A week hampered by freezing conditions. With temperatures well below freezing for many of the days it was hard (even with anti-freeze) to use mortar. So cold fingers and frustration all round. The plan has been to continue the stone work to the West elevation and to start to build up the last gable wall (East). This wall will include the french-doors out to the covered terrace and at the other end a doorway out to the garden. The old stone fire place which Bob has reclaimed from a derelict building locally is now to start to be built into this wall. The pieces of stone are very very old and extremely heavy. Many of them are having to be slung into position with the digger. The larger top pieces and final mantel will be the next job - so that should be rather tense!
Also being built into this wall is another of Bob's (he has a thing about old stone) reclamations. An old stone sink - very typical of old stone houses in France. The huge slab of stone runs right through the skins of the building and sticks out into the freshair. Into this huge slab a drainage channel is cut, so that before modern plumbing the household's water would be released to the outside. The sink itself is shallow and has huge stone cheeks on either side. The main large piece of stone weighs about 700kg and so this had to be very carefully placed into the structure and then built around.
Where the stone sink sticks out (externally) will eventually be the covered terrace - but that seems a long way off right now!
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