As my new home goes from vision to
reality, I will be continually adding events, musings and mutterings
to this page. Come back regulatly to see what has been going on....
| 14 Dec 2003 |
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| Electrical first fix finished. Almost all the first floor partitioning finished. Shuttering in place for the roof of the boiler room and orangery. Inside/Outside bath/shower nearly ready for glazing. Final revised plans for the master bedroom. |
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| 05 Dec 2003 |
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| The inside/outside shower/bath structure is in place - just need to wait for the cement ring support to go off. |
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| 05 Oct 2003 |
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| Back to work. The first floor is pretty much plaster-boarded out now and Ed and I are starting work on wiring. |
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| 01 Aug 2003 |
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| Well, I am camping in the house as there are guests in the farmhouse - It's very comfortable, despite my not having a working shower as yet. Hell, just means swimming in the morning and washing hair in the upstairs sink. Got a little temporary kitchen going downstairs, it's all working fine. |
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| 01 Jul 2003 |
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| Well, kicking back for the summer now - The temperatures are regularly in the high 30s and it is too damn hot to work... + there are simply too many parties to go to!!! |
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| 19 Jun 2003 |
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| Well, the first floor is nearly livable now...
Ed is pouring the dryish cement screed for the underfloor heating as we speak. I have finished the electrics and the plumbing, (only a couple of minor leaks...) so off to the Pyrenees in a day or so to collect the chestnut floor boards....
If any of you are considering building your own house - go for it - there is nothing too hard about it.... it just takes a lot of perserverance... (I hope I spelt that right!) |
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| 03 May 2003 |
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| We've well and truly got going on the stud partitioning now - and I was having some trouble trying to figure out what form to make the guest shower in - a book I was reading gave me inspiration, it kept mentioning a famous photograph of a shell... A SHELL indeed - well, that is now the form of the shower! |
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| 18 Apr 2003 |
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| Boy, it's hot today... The Hoopoos are here, (that's a real first sign of summer,) and I spotted a nuthatch nesting in one of my nesting boxes.
Incidentally, installed the cables for the surround sound too and we finished the insulation |
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| 17 Apr 2003 |
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| We finally finished installing the insulation - what an unpleasant job - I had looked for alternatives to fibre glass roll without success as the material had to be installed from below - Anyway, done now! |
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| 10 Apr 2003 |
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| I installed the first cable... and appropriately enough it was for a mirror ball! That bodes well for future parties... |
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| 06 Apr 2003 |
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| A momentous day - We started to install the insulation - that is a big step - from exterior works to interior works... |
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| 04 Apr 2003 |
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| Party time...
Had a party in the garden to celebrate my birthday, Janette's birthday and Jonathan's birthday - excellent... |
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| 18 Mar 2003 |
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| Ed's finished building the base of the outside shower bath, now we just need the steel super-structure to pour the linking supports - However, surprise, surprise - the sections are going to take three weeks to come in! |
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| 27 Feb 2003 |
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| No sign of Jose, so we are continuing work on the outside bedroom/orangerie/boiler room. |
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| 15 Feb 2003 |
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| I listened to the girls - Janette and Fiorella - they said that the bedroom was too small! So I have moved the shower and bath outside! - I've got some nice bits of toughened glass knocking about, so these will form the upper walls and roof, and the base will be green slate. Ultimately this is going to look a bit like a greenhouse for washing in! |
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| 06 Feb 2003 |
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| Well, missed the winter... Spent it in Arizona demonstrating against the war!
Back to the house and not a lot has happened in my absense, but that is not too surprising - a few more windows in... |
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| 15 Dec 2002 |
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| A hard weekend's work - Jose and I built the flat roof for the terrace over the bedroom and waterproofed it - worked both nights literally until the stars came out. Lovely days, working in a T shirt. |
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| 10 Dec 2002 |
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| Robert fitted the first of the double glazed units into the North facade on yet another lovely sunny day - the windows look wonderful and the weather is getting warmer. |
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| 09 Dec 2002 |
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| A lovely sunny day and just as the sun was setting a great big lorry turned up with the double glazing for the North facade!
We unloaded into the driveway and then had to get my ever helpful neighbour, Janneau, to come and tow the truck out of the mud! |
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| 08 Dec 2002 |
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| An end to the rain hopefully - it is cold and clear and my thoughts turn to my trip to Mexico in January, but first, off to buy the boarding which will allow me to put up the guttering and hence reduce the amount of water entering into the house through the unroofed bedroom area. |
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| 29 Nov 2002 |
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| It starts to rain and rain - Pierre Doucet's excavations quickly become a quagmire and I have to lay pallets between the barn and the house to cross between them. |
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| 28 Nov 2002 |
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| Pierre Doucet comes with his digger and digs out trenches - scoops out the land in front of the house for the terrace, removes the old roof from the boiler house area and comes up with the brilliant idea of creating a large water garden in front of the house instead of simply using the fountain as planned. |
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| 23 Nov 2002 |
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| Poor delightful Muzeltov dies as a result of eating a poisoned mouse which must have come from a farm nearby - these poisons are truly horrific, by the time I knew that she was ill, nothing could be done - Piranesi is at a loss - his playmate has gone... |
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| 22 Nov 2002 |
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| I spend a day using a mini digger back filling the trenches with gravel to allow a good drainage ring around the barn. |
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| 21 Nov 2002 |
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| Tim and I put in the new drainage pipes and redo the drainage system at the back of the original house. |
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| 20 Nov 2002 |
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| Pierre Doucet comes with his digger and digs out trenches. |
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| 18 Nov 2002 |
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| Robert installs more frames and we install the timbers for the roof of the bedroom. I decide that I have made inadequate drainage provision for the roof and decide to put in drains at both ends. |
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| 16 Nov 2002 |
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| I throw a big bonfire party with fireworks and sausages - it's cold and misty and everyone tells me that the fireworks looked magical in the mist - I was too busy rushing around |
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| 16 Nov 2002 |
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| Big Guy Fawkes party in the garden - bonfire, fireworks, sausages, the lot - fireworks looked great in the fog! |
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| 12 Nov 2002 |
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| Tim arrives and starts to help linseed oiling the first floor timbers - none of these timbers have been treated with any preservatives or insecticides, so the linseed is essential. |
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| 10 Nov 2002 |
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| I measure out and cut the opposing openings for the roof timbers for the bedroom and fit the first of the La Peyre oak windows. |
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| 07 Nov 2002 |
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| Robert Adler installs the first window frames and they look wonderful, the glazed areas of the house are going to be truly magnificent. |
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| Oct 2002 |
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| Outer shell complete except for terrace roof over the bedroom and work on the boiler house. I create the openings for the timbers for the roof of the bedroom and install the heavy duty joist hangers for the first floor joists. With the aid of the electric winch, we cut and install the first floor timbers. |
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| Sep 2002 |
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| Started anew on the house and Ant carried on working on the walls and the roof. |
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| Aug 2002 |
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| Off to Disneyland and to Paris with my nieces and then I had all three of them to the house for the summer - wonderful. Mischke picked up a lovely kitten, we took it home and called it 'Muzeltov' - She and Piranesi hit it off immediately. |
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| Jul 2002 |
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| Continuation of the roofing and skylight building along with finishing off the brickwork. |
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| Jun 2002 |
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| The new under tiles are already on site and I rent a wonderful device for getting them onto the roof - essentially an extending ladder with a motor at the bottom and a hod that slides up and down the runners. With the aid of that, Any, Catherine and I get all the tiles up onto the roof in two days. Roofing commences. |
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| May 2002 |
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| Construction continues and Catherine and I pour the stairs. Having found a local farmer who has stripped his roof of it's old tiles, we borrow his tractor and trailer and collect them all from him - It looks as though there are just about enough. |
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| Apr 2002 |
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| Lindy and Bryan are staying and from my friends Anthony and Camilla I get my dog 'Piranesi' - he is half golden labrador and half bearded collie and very tiny and cute. Construction carries on unabated. We install the fireplace ladder frame. |
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| Mar 2002 |
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| Wall construction continues, as I get steels from local supplier - Jean Flajoula helps to install the steel using his tractor. Skiing with Michael and Yanick at Chamonix - excellent, then Bea's wedding in London - a fun month. I order cut steels for internal first floor supports and hope on a wing and a prayer that I have got all the measurements and calculations correct. I pick them up a week later with the trailer and Neal and I spend a long and hard day installing them using a supermarket palette lifter - they fit perfectly!!! A proud and happy moment. Roof boarding completed. Ground floor brickwork completed. |
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| Feb 2002 |
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| We lay the first brick, and work on boarding out the roof. Robert Adler comes to discuss the huge windows - we obviously have similar ideas on what is to be done. |
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| Jan 2002 |
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| Neal and I extend the roof timbers using a Manitou, a powerful drill, some long steel bolts, and plenty of balance!!! |
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| Dec 2001 |
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| A bitterly cold winter, the coldest for 20 years. Temperatures drop to -15°C. The pool is a big solid lump of ice. |
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| 11 Dec 2001 |
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| Laid floor slab having finished putting in services and movement joints... A hard day's work, but reassuringly flat at the end of it all. |
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| 08 Dec 2001 |
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| Reinforce coffer around slab after Mac, (the oracle) suggests that what we have built will probably not hold back the weight of cement to be poured - visions of several tons of cement flowing down the hill towards the swimming pool increase our diligence! |
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| Nov 2001 |
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| Using digger, create gravel base to house, formed as carefully as possible in order to minimise the amount of concrete needed for the final slab, then set in movement joints every 3 metres on cement piers - these need to be very solid and very flat, as they will form the finishing line for the slab. |
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| Oct 2001 |
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| Start working with a vengeance on installing underground services to the house - have to plan exactly where walls will be etc, to ensure that trunking and pipes all exit in the correct places. |
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| Sep 2001 |
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| Level the ground in the barn as much as possible and dig out foundations - not easy as there is a lot of rock. |
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| Aug 2001 |
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| The elephants arrive from India and the temperature makes them feel at home - 42°C! |
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| Jul 2001 |
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| Pool plumbed in and ready for the summer. Salt water so no chlorine. |
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| Jun 2001 |
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| I move all my stuff into the nearly completed office. |
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| Mar 2001 |
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| Oakwrights come and assemble the office structure. (see the movie) |
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| Oct 2000 |
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| Working with Pierre Doucet, Guy and I lay all new services and septic tank throughout the property, it looks like the Somme Ð and after working up to our necks in mud, it feels like it too Ð but the end result is that all rain water will recycle into the well and that all services are deeply buried. |
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