Build Update

It's a while since I did a build update and things are moving pretty fast so here goes:

Downstairs
We've finished installing the ceilings downstairs and they've been plastered.

The problem with old stone buildings is that they were built in a time when people had different expectations about what constituted comfortable living. Of course, most of our building wasn't built to be lived in at all and although stone walls are great at keeping things cool in the summer they are truly terrible at keeping heat in for the other six (or in the case of 2012) ten months of the year. The modern approach is to line the walls with glass fibre insulation and plasterboard (good for mice and it stops the walls breathing), a modern approach using traditional materials is to apply a coating of lime, sand and hemp (or linseed) straw (no room for mice and fully breathable). The issue of breathing is important as old stone walls are invariably damp and need a way to transfer the moisture out of the wall fabric.

So, after we'd finished the ceilings, Lloyd Davey of Eco Renovations ( http://www.ecorenovationsbretagne.com/)  came in  and, using a high pressure application system, applied an 8 cm layer of lime render and hemp to the downstairs walls.

Lloyd puts the chopped hemp straw into the compressor

Lewis (Lloyd's son) applying the first layer of hemp

North wall partly completed

Hemp insulation completed around one of our windows

We first met Lloyd two years ago when he ran a weekend course in natural building methods and the information we gained then has helped us make some of the difficult "modern or traditional" decisions in our build. The walls take three weeks to dry and so we moved upstairs to frame out the roof space ready for the insulation and upstairs ceiling construction.

Gérard, who built our new roof, had constructed a straight and level roof on the old A frames. We then built a wooden framework underneath the roof and used it to support two layers of glass fibre insulation. This was another modern or "eco" materials decision - an eco approach would have been to construct sealed boxes in the roof space and blow in re-cycled cellulose fibres to provide the insulation barrier. Unfortunately in this case, as in the heating and some other choices we've been faced, eco solutions are still far more expensive than more current technologies - by a factor of 2 in this case.

The wooden roof frame receives the first layer of insulation

Velux window showing framing and final insulation layer

The "cathedral" style roof - 3m80 at the highest point (that's 12ft 9in in old money)

After the insulation is finished the next stage is to board out using large plasterboard panels. The rooms finally start to take shape at this point:

Mini lucarne overlooking the open barn

The ceiling of the double height mezzanine bay boarded and prepared for plastering

The ceiling above the main barn window

We knew the barn was big when we bought it and I've written before about the huge volumes of material we seem to be consuming but this latest part of the project has reminded me of what a huge job we have taken on. We've installed a whole trailer load of insulation in the floor, the insulation and wood for the roof took another lorry to deliver it from the builders' merchants and we've now used 80 plasterboard sheets in the ceilings, each one 8ft by 4ft and weighing 15kg. 

Tomorrow we start plastering again upstairs .....

100 Not Out

This is the hundredth post since I started this blog 23 months ago.

In those two years I've worn a tie (my normal daytime attire before  moving here) only twice - here's one of them:

Thanks to all those who've read the blog (including the web trawlers from Russia who seem to be particularly interested in what I write) and those who've commented on what I've written and encouraged me.

Better get started on the next 100 posts ......

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Sometimes I think we've been working on this project too long .... 

"Do they celebrate Bonfire Night in France?"

"Er, well Adam, why do you think the French would celebrate the failure of a Catholic plot to kill the King of England that was supported by the king of France ?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nevertheless November the fifth is memorable for us as it's the day that Smudge, our eldest cat, came to live with us in 1998.

Smudge in a typically "relaxed" mood

Smudge had turned up at Barbara's school two weeks' beforehand and had been hanging around evidently hungry. None of the children knew whose cat it was and, with a big public fireworks display due at the school, Barbara decided to bring her home.

Our vet thought she was about 18 months old at the time (although she could have been older) so she's at least fifteen and a half now. Like many more mature people she spends much of her time dozing in the sun, snoozing on her favourite chair or lounging in front of the fire. Smudge has always liked her food although nowadays her teeth give her some trouble so she prefers her food mixed with warm water - more soup than crunchy cat food! Memorably, we watched once as she taught our other cat Jess to catch mice.

When Smudge came to France she seemed to find a new lease of life as well as a whole new set of places she could snooze in the sun. Although she's not very active in mouse hunting these days she still contributes the odd kill (we know they are Smudge's as they haven't been eaten ...... ).

If I was an Author ....

Peter Mayle came to France to write a novel - he finally managed to publish his novel Hotel Pastis four years after being distracted by the challenges of living in France and writing A Year in Provence. Michael Wright came to the Limousin in France to keep sheep and ended up writing C'est La Folie see http://www.lafolie.co.uk/ for more information.

I'm didn't come to France to write a book and I'm not planning to write one - but if I did it would probably be called "Plaster - just why Britain and France are so /different".

I've written before in this blog about the differences between French and British plaster and how this seems to be a metaphor for some of the wider cultural differences between the two countries. We've been plastering again but this time using imported British plaster. Getting the contrast between the areas in the building that are new and sharp with the rougher finish of the existing original walls is a challenge. I'm sure that Kevin McCloud  would have a view on this but what we've decided to do is make the new bits smooth and modern and the older original parts of the building will have a more natural look. Going to one extreme or the other would be wrong (risking on one hand a faux vintage look or a modern interior that looks like it's been transplanted into a 250 year old building) so we're walking the tightrope of compromise.

Hence, after doing the old lean-to in French plaster we rumbled back from the UK in August with three quarters of a tonne of British boardfinish plaster on the trailer. This was to plaster the two end walls and the ceilings downstairs so, nearly two years after fitting the ceilings in the house we were back on the board lifter to install the barn ceilings. The boardlifter had also come back on the trailer from the UK and was a special 4.5m high lift version to (hopefully) allow us to install the high ceilings upstairs. Even Gérard, our roofer and increasingly our general building advisor, was impressed when I told him what we'd paid for it.

Barbara, Board lifter and Adam

The ceilings went up pretty well considering the large area we were covering and so to the plastering. Using British plaster requires organisation and timing and so naturally Barbara was in charge of the organisation and prepared her work area carefully:

 Fortunately Adam is pretty good at plastering and manages to cover about three times the area I can and so we managed to complete all the work in just over five (pretty intense) days.

Adam "Laying On" above the fireplace

End wall with first plaster coat applied

Finishing the doorway to the house

Before and after plastering around a beam

The kitchen plastered !

British and French plaster are different, neither one is "better" as they produce (at least in our hands) different finishes. The pink British stuff is smooth and flat, the French white version ends up a bit more rustic (ie: rough). But - the British version is less than half the cost of the French one and, because it goes on much thinner, probably costs about a quarter the price per metre squared.

Not for the first time I find that we are importing things that are available locally but, even allowing for the extra cost of running a trailer back to the UK, are much cheaper than buying the French version. As we want sharp, flat areas in places we can justify this on decorative grounds as well as cost ones but I find myself worrying either:

a) we haven't spent enough time sourcing local materials to find the correct suppliers (but actually I think we have)
b) there's a serious problem of uncompetitiveness in France that will surely cause the economy to stagger even more in the future.

Meanwhile the barn looks good and the word processor remains waiting .....