Getting closer...

I'm having problems with computers [again!], and am now having to use David's work laptop - and obviously I don't want to install any new software, so finding pictures to use has been a lot more work than usual!

The first thing that happened, of course, was that I lost the connection to Blogger - I had inadvertantly just obliterated all that I'd written & was desperately trying to navigate away from the page so it didn't autosave... Too late!

I hate it when that happens; I'm almost always more fluent if I don't spend too long altering what I'm writing, and I can never remember what I put!

Here goes [again]:

It was lovely to walk into a warm entrance hall - I know it was a lot warmer this visit, but still, it was hotter in there than we've ever known other than in the height of summer.

Mmmmm! :-)

Since moving down South, I seem to have turned into a nesh southener, and have become a cross between a cat and a lizard!

[I would have added "heat-seeking missile" (to cat & lizard), but that would have implied a turn of speed way beyond me! ;-) ]

Clearly M. Francis ain't daft; he was diligently brushing the stonework/pointing between the cheminée and the bread oven... He was lucky I didn't muscle in!
;-)

The main thing that was noticeable was ceilings - plasterboard in the kitchen, entrance hall & bedroom.

Complete with light "points" (I'm not sure what to call them, they're not a light fitting, but neither are they just wires sticking through a hole: they have a "socket" that the light fitting just plugs into - currently with bayonet fittings plugged in) - now that's a change from what Dominique had managed!

The back hall is still a "work in progress" with regard to the VMC ducting, wiring & plumbing, but I think it's close now.

Sadly "her indoors" had a late brainwave, and there will also be a small delay whilst a beam is fitted where the ceiling level changes. [Should that be "she who must be obeyed"?!]

Yes, I know, it's more expense, but when all the work is finished, it will look so much better; I'm guessing that in a year or so we will have forgotten it wasn't always there. So, we bit the bullet...

That leads me to the major surprise of this visit: M. Boyer has been through the accounts, and we have gone over budget, but by about €1200 (and that's including my new beam). M. Boyer must have worked miracles!

I know we've not finished yet, but I'm hopeful... If we don't overspend any more, we can go with Plan A and use the contingency fund to buy the poêle in the kitchen!

Back to the matter in hand!

M. Patrique (our sole worker [again!] from Schwartz) was busy making all the "spaghetti" vanish - I know, I know, that's normally a task I'd assign to David, but in this instance I mean tidying up the wiring!

The electrical cupboard is starting to look as though it will be big enough; for a while I was almost convinced that there was way too much cabling for it ever to fit!

We've also got the stone slabs laid in the corridor in the back hall; another communication failure has meant that the stones are not laid to the middle of where the doors will be...

I think I understood that we will be getting a sliver of stone in each doorway - I'm not kean, but that will be the sort of boo-boo that I'm sure I will learn to live with!

We've had very few weird things foisted upon us, so a minor thing like that will just make me think of the Taj Mahal! [Shah Jahan allegedly ordered the workmen to make a minor mistake in its construction, as only God could create perfection.]

Sadly, we have to have the big insulated pipe to the poêle sticking down through the ceiling...

Apparently, there is a kind of housing that will hide this, and no, we weren't allowed an asbestos board (the good kind, obviously, not the bad stuff!) instead of the plasterboard, with the big pipe joining the less-insulated flue just above the ceiling. I did try!

We've got a radiator on site... A confirmation (had we needed it) that the Zehnder radiators are a better choice than the Arbonia ones. Bizarrely, the better-made product was also cheaper!

Anyway, our next visit is not yet fixed - M. Boyer wants it to be the "pre-reception" visit, so is not quite sure whether we will need to allow an extra week.

The "reception" visit is where we check that everything has been done correctly before handing over the final payment cheques. So it all feels very imminent!!

I'm a bit nervous, now, and excited [at last] - we might be finished in a month...

In case you are wondering, the photo of David is there so that you can see the difference compared to our next visit... When I will meanly make him stand in the same spot!!

Watch this space...

Oak Joinery in France...

...Thankfully costs nowhere near as much as in England.

One very kind friend had been worrying that we have spent about £10,000 on the new beam in the kitchen.

We haven't; it was way [WAY] less than that.

I can't remember what we paid for it, but even with sterling in a tailspin, it was still a bargain if that's what if would have cost here!

Please tell my mum...

Last week's visit

A very nippy start to the year; the temperature rose to ½°C whilst we were at the house. That was outside - inside it was much colder (bit I don't have a thermometer downstairs to check)! M. Mazij said it had been -12°C overnight.

So the workmen must have been glad of the fire in the entrance hall fireplace...

Yes, a fire in our new chimney.

Hurrah!

[Still didn't melt the half-bucket of solid ice! The electrician (sorry, I don't know his name) had brought a bucket of water in one morning, and it had frozen solid by lunchtime.]

Sadly, it's very smoky, and I'm going to have to clean up the fireplace again as soon as we can stop it smoking... [I think that's a job for the fumiste, M. Monnier.]

Insulation work has started in the stairwell (we are having the enclosed part of the stairs insulated, but are not carrying on the hemp-lime upstairs) up to the new back door; and now the electrician is putting the cabling in before the next layer of insulation.

And then they will enclosed the stairs - to keep the heat in/cold out!

The door looks lovely (and is wider than we had remembered), and is just waiting for the grille to be fitted (which, bizarrely, arrived really quickly) and then the glazed opening part can be fitted.

We have 'lost' our little window, so we think (hope) that M. Baty is re-working it in his workshop, so that it opens the other way...

Since we had the window (orientated the same way as the existing frame) made, the stairs have altered out of all recognition, so the little window was now opening the "wrong" way.

I haven't seen an additional estimate for that work, but I shall add that to my (mental) pile of "things-I-am-going-to-worry-about-later-(if-necessary)".

Not going to tell you about that pile, now. Maybe never!

Denial is my chosen strategy at this stage; I will worry if I have to, when I have to. I've controlled everything I could about the costings, and now am practising "going with the flow".

Perhaps with practice I will become 'perfect'!!

Work is moving ahead with the VMC, and there are cables, pipes & air tubes everywhere; the "spaghetti" by the electrical cupboard is most impressive!

Its so nice to see it in this state: I know that all the 'mess' will vanish, and then be completely forgotten, so it's good to have some photos.

I guess it's a bit like bespoke tailoring or couture gowns; all the work done "behind the scenes" is what makes the finished product look so effortlessly (and unobtrusively) perfect.

I know it's not going to be "perfect"; there are so many compromises you have to make with an old house, and indeed any building project, but it really is going to be fabulous.

Can't wait to get it all cleaned up!

We've got some bonuses: a niche in the bedroom; extra pointed walls; etc, so I am very happy with how it's turning out.

Another lovely thing we've seen during all our trips to see progress is how light it's going to be in winter!

We've visited loads of times, but have rarely opened the shutters; when it's that cold, you don't open shutters if you don't need to!

Our main task this trip was to finalise the placement of ceiling lights. We had got them all marked on the plans John drew up for us, but it was good to review them in situ.

The poêle had moved (so the seating round it will all be in different places), so (I think) we've moved a ceiling light in the "coin salon". We also had to have a big think about the light in the dining area: ceiling rose vs. beam, coupled with table placement... The light in the entrance hall is also going to be offset (middle of beam vs. midline between mid-mantle and mid-wall lights).

Hmmm! We've done our best.

I was greatly tempted by the offer of a light in the cupboard above the bread oven ("I can resist anything except temptation"!), but that was an "extra" too far.

The rails are all in place for the ceilings to be plasterboarded out; just awaiting the first fix of the electrics (hence our discussions), and a "tweak" of the insulating wooden board around edge to keep the plasterboard from touching the still-damp hemp-lime...

M. Boyer had many things to jump up & down about this weekend: a non-listening carpenter, and impatient plasterer, Schwartz not doing what they should/not liaising; with my new policy of not worrying unless I have to, I let him get on with it.

Whilst desperately avoiding catching the eye of Laurent Mazij; he would set me off in fits of giggles. It's not funny when there needs to be raised voices, but M. Boyer is quite entertaining when he gets worked up!

The beam has been sanded in the entrance hall, and looks fab.

We are going to have the flue re-routed; it didn't follow the original drawings, and would be really quite obtrusive when we get around to using the grenier as a summer sitting room, so that's probably something else to wind up M. Roncari!

Can't wait to see the next set of changes.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it's a bit late for wishing you a 'happy new year', but I've been offline since my computer died before Christmas, so this is my first chance...

Happy rest of the year!

A very kind person installed Windows XP [no-one was still running Windows 2000, so they couldn't just copy & replace my corrupted file; I've been dragged (screaming & kicking?) into the 21st Century], and the first thing I installed was my photo software.

[NOT the useless Samsung package ("now copy the files and paste to a folder"; I think not), but the lovely Casio PhotoLoader that will upload anything, and Picasa, for really easy scrolling & finding.]

But then I loused it all up by installing my firewall/anti-virus...

I'd [inadvertantly, obviously!] set the thing to run permanently, so that slowed it down to a speed that would have shamed a snail! [Have you seen those little b***ers heading for your hostas?!]

Thanks, again, person-who-I-shall-not-name (non-work stuff may have been done on work time...)!