Inside, Antoine, Boris, Nicco and Michel have progressed well, putting in the windows and putting up some of the partition walls. A lot more work than I had imagined - they are perfectionists. I'll have to add a house photo with windows later - every time I wanted to take a photo the Manitou was in the way. In the choice of materials section I mentioned I had bought the windows from Vial - saving about 3000E without compromising on the Thermo-qualities. They arrived fine and look OK. One thing I hadn't expected was the frames for the sliding windows came in 'pieces' as opposed to a sealed frame. They went together perfectly - and the builders didn't complain. The other thing was that the sliding windows and opening ones have different framing and finish which is a bit thicker than I had hoped it would be. Hopefully it wont be too noticeable later.This week the plasterer, Pierro, also started. Antoine had arranged things so that upstairs the mezzanine and attic room are 'finished enough' for plastering meaning we can keep to schedule. You have to take your hat off to the professional plasterer. How they achieve such a smooth and even surface and rounded corners is impressive.
Outside I've been working hard too! The 2 reed beds for waste water treatment need to have some sort of solid edge to avoid collapse and onto which the pond liners could be attached. Total length of edges was 26m. The options were wood - like old sleepers or re-enforced concrete. In the end I decided to opt for the reinforced concrete - neater, more stable and cheaper but a lot more work. The concrete blocks (with a channel length-ways) are 20cm by 20 cm and 50 cm long (and weigh 23kg!). I managed to place them around the edge (about 10cm back off the edge) and wedge them to be as level as possible then bent the re-inforcing rebar into the channel. You can see the bags of ballast for the concrete. Each one holds 1m3 and weighs around 1.7 tons. It took one full bag and 5 bags of cement to fill the blocks around both ponds. And I did it all by hand in the wheel-barrow!
Because the area had previously been a field of reeds, there were still thousands of thick rhizome roots in the bottom of the ponds. These could have pierced the pond liners so Alexandre (Aquatiris) suggested put in a really tough anti-root barrier. It comes in rolls from 5cm wide to 2m wide 25m long. In the local garden centre it was about 250E for the roll and on the Internet - including delivery - half that price. In spite of liking to support local economy - with the amount I would need for the ponds and surrounding area I opted for the less expensive supplier. Once lined I evened out the base with sand.
Obtaining the correct chippings, sand and stones was no easy thing either. They have to be river-bed pebbles to avoid clogging. Fortunately a quarry on the Durance offers the right material - but only have mega-lorries for delivery! Finally I
ordered the material through my local builder's merchants who collected it directly from the quarry and delivered it to the side. It was about 18 tons of different materials.
Yesterday Alexandre came to help with the installation. Having chosen not to pay (the exorbitant price) for a company to do the work, I had to rely on the advice, guidance and physical help of Alexandre. The price I had paid for the 'kit' through Aquatiris included his assistance - fortunately! It was a long and physically demanding day but very satisfying. We worked until it was getting dark and pretty cold. Even with the help from Antoine in filling one of the ponds using the Manitou (Thanks Antoine!) we didn't manage to finish. The rest of the work I will be able to do over the next couple weeks with the assistance from the Manitou for filling.
Alexandre supplied me with loads of photos for ideas on how to finish off the ponds around the border. I don't think I feel particularly keen on people wandering around the first reed bed where the waste arrives 'raw'. But the second bed should be 'clean water' and more like an attractive pond with a range of aquatic plants so I'll make it a water feature with some sort of path to walk around it.
I found a suitable paving for the top to hold down the pond liner and tidy the edges in LeRoy Merlin. They are only 1.39E - which I find amazingly cheap. I'll need 60 (about 300kg) so a trailer job.
And I've bought a douzen shrubs/bushes to grow on the bank to hide the pond from the neighbours. They don't really need to be looking at my waste water treatment plant I guess!
Onto other things....
I've had a quote for the wood for the stair-case. (about 1000E plus tax). Mr Imbert gave me some pointers on how to design the steps to maintain exactly the same tread size around a corner. I have now given him the plan and he will be hopefully be working on it in the coming week. I've traced the steps on the wall and now can cut out the 4cm deep grooves to receive the steps. The outer wall will be built up to come under the outer edge of each step. I still haven't managed to find a supplier for the thin 40 or 50 cm long bricks for the rises and I will need to find a 4cm wide 'bit' for my router to cut the grooves into the cellular wall. (Finally I used a small angle grinder to cut the outer edges of the grooves, knocked out the middle piece and used a hole making drill bit (for bricks) to cut deeper and even out the back of the groove).
21st November
The galandage windows are going in! Just in time too - the weather has really changed with temperatures in the morning down to minus 3 - and the first snow has fallen.
I'll have to wait until things are a little tidier outside to get a photo of the closed terrace. But already we can feel the difference in temperature in the morning when we arrive on site.
26th November
I collected the wooden treads for my staircase on Friday and spend the day staining them to the colour I wanted, rubbing them down and varnishing them. They do look fantastic - the wood is so beautiful. I wanted to stain and seal them before fitting them to protect them. I had huge problems with trying to cut a groove under the front edge of each step to receive the 'rise' which will be in brick. The Router seemed to have a will of its own and progressively cut deeper as I went along. Then it broke! So today I fitted the treads in position - into the deep slots I had cut in the wall behind and to the side, resting on the front wall Michel was still in the process of building. Over the next couple days I will continue cutting the groove under the front of each step, adjust levels exactly, then fit in the thin brick 'rises'. The steps are 17.86cm high with a 26cm tread (2 x height + tread = 61.72 which is pretty close to the 'ideal' of 64).
Using Monsieur Imbert's advice on 'blancing' the steps around the corner rather than pivoting on one point has produced a more comfortable turn - and it is esthetically pleasing! Such a satisfaction to find that the steps actually do fit - and arrive at the right height/spot!
By next Monday this room will be ready for plastering - then we will be able to really see how the design works.
Boris and Nico sporting the latest in ear-fashion and Pierro preparing for next week's plastering marathon.
Last photo of the month - Ansouis, basking in the first of the winter morning sun (08:30 am and -7C)! You can just see the white of the frost on the bushes and vines. Everything seemed to be stripped of colours by the cold. Andwe are working in these temperatures!
No comments:
Post a Comment