the kitchen island unit. The other one is the living room downstairs with the radiators now in.