The only rain chains in France - Update # 36

30 May 2016

Who knows? it's possible.

Tom has been frustrated by rain and scheduling nightmares, and now the supplier of the chestnut volige boards has let him/us down, so work on the covered porch is way behind schedule. You can tell from his shorter-than-usual emails that he is not happy. Letting The Client Down is not his middle name, unlike certain plumbers we could mention.

(Chas has failed to deliver - after nearly three years - a robust heating system, and has said he is too busy and out of pocket to make it work; that we need to develop a more realistic attitude for him to continue the work. Needless to say, after all this time of accommodating his foibles, peculiar often rude manner and sheer ineptitude, we have hit the limit of our endurance and have told him he may not set foot on the property ever again. But I digress.)

So, the gutters and rain chains on the dépendance are done:

Can you see the rain chain?

The fence - straight as a die!

And the covered terrace is coming along. Soon John will have to machete his way onto the property in order to tidy the garden, as he has been waiting for Tom to finish. Er, maybe he should get airlifted in sooner than later?

A barn in the tall grass

Purlins are up...

...ready for the volige boards - and that vertical post will be trimmed in due course.

Happy to see that the nearest apple tree - the St Germain - has recovered its spirits.

25 daisies do not a meadow make, but that's more than enough for a daisy chain.

Oak pins and how green is my valley?

This photo doesn't add much, but hey.

Fig tree in the frame, and spot the rain chain

Now we wait for news of the interior painting, which, according to Laurie, is going great guns.

Let's hope it will all be done in good time for son C's arrival, mid-June...

Full steam ahead

10 March 2014

Tom is back on site with a vengeance and has sent through photos of his first few days on site.

As he puts it, he's 'had a good clean up' of beams, windows and floors. Note the oak pegs in the A-frame.

The down lighters are in place, thanks to Brian.

This is the kitchen window. Power points and switches are making an appearance...

Tom: 'The screed is drying out nicely and I’m very pleased with it.' Looks good from where I'm standing too, Tom.

This is the pair of windows overlooking the stairwell. We love them! They recall the fact that the wall of the barn stopped short of the roof along  this side of the barn.

And we are delighted that Tom has preserved the fragment of stone wall...

The guys have been working on the external bardage boarding (Larch wood) and managed to finish that by Friday. What d'you think? Rather a nice quirky detail, isn't it? 

Tom expects the window shutters to be delivered to site at the beginning of this week, when they will be all set to start fitting them, having got 'all the fiddly bits' completed last week.

It's all go chez nous.

"(We) have become irrationally protective of your stone walls :)"

24 January 2014

That's a quote from Tom again.

The pace is hotting up and G and I are spending lots of hours every evening poring over the plans, discussing detail, and composing email after email to one or other of the main players in the build.
It's all good; the devil, as they say, is in the detail, and we want to get it right.

The walls are being plaster boarded and now the stone gable is coming into its own...

 That's the kitchen window, under which will go the sink. Brian has been busy with the first electrical fix.

That tiny window is an original that Tom and Gregg have carefully renovated. We love its quirkiness.

Upstairs, the privacy wall  - behind which will be the toilet - has been built.

We are making use of every nook and cranny under the eaves for storage.

 The shelving is made of oak.

 The uneven purlins make the white ceiling look squiggly...

 The stairs will take just a small bite out of the top floor...

The major pressure now is to get all the plumbing sorted out in time for the plasterers to start on Monday. If we miss that window, Tom says he can't be sure when they will next be available, and that throws out the whole schedule... So we have had to nip at the heels of the plumber somewhat, but he assures us that he will be finished by Friday afternoon. Don't imagine that he would work over the weekend, as Tom has been doing.

The big issue of the moment is the design of the stove flue. We have all balked at putting it through the beautiful tiling on the roof (not easy with the clip system), and have chosen instead to put it through the stone of the gable wall.

Watch that space.

The winter equinox

01 January 2014

A few more pics sneaked in before the end of 2013. These were taken on the 20th December, just before the Christmas break.

The stonework above the first-floor French window is finished and I'm happy to see light streaming in from both directions upstairs...

Tom managed to tie the lintel into the purlins, for strength and aesthetics.

Phil has been busy and the oak panels and glazing for the front door frame are in situ. He is now waiting for the lock mechanism, before fitting the stable door. What do you think? We think it's looking beautiful.

Imagine stairs where the ladder rests...

...and an absence of van in the driveway.

No need to imagine the welcome mat (we chose it out of thousands; the others were all too flat).