Plasterboarding.

Where have you heard that before.

I seem to be spending all my waking hours plasterboarding at the moment. I've taken a few photos but the rooms I've finished - bedroom, bathroom, dining room and lounge area in one gite - but they are just grey boxes. Grey walls and grey concrete floors. Not much to see.

Apart from screwing into my finger a couple of times not very interesting at the moment.

 7:35:07 PM   Plasterboarding.   

Bonnie shopper

Such good progress has been made this week that Carolines has spent the last two days in the van shopping for supplies. Bits of pipe, wood, tiles, adhesive, etc. We used up all the plasterboard finishing the ceilings, so today she bought another 50 sheets for the exterior walls, with 40 more coming tomorrow to dry line the other gite. Plasterboard starts to get very heavy at the end of the day.

Caroline has laid the floor tiles for two of the bathrooms upstairs, my plumber friend is busy connecting up another bathroom and preparing for the first kitchen. In the process we did notice a minor problem with the electric water heater, chauffe-eau or ballon. It doesn't fit under the stairs in it's planned position. Everything is drawn to scale on the plan - and fits - but in 3D reality, things look different. Visualising 3D spaces from 2D plans, especially under the twisting, turning staircase is very difficult.
Our water heaters are about 150 litres in size and run on overnight cheap rate electricity, heures creuses, heating up the water for the day. I haven't bought it yet, but the planned ballon was too high, 1.8m, so we've had to make the downstairs toilet larger and put it in the corner. At least the toilet will stay warm.

 9:07:43 PM   Bonnie shopper   

Ceilings

With the deadline of the staircase arriving we have pulled our fingers out this week by finishing off the connections into the soil stack for the waste pipes upstairs and constructed three suspended ceilings; one of which has been plasterboarded and had the electrics installed for the lights. I'm very pleased with this weeks work.

The photo shows, quite literally, the suspended ceiling over the 3m by 3m open plan kitchen in the gite. The wooden joists, 200 by 32, running front to back support the metal rail system which the plasterboard is screwed to. The remainder of the downstairs is open plan with the full height of the ceiling exposing the old oak beams. You can just about see above the ceiling where I stopped cleaning the beams.

I getting the hang of loft hatches now I've finished the fifth one.

 10:11:56 PM   Ceilings   

Staircase ordered

The staircase man came this week to measure up for the two new staircases. Because of the very high ceilings in the gites we can't buy an off the shelf staircase. Each staircase is made to measure. Both have two quarter turns but each is the mirror image of each other because they are located in opposite corners.
The planned fitting date is the last two weeks in May. Great news, but we do need to lay the floor tiles before the staircase arrives. However before Caroline - I call her Bonnie Tyler when she starts to sing - lays the tiles I need to put up the internal walls. However before the walls go up the plumbing and electrics need to be installed behind the walls and the suspended ceilings need to be fitted.
Suddenly the screw is being tightened and the pressure is building. It wasn't meant to be like this. I came to France to relax, spend more 'quality time' with the family. Ah well, I guess the sooner they are finished the sonner I can get to the beach.

 7:25:41 PM   Staircase ordered   

Outside complete

The outside of the new gites is finally finished. The last month or so has been hard physical work, but rewarding. Our aim was to get the outside finished before the start of the season so we are only about a week late, but Easter was early this year. Is that a good enough excuse ?

The last lorry load of gravel was spread yesterday after Ian and I finished laying the new patios. Driving the vibrating wacking machine over the pavers was noisy but quite good fun.

For the gite on the left I've built a ramp - lined with, I think, rather stylish granite edging stones - up to the doorway to allow for wheelchair access. The downstairs of this gite has a downstairs bedroom and bathroom en-suite with planned disabled facilities; wet room style shower, wall bars for the toilet etc.

Carolines painted the railings at the front, made up some trays of pansies and started planting up the flower beds. Hopefully I've given her enough time to get the beds established for the Summer.

 6:57:11 PM   Outside complete