3 April 2014
The blacksmith had all the metalwork ready for collection on Monday, so the stairs are going in this week. I'm looking forward to seeing them in situ, after all the designing and cogitating over months and months...
Chas says that he has begun receiving the sanitaryware, and is expecting the rest soon. He has yet to order the stove.
Paint for the downstairs concrete floor has been top-of-mind this week. G ad I have chosen a colour - Farrow's Cream # 67 - which gets good reviews on the Farrow & Ball website, and is not unlike the colour of our laundry floor here in Sydney. A warm, buttery colour with a dash of honey, which should be good even on the dreariest of days, and lovely at night under artificial light.
Having chosen the colour, we thought hey hey, just hit the online shopping tab and it'll be a breeze. Well, it was easy enough, but unfortunately the French prices were almost double the UK prices, with delivery to France on top of that. G was galvanised into action and found a very handy company (http://www.sterlingshopping.co.uk) that has a depot in the UK and delivers stuff to depots all round France. They would be able to deliver to Thiviers for GBP15 - not bad at all. But, in the end, my dishonesty won the day and I simply rang the company and gave them my UK address - G's aunt's address ;) - and voila! Farrow's Cream at UK prices.
The paint will now be delivered to Tom's home next week, and now all we have to do is hold thumbs that someone will be home to receive it.
Showing posts with label stove. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stove. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Décalage horaire and Decision Making 101
2 February 2014
It's been quite a week. G away on business, and still the emails kept on coming (or not coming), depending on whether you were the builder, the electrician - just about anybody, really - or the plumber.
To be fair, though, Chas has been working hard and even over the weekend to get the plumbing out of the way before the plasterers began on Monday. He sent through a few photos on Monday, as well as a drawing of the flue design.
We have made clear our wishes for the stove and flue but they keep getting blocked by Chas, who quotes regs and negative practicalities in his by-now-familiar 'can't-do' way. We now expect a fairly complex flue design within the barn - a T bar allowing easy cleaning - and the stove can't sit as close to the wall as we would like, because of the flue that will have to connect and then turn vertically in the gap. There's also the small air vent (a never-before-mentioned last-minute surprise), so now Tom must make not one but two holes in the gable wall. Hmm.
The other minor character (no dialogue but more than a walk-on part) is the exhaust vent, required by French regs if you want to cook with gas. We made a decision to go with provision for a propane gas bottle outside the barn, because of space constraints, but apparently we still need a 50 mm vent at high level, in the same room as the cooker. With the plastering already under way, there was a flurry of emails between Sydney and France as I tried to establish a) whether it would be feasible (i.e. not too late) to put one in and b) whether high up in the stairwell near the two oblong windows would be an acceptable site (no stone to penetrate). A time difference of 10 hours meant that after sending off my emails, I had to wait all day for a reply from Tom and Chas-the-communicative.
By early evening, I had an agreement in principle (hint of clenched teeth) from the former; nada, zilch, diddly-squat from the latter. Tom - very decidedly not interested in contacting the plumber - making it clear that today or latest tomorrow (France time) was the last chance to interfere with the walls. Also, that my proposed site for the vent was, by chance, not yet plastered, but time was of the essence to make a decision and then DO it. Another email off to Chas. And a text. Everything cc'd to Tom and to G. Deafening silence. Finally, at nearly 11 pm Sydney time, a phone call to Chas. No answer.
That night, I took forever to get to sleep and then woke at 3 am to find a chatty communiqué responding to my queries and suggestions: 'Tom has it in hand.'
So.
The plastering is going ahead as planned, and Tom expects to have everything 'neat as a pin' by the end of Monday, ready for Chas to begin laying the UFH. He has two days for this and then, on Thursday, the screed is due to be laid.
Phil has been in and has fitted the front door, so the barn is now lockable. He will wait until the screed is down before starting on the stairs.
Ellie (Tom's very efficient other half, who drew up our plans and submitted them for us) has been making enquiries on our behalf regarding the telephone connection and which telephone pole would be the one to aim for with our cabling. Armed with that info, Brian has organised a digger to come and dig trenches for the EDF and telephone cables; Chas will make use of the same digger for his trench. This will require co-ordination and communication, so good luck with that, people.
Brian has helped us source outside lights that we are pleased with: very simple and traditional, and kind of rustic.
In other news, we sent off Bonne Année cards to our French neighbours, new friends and contacts and have been chuffed to receive several warm replies. And Ellie has invited herself to our housewarming party.
Better get the invites out.
It's been quite a week. G away on business, and still the emails kept on coming (or not coming), depending on whether you were the builder, the electrician - just about anybody, really - or the plumber.
To be fair, though, Chas has been working hard and even over the weekend to get the plumbing out of the way before the plasterers began on Monday. He sent through a few photos on Monday, as well as a drawing of the flue design.
We have made clear our wishes for the stove and flue but they keep getting blocked by Chas, who quotes regs and negative practicalities in his by-now-familiar 'can't-do' way. We now expect a fairly complex flue design within the barn - a T bar allowing easy cleaning - and the stove can't sit as close to the wall as we would like, because of the flue that will have to connect and then turn vertically in the gap. There's also the small air vent (a never-before-mentioned last-minute surprise), so now Tom must make not one but two holes in the gable wall. Hmm.
The other minor character (no dialogue but more than a walk-on part) is the exhaust vent, required by French regs if you want to cook with gas. We made a decision to go with provision for a propane gas bottle outside the barn, because of space constraints, but apparently we still need a 50 mm vent at high level, in the same room as the cooker. With the plastering already under way, there was a flurry of emails between Sydney and France as I tried to establish a) whether it would be feasible (i.e. not too late) to put one in and b) whether high up in the stairwell near the two oblong windows would be an acceptable site (no stone to penetrate). A time difference of 10 hours meant that after sending off my emails, I had to wait all day for a reply from Tom and Chas-the-communicative.
By early evening, I had an agreement in principle (hint of clenched teeth) from the former; nada, zilch, diddly-squat from the latter. Tom - very decidedly not interested in contacting the plumber - making it clear that today or latest tomorrow (France time) was the last chance to interfere with the walls. Also, that my proposed site for the vent was, by chance, not yet plastered, but time was of the essence to make a decision and then DO it. Another email off to Chas. And a text. Everything cc'd to Tom and to G. Deafening silence. Finally, at nearly 11 pm Sydney time, a phone call to Chas. No answer.
That night, I took forever to get to sleep and then woke at 3 am to find a chatty communiqué responding to my queries and suggestions: 'Tom has it in hand.'
So.
The plastering is going ahead as planned, and Tom expects to have everything 'neat as a pin' by the end of Monday, ready for Chas to begin laying the UFH. He has two days for this and then, on Thursday, the screed is due to be laid.
Phil has been in and has fitted the front door, so the barn is now lockable. He will wait until the screed is down before starting on the stairs.
Ellie (Tom's very efficient other half, who drew up our plans and submitted them for us) has been making enquiries on our behalf regarding the telephone connection and which telephone pole would be the one to aim for with our cabling. Armed with that info, Brian has organised a digger to come and dig trenches for the EDF and telephone cables; Chas will make use of the same digger for his trench. This will require co-ordination and communication, so good luck with that, people.
Brian has helped us source outside lights that we are pleased with: very simple and traditional, and kind of rustic.
In other news, we sent off Bonne Année cards to our French neighbours, new friends and contacts and have been chuffed to receive several warm replies. And Ellie has invited herself to our housewarming party.
Better get the invites out.
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