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Showing posts from June, 2020

Pool deck framing completed

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A few last joists to finish off the framing of the deck structure. Just waiting for the deck boards to be delivered, scheduled for July 6/7th, hopefully so we can fit them before the family arrive for their vacation. Since these pictures, I have also wired the deck ready for built-in lights. We'll have 9cm LED's around the 3 sides of the deck and then small 3cm LED's on the step from the pool tile level to the deck level, about 13cm. 

Pool deck framing nearly completed

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Another blistering hot day in France today but we managed to complete the deck sub-structure except for the 4m end beams. Putting the last weed mesh down and covering with hardcore was a delight in 36°C temperatures!  The deck boards are scheduled for delivery early next week but I'm going to look at installing lights around the deck so it can be used in the later evening. There is a power line at the end of the pool where we removed the block wall so it should be quite straight forward to extend the line around the edge of the pool to the deck.

The frogs are not happy at being evicted from the pool!

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The five senior frogs left on the pool cover gathered today for a union meeting. Not long before this photo (I scared them away) they were all in a circle looking at each other like they were sitting around a conference room table discussing something important 🤣

Pool deck framing

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We've started today building the deck sub-structure, apart from the beam bolted to the pool which I included in the previous post. The first job was to put the two joists on the right here into the U supports. Thanks to meticulous calculations and a lot of luck they both fitted perfectly. Each one must weigh 80kg and at 8m in length they are tough to manoeuvre.  We then drilled holes through the beams and secured them to the U supports with 100x10mm bolts. Before we started on the cross-beams, we needed to put in the weed barrier under the deck. The brown material is weed mesh together with the grey hardcore on top will prevent anything from growing underneath. A healthy spray of Roundup will ensure that!  We left the right half to tomorrow as it was 36°C today and moving hardcore by wheelbarrow is no joke. Next we started putting in the cross beams. Each meter is a 200x70mm joist and then 150x50mm in between. This deck is totally over engineered but it is built to last and wi...

Pool deck foundations

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After digging the area of grass for the new deck by the pool, we received the supports, framing timber and ordered the deck boards for delivery next week. The deck will be 8m x 4m and be used for sun loungers, all surrounded by the compulsory fencing. There will be 3 main beams running length ways (of 70x200x8m) and then cross beams of 70x200x2m every 50cm. Here we are making the positions of the cross beams on the 8m lengths (very heavy!) so we can place the positions of the metal supports so they don't interfere with the metal hangers. The pool looks a little grungy at the point but you'll see in later updates I've started to clear the pool cover and evict the frogs who've taken up residency and were unwilling to leave! One 8m beam is attached to the concrete pool base with 180x12mm securing bolts spaced at 1m intervals. The other two 8m joists will sit on metal supports buried in concrete 20cm in diameter at a depth of 40-50cm, although we hit some bedrock so had to ...

Block walls in PMR gite

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We've not posted for a little while, partly because I went back to Switzerland for 2 weeks while Caroline had an operation on her broken arm but we have been very busy. Here we are 5 rows up on the kitchen wall. In the bottom right corner is my Dewalt self-levelling laser, an amazing tool for such a project. Being able to work in 3 dimensions independently or in combinations makes working in large spaces an huge productivity boost. Not a cheap tool but worth every euro!  Now up to 10 rows on the kitchen wall and ready to put in the lintel over the double doorway. Dan is relaxing after a hard days work here not holding up the wall 😂 His visible foot is the new concrete slab level. We've already put in the lintel over the kitchen window. On the other side of the gite we've put in the foundations and today put up 4 rows of blocks (15cm depth) which will also support the new floor joists. We've decided to raise the first floor by putting 12 rows of block (240cm) which will...

Foundations for internal block wall

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In the PMR gite we are putting in concrete block walls inside the stone walls as the quality of the stone is not good enough to leave exposed. The new block wall will also support the new floor joists (100mmx200mmx5m). Over the last few days we've been preparing by finishing the pipes (waste water for kitchen sink and dish washer and hot/cold water) that will be in the foundations on this wall, and constructing the shuttering (temporary wooden frame to support the concrete as it's poured). It was a very tough days work with the trusty concrete mixer. For the floor slab we'll be getting the concrete delivered, no way we're going to this by hand!