September 2009 - The sheds are re-born!

The very old and falling down sheds have begun a new lease of life.

Starting with those on the upper level, they have been taken down completely and new concrete bases have been put in place. Drains have been put in place to marry in with the drains going in for the main house. The block-work is to be stone-faced on the visible sides, including the inside where this is to remain exposed.

These top level buildings are to be (on the open south-facing side) an outdoor kitchen area and dining area and then down on the other side a building for the mower and tools and then the room at the end (with a window looking down the valley) a garden room/studio/office - only time will tell.

Week starting 23rd March - the last week of work for a while now!

This was to be the last week of building for some time. Time to start and get the landscaping repaired and grass seed sown etc. etc..

A small but essential job was the creation of a manhole over the incoming water supply. This was duly shuttered, concrete poured and there is now easy access to the mains water supply.

Drains were laid around the back of the porch and the plastic membrane was secured to the outside of the porch wall - this whole area was then back-filled with gravel.

A small retaining wall was built to the side of the doorway.

The porch roof then took up the remainder of the week. New timbers were laid over the main porch area, allowing for the building in of a small velux.

Then an old oak entrance was created in front of the doorway. Old oak beams from the ruin were cleaned up and used.

The whole roof over the porch and entrance was then battened, felted, battened and then tiled with 'under' and 'over' tiles, the same as the rest of the house.

For the time being - work has ceased on the building.

Week starting 16th March - Bob on a hot tile roof!

It has been hotter and sunnier that normal and for Bob who has spent virtually his entire week on a roof with no shade it has been challenging. The suncream has been essential and varying levels of clothing have been spotted.

The challenge of bringing together the roof on the higher end of the house has continued. The requirement for endless mortar for the ridges has meant plenty of coming up and down the scaffold. The need to cut the tiles has continued, so the haze of heat coming off the roof was added too with clouds of terracotta dust!

The large velux was successfully built in. This velux had come from the UK (www.sterlingbuild.co.uk) who sent it by courier to Las Razes, we were unable to get the right window in France and thankfully we were able to rely on the great service of Sterling Build Ltd. They have also supplied the Velux sun-tunnels which appear in the length of the lower roof. The second sun-tunnel has been built in this week.

The chimney-stack was beaded and rendered during the week and now blends nicely with the stone walls.

Saturday morning saw the completion of the main part of the roof, with Bob working his way off the roof as he worked. The very neat zinc valleys leaving a good crisp line to the roof. Somehow the roof conceals the number of man hours and attention to detail that has been employed on it.

The porch is due to have the ground filled in around it this week. A further lorry load of gravel was delivered on Thursday ready for this back filling and the arranging of the drains around this part of the building. To prepare for this back filling the block walls have been covered with trowel applied bitumen to help water-proof the structure. Once this is dried then a plastic 'egg-shell' dpc will be wrapped around the building before the filling commences.