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.

Week starting 9th March - Roof no. 2

This week has been dedicated to the roof on the higher end of the house.

This started with covering the wooden structure with the '17 component foil' insulation which was not without the odd curse - due to the wind. All the insulation has to be carefully sealed with tape, and on this part of the roof required plenty of cutting to shape.

The roof was then counter battened then a layer of breathable felt membrane was put on top of the batons. This was then all battened again before tiling could be considered.

The valleys were strengthened with 25 cm x 3 cm valley boards. Zinc valleys were then made to fit.

Tiling has been started; this is requiring a large number of tiles to be cut to fit, due to the shape of the roof. The ridges are being mortared into position as the tiles are going on.

Week starting 2nd March. Two jobs divided by heavy showers

Some heavy showers have rather made life difficult this week.

It has been necessary to have an inside job 'on the go' as well as the primary task of completing the stone work on the far end of the house (as it joins the longer lower section of house), then levelling all the stone work at this end of the house to start the time-consuming job of adding the layers of detail that sit just below the roof line. It cannot be too wet when this job is done, so from time to time it has been necessary to cover up the completed sections, to keep them dry and to retreat to the watertight section of the house.

During the wet spells some of the ceiling timbers have been cut and put in place, so that the bedrooms are starting to take on a real shape.