Barn Floor Construction

The barn floor - having been excavated down to its base level - has now had the first and second stages of the new floor added. The sub-floor is called a herisson in French; confusingly this also translates as hedgehog. The herisson at La Basse Cour comprises a layer of 14-20mm stones which have been washed to remove any sand or clay. The purpose of the herisson is to ensure that the floor underneath the concrete block is ventilated and moisture has a way to be routed away. To ensure that the moisture gets away a drain system was put into the floor comprising a network of perforated pipes, these are the yellow pipes in the pictures.

Herisson drain pipes in the living room area

Fionula - the other partner in Team Furniss - and Adam start adding the herisson stones

All the exit pipes in the barn go out through the same corner ...

Kevin loads the herissonage into the lean-to

Lucky we took the roof off the lean-to :o)

Dropping the herissonage into the lean-to

The lean-to partly finished

The herisson stone fully laid in the barn and compacted down

The next stage is to lay a protective matting layer over the stones and put down a DPM (Damp Proof Membrane) sheet on top of that ready to receive the concrete.

The Geotextile protection layer is installed

Unrolling the DPM in the main barn floor area

DPM down in lean-to

And in the main barn

Tomorrow 14 cubic metres of flooring cement will be poured into the barn floor, there will be two deliveries. Wish us luck!!