Chateau de Firbeix

The exposed stone work in the PMR gîte is not the best quality, it was originally a horse stables, or perhaps for cows and also storage/workshop.  Not surprisingly it turned into a very dusty and dirty job and our arm/wrists were aching at the end of each day. We has to remove all the sandy/crumbly mortar and then repoint with chaux (lime) mortar. This allows the walls to "breath" whereas concrete creates a solid barrier. For the upstairs bedroom we used 34 bags of mix, 850 kg! The different darknesses of the mortar are just where some is older and dried out more! Small stone wall in downstairs bedroom Next repointing job is the living room and joining wall with the kitchen.

To fit the downstairs doors in the PMR gîte, we had to take a few steps back and remove the plasterboard around the door openings and fit wooden supports for the doors to attach to. For the upstairs bedroom where the door opening was created (way back), it was simpler as we could add 2cm spacers and it fitted perfectly and secured into the white stone blocks. These pictures are before we repointed the stone in the bedroom (another post today)

Final plasterboard work around the living room window, which was concrete blocks and the arch is a poured concrete lintel. Once we finished repointing all the walls, we'll start jointing the plasterboard with tape and plaster, then paint.

After being on order for 4 months, the doors and windows for the chateau were fitted this week. It is now sealed except for the gaps between the roof and wall tops (in the roof where the B&B rooms will be).  The bats have relocated from the pool equipment room to inside the chateau so hopefully they will vacate soon so I need to leave a door open.

The block wall adjoining the gîte next door was soundproofed and plaster boarded. We will also plaster the blocks around the window (or the original gated entrance to the workshop).

As the electrician finally returned and ran the CAT6 cable from the chateau to the gîtes, we could close up the gap left for the cables and then plaster board the ceiling and wall. Today we finished the plaster boarding. We allowed for a trap door into the loft space and also a small inspection cover for an electrical panel next to the window. The walls and ceiling were insulated for sound and warmth. Also over the last few weeks we had also fitted wooden covers over the spaces left between the roof and the top of the walls. These spaces allowed for various critters to get in so I think we've stopped them entering (assuming there are none hibernating!)

The previous owners had planned to convert the barn into a cottage with a second floor so had put four extra horizontal beams as the floor support. To have two floors the beams had to be quite low which made the ground floor a bit claustrophobic.  The plan was to remove the four redundant beams (added to support the first floor) and raise the three structural beams 50cm. As we had the electrician is the gîte to cable for the wi-fi network, I decided we'd finally get this job done.  Nearly a year ago Dan and I had designed the supports to join the raised beams to the diagonal roof trusses. A local metal works made the custom supports  As the beams are around 5m long and made of oak, we needed a machine to support them as we cut the ends and then raise them again into place while we attached them. As usual with oak, they might look rotten and wood worm ridden but under the first few millimetres it is sold and very hard. We rented a machine to do the job and it was...

Continuing on having finished the main staircase in the PMR gîte, we also need a small staircase between the first floor landing and the upper bedroom over the living room, about 1m difference in height. The door opening was created back in the summer and we've been using a small set of step ladders to go up and down. With all old buildings, nothing is vertical, horizontal or perpendicular and this applies to the wall with the opening in relation to the new landing walls so the we had to get creative. and the finished staircase (minus the hand rails)...

After 3 months or so without a staircase in the PMR gîte (as we had to remove what was left for the scaffolding for the atrium), earlier this week we started building the main staircase. There is another smaller staircase we'll build later between the the main first floor and the top bedroom (about 1m higher). I'd ordered the wood a few months ago, it is kiln dried Douglas Fir, beautiful colour and grain, but tough to cut. In these photos, we've cut the three stringers (diagonals) but not fixed in place. Outside each outer stringer will be a similar 50x300mm end board to cover up the ends of the steps and risers. The stringers are 50x300x4m, the treads 32x250x4m and the risers 32x175x4m. The stringers are locked in place by notching the top and bottom and bolting 50x60 planks into the concrete floor and the first floor joists. Today we started fitting the treads and risers. On the left you can see the outer board, there will be a similar board on the right once we've fi...

At the same time as the terrace concrete was delivered, we also poured the concrete foundations for the extension to the barn, a kitchen/storage/preparation room and a toilet. We will have to create 2 new doorways in the barn wall to connect to the extension.

The concrete was delivered on Thursday, all 55 tons of it. We had masons to help us as the area (174m2) was too large for Dan, Em and myself. We've done smaller areas when Luke was here and this type of concrete needs special treatment. The finished product looks great and will become lighter in colour as the concrete fully dries, it is only 24 hours old in these pictures. 

After a beautiful warm spell, the garden has suddenly come to life...  

I've not posted any new blogs for sometime, but that doesn't mean we've been idle 😉  With a long spell of nice dry weather and a need to get outside from working in the PMR gîte, we've switched attention for a week to construct the terrace around 3 sides of the barn. The 4th side will be the extension for the bathroom and kitchen/storage room. That is another post I'm publishing today as well. The terrace will be 3m wide along the long sides of the barn and 5m wide on the gable end, 174m2 in total. This translates to 24m3 of concrete, 3 lorry loads! While we got in professionals to levelling the ground and compacting the hardcore, we did all the "coffrage" (wooden supports and planks and the rebar (actually soldered sheets of rebar). In all 70 panels of 2.5mx1.2m rebar and lot of arduous but very rewarding work. The concrete arrives at 8am tomorrow so early night for me anyway! It will be a very long day. If you're curious why the windows look blurred...