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Monthly Archives: February 2012
Upper Floor – Support Work – Stage 1 – February 2008
The delivery of all the beams, blocks and steel for the upper floor support was unloaded into the courtyard in early 2008. In France, this type of floor — poured ready-mix concrete on top of a beam and block support … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, HOUSE & GARDEN, House Renovation
Tagged hourdis, reinforced concrete, RSJ
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Passageway Arch—Gardenside
We continued working along the back (north-facing) side of the property, building the walls back up to first floor level, so that we could set the “poutrelles” in position to prepare the first floor for the concrete slab. The passageway … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, HOUSE & GARDEN, House Renovation
Tagged cut stone, formwork, stone arch
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The Courtyard Wall—Stage 6—Finished at last!
Not a lot left to say—the poor old climbing rose on the right of the image has survived all the abuse that came with being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It has wonderful deep blood-red blooms in … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, HOUSE & GARDEN, House Renovation
Tagged Courtyard wall, Dry Stone Walling, stone arch
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Old Broken Roof Tiles make great Garden Pathways
Two weeks of subzero weather has finally given way to warmer sunnier weather. Back to clearing some of the mess at the back of the house, including piles of leftover old broken roof tiles. We’d already decided to use them … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, HOUSE & GARDEN, Tools & Materials
Tagged broken roof tiles, garden paths, old tiles, raised beds, terro cotta pathways, tile paths
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The Courtyard Wall—Stage 5
Once I had all the arch stones mortared in place, I ran an oak timber on the inside behind the arch to finish spanning the opening. Further dry stone was then added in courses as usual. I wanted two or … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, HOUSE & GARDEN, House Renovation
Tagged Dry Stone Walling, stone arch
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The Courtyard Wall—Stage 4—The Arch
The arch stones comprised 16 cut stones, 3 large stones with cut rebates to one side, 4 large stones to the other side ( the ‘second’ stone was actually 2 stones) and then the curved upper section forming the arch … Continue reading
Stone Cladding then Demolition — October 2007
Once we’d got the gîte blockwork up to door lintel height we started the stone cladding on the exterior, using the standard lime mortar.The pale whitish coloured faced stones are new—bought from one of the local stone merchants, sized, cut … Continue reading
The Courtyard Wall—Stage 3—2010
MAKING THE FORMWORK FOR THE ARCH At odd times over the year, I continued building up the main wall until the time came to sort out the other side of the Archway in order to put the arch stones in … Continue reading
Rebuilding the Gîte—First Steps—2007
Once all the drainage pipework was in place and buried in the gravel, we had a delivery of ready-mix and poured the reinforced concrete slab. Then scaffolded up the walls to remove much of the unstable stone to make working … Continue reading
And The Walls Came Tumbling Down!
Stonefall—happened one evening, June 2007; no-one below luckily. This section was due for demolition—just hadn’t got round to it. Guess I got away with this one with just a bit of scrappy boarding getting smashed and buried by the rubble. … Continue reading
