A Good Year!

I can’t remember if I’ve already told you that Steve managed to break his plane? Apparently it was quite old, having previously belonged to his dad, and had probably never been used quite as vigorously! He did attempt to fix it but the bearings were completely shot so unfortunately it had to be retired and replaced. We spent a bit of time weighing up whether it would make sense to buy a battery operated replacement or a low wattage electric one that, hopefully, our little generator could run. After a trip to Brico Depot, we discovered that the battery operated one plus battery was going to cost well over a hundred euros but we could get an electric one for as cheap as 20 euros – the only issue with this was whether or not our generator was going to be man enough. We then had a look at the generators in-store and there was one for 236 euros – which could run all Steve’s power tools. So decision made, we would buy the cheap electric one and if the generator couldn’t cope we would buy him a big brother! Of course our next purchase was the bigger generator!! We spent some time discussing how we would get it from the store to the property: home delivery – exorbitant cost; hire a car for a day (my favoured option) – not particularly cheap; bus – cheap, but would they allow a generator on the bus? And then Steve’s brainwave idea – he would cycle with his trailer! Brico Depot is about 15 kilometres away and Steve’s bike has a range of about 30 kilometres so it would be touch and go – especially coming back with a heavy trailer. So we got the bike trailer back to the boat and waited for a “not too windy day”! As it was, in the end, he didn’t cycle for it – he decided that he would go for the bus option on his own (that would save me the embarrassment of being refused entry onto the bus, if that should happen!) He got up and caught the 7.30 bus, made his purchase and was on his way back to the bus-stop before I’d even got out of bed!! Having seen people transport large suitcases on the buses before we thought there wouldn’t really be a problem and they tend to have externally accessed storage areas on these modern buses don’t they? Well, not the one Steve caught! The very nice driver allowed him to get on in the middle of bus and even jumped down from his seat to scoop up Steve’s other bag! He arrived back at the boat at 10.30 – thank goodness I had got up by then!! Phase two of the plan was the next day. He loaded the generator into his bike trailer (a perfect fit, like it had been made for it!) and we trundled to the property via the petrol station, he wanted to fill it first rather than have to make a separate journey with his fuel cans. I found it relatively easy to keep with him this time, perhaps I should always insist that he pulls a heavy load!!

Not content with only purchasing the generator, Steve also bought the first construction materials of our build so far – a tub of nails (build cost to date – 30 euros) – they have been useful to mimic the original construction of the windows but he definitely prefers making and using wooden pegs! He also bought us our Boite Aux Lettres (post box) and has fitted it on the tree stump near the shed door – it may not stay there permanently but it is a good place for now! I transported that on the back of my bike and we were passed by a cycle club group, who, I think, may have slightly taken the mickey out of me – I’m sure I heard the word ‘courier’ (mail) as they hurtled past!

Now that Steve had made the replacement window frame, we thought we should go ahead and fit it. We made sure that the surrounding cob and stones were sound and mixed up a batch of ‘almost’ cob. (We don’t have any straw yet!) We used a board and Steve used a shovel to mix it, wetted down the existing surfaces and Steve started smothering them with ‘cob’. We then placed the window in and he did some fancy finishing – I think it looks brilliant and just like the original – well, apart from there’s no woodworm, metal braces or chicken wire!

As Steve has taken a bit of time off from his roof, I have managed to negotiate a few jobs out of him that will assist me as I am preparing for cob!! I have been doing crack investigations, crack enlargements and poking odd bits of stick into odd holes and removing what I find! When we first bought the property I was scared of even touching the walls because I was afraid they would fall down. Now, after having removed several square metres of the stuff I know just how strong it can be so I no longer fear it! At the end of the garage there is a small storeroom which we were going to block off and knock through into what will become our kitchen. However, as we now think the kitchen will be big enough without it, we have decided that it will make a good bicycle shed, so instead of just removing the old frame and cobbing, I got Steve to make a replacement frame – now he just has to make a door! I have asked him not to over-engineer this one as I have to be able to open it!

Large Crack Ready For Filling

Even More Cracks Ready For Filling

New Shed Door Frame (And New Post Box!)

Steve has now also made the frame for the window in the new extension. He has done this in the same style as the original window and we have placed it (with some oddly positioned props) in position as, bizarrely, Brico Depot do not sell ‘sky hooks’! These odd pieces of timber are likely to remain in position and be built into the wall – similar construction to the small window. We managed one of our ‘laugh out loud’ moments, when Steve realised that the window would be at a perfect height to frighten the neighbours with his tendency to walk around without a stitch on!!

As he seemed to be in the mood for window frames I thought I would get him to make the replacement timbers for the small window on the wood side. We do like looking through this window from the road as you look into the darkness and this then gives the impression that it is not actually a window rather a cinema screen – although the picture doesn’t change much and is much more akin to the BBC test-card (albeit a pretty one). If you don’t know what that is, better ask your parents, or maybe even your grandparents!! I got the job of removing the old frame so that Steve could copy it. Apparently it must have just been a bit of wood the original builders had lying about as it looks very much like it started life as a child’s yoke with beautiful round ends! Steve did a really good job of replicating it and spent the best part of two days on it – he did say that if he had just used square (well, squarish) wood he could have done it in about ten minutes! Again he got to have his twig inserts (two this time as that is what had been there originally)!

Where’s My Sky Hooks?

As Good As New

I have also spent some time gardening! Well, not really gardening in the true sense but we decided to clear the bushes at the end of the garage to reveal the stonework from the roadside, as it is probably the prettiest part of the building! This also involved some tree-surgery so Steve accommodated. However, our gardening styles differ greatly – I thought we would remove some of the bushes and tidy up the remainder whereas Steve said “no, let’s really clear it out”. We managed to remove the tree branches without affecting the telephone line they were resting on (well, we think we did!) I removed the old compost bin, the roots of the bushes and shovelled load after load of leaf mulch – it looks so much better!

We decided that it was also time to straighten up the doorway between the extension and the two-storey building. This was also one of my jobs (hold on a minute, reading through this it seems like Steve has piddled about with a few bits of wood and I’ve been working my backside off, yes, I know that does make a change!) I used the cement block saw – big, gnarly teeth and about three foot long! Steve did suggest that perhaps he should have bought me a left-handed saw, along with the left-handed screwdriver he’d promised me but had to admit that you can actually only get them in the same shop as the sky hooks he couldn’t find. It is amazing how much bigger the doorway now looks, considering I only really took out another 10 inches at the base, and it looks pretty straight – which it can’t really be as I can’t cut anything straight!

I spent a good couple of hours brushing off the old wooden beams that had been set either side of the fireplace – we think they may have been part of the set up for cooking. We have decided to put them back in place in our attempt to retain as much originality as possible. This took a little bit of manoeuvring but with the aid of the step ladder and our new and improved muscles it didn’t take too long at all. Making them level has now shown us how un-level the property is and Steve will definitely have to make our bed unless we take the lee-cloths from the boat to stop us rolling out!

Finally, A Straight Line!!

Old Beams Back In Place

It has been a year now since our offer was accepted, things certainly look different (including us – we’ve both lost a bit of weight, I could afford to, but Steve is starting to look a little scrawny – a 6′ 5″ stick insect and not the brawny beef-cake I married!!). That is not unsurprising as we often work for about six hours a day including the trek there and back. Having re-watched one of my favourite programmes (for the umpteenth time – Somewhere At Sea with Timothy and Shane Spall, we noticed the Land’s End to John O’Groats sign. Thinking that we have cycled a little bit over the last year, we wondered how we compared. Apparently the recognised cycle route is 1407 kilometres. So since last September we have cycled the equivalent of Land’s End to John O’Groats and back again – no wonder my shorts are falling down! And I can finally get out all those clothes I had hidden away with the hopes that one day I would get back into them – the funniest thing was one sweatshirt that had been too small is now too big!!!

Timber Frame Traditional French Carpentry

He Hates Wood! (But, It Don’t ‘Arf Look Good!)

Steve had spent a fair amount of time over the winter researching how to make the roof, even having borrowed a book from Mac – well the time had now come. We have learnt a whole new vocabulary without really knowing what all the words mean! To me they are usually all just bits of wood, occasionally beams and even more infrequently rafters and trusses!! The majority of the work was Steve’s alone although there were times when he had to summon assistance – not that I was much use!

As usual Steve had over-engineered things. We started with common rafters which were 3.5 metres long and at least 8” x 4” (yes he is still chopping and changing between metric and imperial measurements!) Luckily cherry is not as heavy as oak and we also had some interim support arrangements from the existing frame. During this creation of rafters we discovered that the roof angle is not quite as we thought it was so this did require a bit of head-scratching with angles and alignment with the existing buildings and, guess what, nothing in this property is square! However, we have managed to overcome!

We wanted to stay true to the original nature of the main building – so that meant using half trunks and pegged joints. Steve made his first two pairs of common rafters and with some assistance from me (even up a ladder at times!?!) they were placed into position and once we were happy (well, happyish) with the angles, he pegged them. He had one more common rafter to fit and then he had to create the ridge for the bit of the roof above the doors – no idea what that bit is called! All his homework has obviously paid off as his cutout in the ridge slotted perfectly over the angled oak frame above the door – fitted like a glove!! Then he proceeded to do a half joint to the single common rafter. Next came the valley rafters. There was certainly a lot of head-scratching with this: compound angles, round wood, square holes and, of course, his valley rafters were also different diameters. After creating the first one Steve decided that he was going to do a mirror image for the second – I had no faith at all that this would work! He told me to press the ‘I believe’ button and surprise, surprise, Golden Bollocks was right! So with the two valley rafters fitted we could then proceed to fit the horizontal bits which join all the rafters together. This is when Steve had to actually do a bit of planking as we needed a combination of 4” x 2.5” thick and 4” x 3” to match the existing building and one of them was about 6” x 3”. So, in between whittling pegs, cutting timbers, drilling holes in mid-air, the final pieces of the frame went together. At this point we did have an inspection by the locals where they commented on the style being “old-school”. So, now we await planks to finish the timber prior to fitting the tiles.

First Pair Of Rafters In Position

Braced And Pegged

This Makes Two

Second Ridge

Front On

Valley Rafters In Place

How Many Angles?

A Lightweight Frame?

From The Road

From The Wood

Yet More Wood

Temporary Roof Covering

Well, that is the majority of Steve’s work over the last month – we are pretty pleased with how it looks!!

As if Steve hasn’t been doing enough woodwork, we thought we might as well deal with the rotten wooden frame in the main building. Having removed it in one piece, Steve was charged (by me) not to over-engineer the replacement but to ensure it was the same size and made in the same manner – surely having a template would help with this!! So with his trusty chainsaw he went off down to the paddock to find some oak and he could actually carry back all four pieces of the frame in the wheelbarrow! Two days later and the dry fit of the window met with success. I can confirm that it is heavy – it has left quite a divot in my head! We had a bit of a debate about the stick of oak in the middle as some properties we have seen had squared (as ours was) but some are stick-like and that is what Steve wanted so that is what we’ve got!

Is It A Flat-Pack?

New And Old

As there have been a few rain showers which interfered with my wall-fixing I turned to an indoor job – removing the interior walls of the main building. I am getting quite good at swinging a sledgehammer now, although my body (especially my left elbow and hand) protested!

As I forgot to add them last update, here are some photos of our straw being combined!!!

Hooray, Here’s The Combine

It Will Soon Be Mine!

And on a final note, an update on Steve’s grasp of the French language! Our neighbour across the road very kindly cut the verge outside of our property for us one day. We didn’t notice immediately so the next time we saw him we wanted to thank him. Steve asked me what the French for verge was and I didn’t know, so in true Inspector Clouseau fashion, he decided to say, “Merci, pour le verge”, (focusing a French accent on the word verge) which we translated as “Thank you for the verge”. Our neighbour was a fair distance away as Steve said it but seemed to understand and said “You’re welcome”. But, me being me and with a slight niggle in my brain, I had to check out the translation. Deciding to put ‘le verge’ into Google Translate from French to English, imagine my surprise that it actually means ‘penis’!!!! What on earth must our neighbour have thought if, in fact, he actually heard Steve!!! (Doing it the other way – English to French you get ‘le bord’!!)

Cob Building French Renovation Stone Sustainable House Building

Restoration Is Better Than Creation

It has been another busy month! I have finally decided that I do enjoy stonework. With the ex-front door/new window plinth completed, we decided that I should start to rebuild the stones at the base of the cob walls. First came the preparation: There had been some concrete repairs done at some point in the past so that had to come off/out and whilst doing this I discovered that the stump that had been growing through the building (which Steve had cut flush) was now a bit more accessible and hoped that Steve could remove it! As expected he came to my rescue and it has now gone!! I then had all the loose stones and cob to remove (along with any remaining weeds and roots) followed by investigation work into the largish holes in the walls – I only found a couple of old nests! Next I needed an assortment of stones, which I created into one of my famous piles, to allow me to get going. Of course, I wasn’t happy with just one pile of stones so I ended up with at least two out the front with me with trips round the back to the large stone pile to break up the monotony! As Steve was busy frame-making (separate update to follow shortly on that!) I was able to do things my way!! He only had to lift one large stone into place for me and I could use the existing stones as my guide. Suddenly I discovered that I could, in fact, do this job quite well and it was easy enough to leave when I got the inevitable “Tree, can you give me a hand please”! The main building took a week and I am extremely pleased with the result!

Then onto what was, in my mind, a major job – the ‘garage’ building. This building had, in the past, been completely hidden by trees and bushes with a telegraph pole sited close to the building and we had been a little concerned how this would affect our repairs – but after clearing the area we discovered that it wasn’t going to cause an issue at all. By now we had used the majority of our largest stones and were wondering how we would fill the void. Steve decided to take a walk down the lane and came across a very large stone which he thought he could relocate (thus removing a hazard on the cycle route). He also found another couple of large stones in the paddock and then, whilst cycling we spotted a beautiful stone in the middle of a field. We both commented on what a perfect stone it was but felt that we couldn’t just go into the field and help ourselves – so with heavy heart we left it! Then one day, the field was ploughed and miraculously the stone had been moved from the middle to the very edge of the field – they obviously didn’t want it and we were only too eager to give it a good home – so Steve loaded it onto my bike rack and I wobbled my way the couple of miles to the property! One morning whilst working on the wall a chap went past in his van with a sheep in his trailer and he waved a cheery ‘bonjour’. About twenty minutes later he appeared from the opposite direction and glided to a halt. He jumped out of his van, greeted Steve and shook his hand and proceeded to explain that he had something in his van for us. I was a bit dubious, thinking it might entail some part of an animal (especially as anything lamb-related is banned from the boat!) but he went round to the passenger door and hefted a large stone from the passenger seat! He thought we might want it and said that if he came across any more he would leave them at the property. What a lovely man!! He said he liked what we were doing and we have taken his donation as a real endorsement that we are doing something worthwhile! The stone now has pride of place in-between the two telegraph poles and it fitted perfectly next to the field-rescue.

In France there doesn’t appear to be anything like a building inspector although that doesn’t mean we haven’t been subject to periodic inspections. The local community, whilst promenading, do tend to stop quite frequently and inspect what we have been doing. So far, all comments have been favourable (although our understanding of French may mean that we have only chosen to understand the favourable!!) but they do appear to be impressed with our progress and style and slightly concerned about our lack of electricity but pleased that we are using the traditional techniques.

The wall has now been completed and I am a little sad that I have no real stonework left to do! We are now ready to start cobbing – just waiting on the straw, which has been cut but not yet baled!!