Slowly, slowly catch the monkey

18 February 2015

Not August 2014 or even December 2014. We are only 6 months beyond the deadline we'd set for the works to be finished on the barn. And what are we waiting for, do I hear you ask?

The heating. The sign off on the final fiddly plumbing jobs.

Chas.

We have been in grindingly slow communication with him over the weeks since the holidays, and he has been characteristically negative about How the Heating Will Work (optimistically subtitled: If Indeed It Will); specifically, the combination of underfloor heating and radiators, since they have different temperature parameters and we don't want the concrete to get too hot, nor our toes to get too cold and our morales plummet.

After much prompting, Chas sent through a circuit diagram showing valves, pumps etc (below), to which G added his comments. I'm standing well back. I reckon my role is to be the end user and I will approach that responsibility with my shoulders squared (and maybe a thick fleecy jumper to fall back on).

OK, so you have to turn your head - is that so much to ask? The handwriting is G's.

We have been wondering how to test the system, since it would be best to be in situ, and Chas is not going to set up camp in the salon de sejour (we hope) in order to commission this baby. G and I decided to ask Gregg, who is a) next door b) practical and c) happy to talk to Chas (that narrows the field) to come over to the barn twice a day for three days to measure temperatures upstairs and down. If we are to make use of the cold weather, this needs to begin soon (daytime temps are already in the low teens, and it's only February).

So, in a burst of last-thing-before-going-to-bed enthusiasm last night, G got hold of Gregg and put the idea to him.  Luckily he is happy to oblige, and offered to go and get details from Chas there and then, since coincidentally, C was busy at the barn with this and that.

G and Chas spent a while on the phone too, and we now have an update on the plumbing/heating side of things: Chas has found the MIA large stainless steel cap for the vent pipe (it had been squirrelled away in the cabine by J-M, as G and I had suspected); he's fixed the bath feet to the floor to stop it shifting; he's completed the splash back tiling; he has charged the heating system with anti-freeze, which, being fluoro pink, will alert him or us to any leaking joints (ulp);  and he should be ready to commission the heating once the anti-freeze has settled, i.e. within a day or two. He's even promised photos! Here's hoping...

It's hard to sleep after midnight calls like that.

Heating matters - Update # 20

23 September 2014

The heating of the barn has been a crucial part of the design from the outset, and warrants its own blog post. We wanted it to be cosy! The idea was to have underfloor heating (UFH) downstairs, under the concrete floor and radiators upstairs; the whole thing driven by the wood pellet stove in the corner of the living room. Apparently, burning wood pellets is very efficient (90-something %), and to retain the heat, we arranged for Tom to put in extra wall and ceiling insulation.

Fast forward to the day before Chas was due to install and commission the stove. Text from him to say that the stove (discussed with him a year ago and ordered by him months ago) would not be suitable for the UFH (installed by him months back), as it could not run below 65 degrees C - way too hot under-foot - and that the solution was both bulky and expensive. But not, we guessed, as expensive as jack-hammering up the concrete floor and resizing the doors and staircase.

The outcome of a very heated exchange (sorry) was an agreement to install outside a 200L buffer tank (charged with anti-freeze and suitably clad to withstand below-freezing winter temperatures), which will allow the hot water to mix with the cooled water returning from the radiators upstairs sufficiently for the UFH system. At the same time, the radiators upstairs will receive water at the higher temperatures. It could even be a more effective heating system than the earlier version. But yes, both bulky and expensive.

While waiting for calculations etc and the appropriate tank to arrive, we insisted that Chas install the stove and commission it during our last days in France. On the last day, literally as we were packing our suitcases and cleaning out the fridge, Chas got the stove to fire up. In the pics it doesn't have its red ceramic 'jacket' on, but you get the idea.

Note feet of barn co-owner and photographer extraordinaire

It's a primitive sort of pleasure, the warmth radiating from a fire. Something about a feeling of security; of hearth and home.

Once the pointing of the gable end wall was complete, Chas got going on the concrete plinth, and he had the tank delivered too. The plan is to build a larch-panelled lean-to shed with tiled roof to house the tank and extra bags of pellets (like the green/yellow bag in the photo). The whole shebang should be finished by mid-October.

But don't hold your breath, now, will you?

Plastering? Check. UFH? Check.

6 February 2014

The plastering was duly finished on Monday night, allowing 2 days for the UFH. Predictably, Chas was delayed and was only half-way through on Wed evening, just hours before the team was due to arrive on site to lay the screed.

Tom had to make a round of uncomfortable phone calls to call off the various parties (including the electrician, who in turn had to postpone the digger) and call in some favours regarding rescheduling. Needless to say, Tom was not a happy camper.

Despite this, he says:

"The barn is really starting to come together now, I’m really pleased with how its all looking."

And we can see why.

First, the UFH. I rather like it. Cancel the concrete floor.

This is the shower room, and the pipes all emerge from a boxing-in arrangement which will sit behind the toilet. The unaltered area to the right is the shower wall, which will be tiled. The cubby above the toilet is built in front of an existing niche in the stone, which we asked Tom to preserve. In the end, the wall depth became so thick that he has had to build out from the niche. That means it will be an extra deep space, at the back of which will be original stone.

 Er...we somehow have to fit some stairs in there on the left.

This is the corner of the room where the wood pellet stove will go, and this mess of pipes will be organised into 4 attractive manifolds :)

Now, the upstairs. Of course, the beams still need to be cleaned up, and the plaster needs to dry out.

The Juliet balcony is done!

And the other one too. No falling from the top floor windows now. Here's a photo of the one at the front of the barn.

The last pic shows the cladding that will go over the area of wall overlooking Monsieur's cabine - this  was, if you recall, open to the air, which is why we decided to put in two windows there, and have the rest clad in wood. We had envisaged lapped oak, but Tom has suggested larch (at this thickness, less inclined to warp), which is what these sample pieces are, I gather.

Next stop: The Screed. Mind the gap.

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.