Week starting 29th December 2008 - another short week - New Year

The stone wall is continued above the archway. Spaces are left for the A Frame that will support the roof at this higher end of the building. The peaks are built up at the lower end of the building ready for the start of the roof structure. Happy New Year!

Week starting 15th December 2008 - rooms are forming!

As the stonework at the front of the building starts to rise and the door and window openings are formed, the internal room divisions also start to take shape. Then the internal stone work starts. The large wall dividing the salon and the master bedroom is stone faced each each side and the archway between the dining room and the kitchen is formed. Now it is time to slow down for Xmas.

Week starting 3rd November - a whole heap of rubble!

With half the building down, the problems with the bed-rock and the differing floor levels becomes even more clear. Literally tons of rotten wood was removed during this weeks, all the roof structure the floor boards and staircase (there had been a low upper floor in the property). These pictures are taken on a brighter day. But during this week we had massive rains and underfoot everything is very slippy and sticky. We were sliding about all over the place trying to clear this site. Next week we have a pecking machine booked to come and get the bedrock that is half way up the back of the house and appearing at various places on what we need to be a level site. This week saw the consumption of a large number of 'twix' bars - it seemed the only small comfort amongst a week of basic toil. All will be worth it in the end but for now it looks a long way off being 'home'.

Background information

After various issues regarding planning permission October 2008 saw the start of the long-awaited renovation of an old house and barn at our home, Las Razes, Touffailles, Tarn et Garonne. France.


We are going to place photograps of the on-going progress on this site as a way of letting people follow the progress. We have been sending out emailed photographs but this is causing the 'clogging' up of various email 'inboxes'.


Some of the photographs are of 'boring bits' - boring that is, unless like Bob are keen on these sort of details.


We need to get the building up to a stage where it can be secured/watertight before the start of the holiday season and the arrival of our summer guests. So the pressure is on for this self-build project. Luckily Bob knows what he is doing.

For anyone that did not know the old ruin - a set of photographs of the old building appears first. The hope is to return the building as near as possible to its original exterior shape and character. However the ruin was quite unsafe and was built into and around bed-rock, so the plan is to take down the building completely. All the walling stone would then be put to one side and the rubble moved for landscaping. A pecking machine would come onsite to dig out the bed-rock and create a level site. The building would then rise again, benefitting from up-to-date dampcoursing and insulation. The walls would be built with a cavity, with the original stone being replaced on the exterior walls and some of the interior walls.