It's not always rude to point

 5 November 2020

Tom has now finished pointing the fourth and final barn wall, and it looks good! We are pleased as punch with it, and the now-smooth alleyway between the barn and cabane is an unexpected bonus.

It looks much lighter and, of course, now that it is 'done', it looks more loved. 

Loved...more loved...most loved...'barnacle' in France.

                        

Also, delicate negotiations have concluded that our gabions and new fence will have to wait, if we are to stay on friendly terms with J-M. He is hoping to buy the small area of land alongside the driveway, and has plans to carve out his own entranceway. This may or may not be to our advantage.

Watch this space. Nothing happens overnight in France.  

There's a new kid on the block - Update # 25

15 January 2015

We have been waiting with bated breath to see our little dépendance transformed from ruin to safe-as-houses cutie.

Tom's photos don't disappoint. He clearly knows what he is about, that man! He and Gregg have been flat out on the little building since getting back to work after the New Year, and it shows.

In Tom's words:

The weather here has been quite pleasant considering the time of year, so we have been going flat out to get the dependence done while the going is good. 

The masonry needs to dry out and will benefit a lot from a bit of weathering. 

Safe under glowering skies.

So happy that we have preserved this teeny window, which will be double glazed, though won't open.

This window will be double glazed, and will open.

Don'tcha just love those stones peeking through...and the splayed back wall?!

I think this is an example of what Kevin McCloud would approvingly call an 'honest restoration' - where you can clearly see the old and the new, and they work very beautifully together. In my humble opinion!

Once again, Tom has done a stunning roof in Spanish slate, and he has managed to gain us a bit of head-height along the way....

Tom is still to fit the double-glazed window to the gable end closest to the barn, and after that, we will have to consider digging down the inner floor level, to get maximum head-height, and to accommodate a good-size door.

Our plan is to involve Jean-Marie's son, the menuisier, to help us with the other (opening) window, the glazing of the A frame, and the door...but all in good time. For now, she is safe and sound, and sitting pretty avec sa grande soeur au sommet de leur petite colline :)

The elevation from the road is largely unchanged, apart from that magic roof!

Finally (handing the microphone back to Tom):

Greg and I really enjoyed working on the dependence.

Yes, thank you, guys: we can see that.

Forging ahead - Update # 24

21 December 2014

It's been all quiet on the French front in recent weeks, while Tom and Gregg (and we) waited for the concrete to dry. In the meantime, the unseasonably mild weather gave way to proper wintry conditions.  But the guys have now made some serious progress on the dépendance, as this latest series of photos will attest.

The king post truss goes up and the roof beams follow, as the sky glowers overhead. Part of the newly-strengthened walls has been pointed.

(A little, well-deserved advert...)

They've managed to raise the roof a bit, as you can see here, so as to maximise the internal head height.

Poor Gregg working away in the gloom, doing his stone-work magic and extending the 'good' gable end.

Getting there...

The king post truss faces the barn, and the gaps will be glazed in time, to bring light into the interior. We have managed to retain the original windows and the door (although it will have a higher lintel than the original). 

The new pointing is clear in this photo and you can imagine the final effect, but the stone work and concrete is 'messy' at the moment, as Tom himself admits, so he is keen to get going on it  and tidy it up in the first week of the New Year.

The photo above shows the 'concrete ladder' technique that Tom described to us in the summer.

Tom and Gregg got the roof insulation up and the counter battens completed before Christmas, so the  little building is more or less water-tight, safe, and sound. 

Looks like a happy New Year indeed. 

There's a crack, a crack, in everything....

19 November 2014

...that's how the light gets in. (Leonard Cohen)

Not any more, though. In an overnight missive from Tom, he explains how they repaired that pesky crack, and strengthened the wall:

"The crack I showed you had stones cemented in place on the outside where possible to hold the concrete in place, and then when the concrete was poured we opened up the crack at the top and poured concrete down. The other method we used here was to stitch the crack with reinforced steel rods placed horizontally across the crack, in the same way that you would stitch a cut, this steel bar will not be seen as it’s in the middle of the wall. It wasn’t straight-forward to do, so there may be some more making (Ed. 'good') to do once the shuttering comes off."

So, now you know.

Saving the dépendance - Update # 22

17 November 2014

As promised, Tom and Gregg began on the dépendance at the beginning of November.

Tom took delivery of the custom-built A-frame king post truss last week. He photographed it before having to dismantle it so that he could transport it to the barn. Check out the pins holding it together...

This will face the barn and we will glaze between the beams in time 

I'll let Tom describe the process for y'all:

"... we took the roof off a couple of weeks ago, and then last week we took out the beams tying the two walls together, and then quickly began the shuttering. Every single timber in the building was rotten as a pear.

Removing the timbers exposed the poor condition of the stonework. Gregg has been repairing some of the big cracks and holes in the walls, and I’m relieved to say we have now poured our steel reinforced concrete, and we didn’t lose any more stonework than was anticipated.

So, without wanting to be too dramatic about it, the building has been 'saved' and we can now put a new roof on and make it look pretty again..."

Roof off, and masonry collapsing :(

The far gable end is in good shape, though

A vertical crack appears when the timbers are removed and the walls are unsupported

The unseasonal warm weather is clearly over

Looking though the doorway into the dépendance 

Feature (but no-longer-functional) corner oak beams have been removed

There's that worrying crack - it wasn't there before

OK, OK, we get it; there's a stonking great crack in the wall

Shuttering...

...and a lovely shot of our new and G's favourite mug

The 'good' gable

Tom busy saving the dépendance!

This shows the extent of the shuttering which will result in a horseshoe- or U-shaped concrete beam, which will hold the walls 

The walls at this corner must be far off true

Concrete done! The A-frame will rest on this at this end...

"Now we must wait a couple of weeks for the concrete to dry out. Then the A-frame goes on, and then the stone gable will be repaired, (we need the A-frame to be in place to match the heights and levels of the two gables, thus making the roof nice and easy for us.)"

The photos show the dire state of the little building. G and I are so happy that we chose to get it repaired before another damaging winter set in.