One more day to finish!

A dry warm day, concrete early in the morning, dormer and valley gutter work all day, onion harvest in the evening...and what a harvest!

Windows have failed to arrive in time...which is a real pain in the arse.

Last of the rain?

Raining again this morning so a trip to St Girons for cement and food. More concreting to finish one of the door jambs, then the rain stopped at 1.30, so on with the roof. It's gonna be tough to get everything watertight in the next 2 days!

Dry at last

The rain continued all morning, so I busied myself with making shuttering for the one of the new door jambs and filling it with concrete. At mid day the rain finally stopped - hurrah!

I got on with the roof and have managed to finishing placing insulation and counter-battens on the front roof and have the rear roof watertight and the battening almost finished.

Rain

Still f***ing raining....rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain....arghhhhh!!!! If it was drizzle I could cope but it's unrelenting heavy,torrential rain...good knows how many inches have fallen, all the rivers are bursting and Quelebu is a quagmire. Why do I have to build my roof during what has been one of the wettest months on record?...and it's July for Christ's sake!

Break through!

A big demolition day today as Justin and I broke through the wall between my house and the ruin. Heavy, dirty work with percussion drills, hammers and crowbars. As is often the case the building dictated where the opening could go. The plans changed numerous times as we encountered huge granite blocks just where we didn't want them. In the end we have had to place the lintols and support them with acro props. The supporting walls will have to be built or shuttered in concrete later.

The mess was extreme and it's taken three hours to get the house reasonable ship shape. But the space is going to be amazing. Can't wait for Susie, Jasper and Ruby to see it.

The rain has continued unabated all day, but tonight it seems to be coming to an end....I hope so for the next three days I'm back on the roof.

Monsoon

I have abandoned the roof works and I am using the materials to build an Ark.
The rain has been as heavy today as I've ever seen anywhere - including Wales and Scotland in winter! It started at 2.00am and noise woke me since then it's been unrelenting. I managed to build the valley gutters on one of the dormers and lay a few battens but I'm soaked through so have given up for the day. The saddle is a bit unorthodox but it's one piece of lead and as I can only get fairly thin sheet here there's a limit to how much you can boss it.

Tomorrow Justin is coming to help me make the first doorway between the buildings...tonight I knocked through to be able to mark out the door on the other side.

Batten down the hatches!

After yesterday's frustrating day which has left the front roof half covered with insulation, I decided to change tack and try to get the rear roof felted and battened - afterall it was going to be dry and sunny today (ha ha ha ha).I've managed to do a little under half and build the two valley gutters ready for lining with lead - the saddle (where the two valleys meet) is going to be an utter bastard to make. The weather was brighter this morning but then it was back to the usual torrential rain showers.

Getting the building watertight before I leave for Totnes next weekend is looking less and less likely unless the weather improves.

Hello...I thought this was the South of France?

The longest spell of shit weather I can remember continues and coupled with the impossibilities of safely accessing the top of the current roof pitch to fix the second layer of insulation, progress is slowing to a snails pace and work becoming frustrating.

A visit from Justin, Emily and the twins lifted my spirits.

Chanterelle (Girolles) from the woods

A spotted border moth

Guess what....roofing!

Inside

The dormer this side has windows in the cheeks too

Second roof progressing well despite the continuing crap weather. I'll try to post a picture of something else soon - honest!

Dormer

The dormer is up!

Now I have to do the same for the other roof slope!

There's some leadwork to do for the dormer valley gutters, then I can get the felt and battens up.

More roofing

A frustrating day with intermittent sunshine, heavy showers and wind. Hopefully I should have this side of the roof ready for felt and battens tomorrow.

Goodbye to the sheep

Finished the roof boarding, built the sprocketted eaves, fixed the vapour barrier and insulation and the first counter-batten today. All looking good.

The sheep were collected by their new owners this evening. They seemed very nice and the flock is being kept together. Still very sad though.

More petty theft

I am finding this really irritating...now someone has taken the hayfork from the barn. I use this to muck out the sheep every 3 weeks. The things which are being taken are of no great value to anyone but me...nothing has ever been taken from Quelebu for the 5 years I have lived here and now two thefts in a couple of weeks.

Cold and rainy today so been busy weeding and mucking out the sheep. The sheep are leaving tomorrow...it's very sad. A bumper onion and leek crop this year and the potatoes are also nearly ready to lift.

Progress

Progressing the dormers today...hot and humid.

Dormer

Mostly catching up today...shopping, collecting materials, a viewing at Pont, then a little time to progress the extension. Worked late as I like some progress everyday and managed to get the first dormer window subframe in place.

Totters again.

Back from a week in Totnes. Busy sorting out details for the new slate roof here at Quelebu and procuring random width slates at half the price of those available in France.

A fine day walking on Dartmoor with Dominic and Oscar on Sunday.
A bit more decorating at Susie's then a hectic few days making playing card costumes for Ruby and the other dancers appearing in "Alice in Wonderland".

4 viewings lined up for Pont - it's only been on the website a day, so fingers crossed.

Chimney down!

Pont finally.

After quickly finishing off the insulation and plywood sheathing to the gable studwork, I headed over to Pont. Last few bits of work done and a big clean. At last it's all done!!!

A mammoth day

14 hours today but the roof is up!

Voila!

A big day but what progress, despite having to deliver, rethread and instruct my neighbours on how to use my baler (which they were borrowing) and the pleasant distraction of socialising with my trusty volunteers after lifting the purlins...thanks Chris, Ian, Ben, Alun, Breezy and friends.

Gable studwork

Roasting hot today but the first parts of the gable are up and I'm ready to lift the purlins tomorrow.

For dinner produce from the garden - lettuce, courgette, chard, leek, chanterelles, tomatoes plus some left over chicken.

2 holes for the purlins - more work than it looks!

Leeks

After some scything a frustrating morning with misbehaving expanding bolts. It looks like nothing has changed but in fact everything is now fixed, level and plumb.

More much needed strimming in the evening and a meal with the first of my leeks!

Blood, sweat and tears

Wallplates in place, purlins ready for lifting in a few days time and the two doors from Jasper and Ruby's bedroom into their shared bathroom morticed and tenoned in place.Third day on the trot of incredible heat and humidity. Finally in the early afternoon the mist rolled in and the thunder started. Mostly drizzly with a few short lived heavy showers. Despite the progress a hard tiring day of low motivation. The heat at night and the slow recovery of a neck injury from 5 weeks ago have made for some poor nights sleep recently. I have the valley almost to myself as both John and Sandrine and Philippe and Celine are away on holiday.

Tomorrow a trip to St Girons for materials and food then back on with Pont.

I wish Google would get their fingers out and fix the recent problems with posting photos on blogger.

Roof materials arrive

Two lorry loads of roof materials arrived today. Temperatures of 38 degrees centigrade (100 fahrenheit) in the shade again...exhausting to work in but lots of drinks, a few cold showers and a siesta make it possible.

First problem has been to get the huge oak wall plates and two purlins into position. The crane on the lorry couldn't reach so I had to resort to levers, crowbars and muscle - tough but it's done.

Hot

Bathroom window

Terrace balustrade

New colour scheme for downstairs bedroom

New colourful shutters

Super hot today over 38 degrees C in the shade! Working at Pont which is slowly grinding to a completion but there always seems to be another thing that needs doing...still the loft hatch, a cupboard, some varnishing and stair to the garden from the terrace...then final clean, strim and remove rubbish from the barn before it's finished.

Another neighbour put their car over the edge last night, this time the Celine's brother (last time it was her sister). Unfortunately, driving under the influence is pretty endemic here. A few weeks ago my neighbour's son was killed by a hit and run motorist - probably a drink driver. Makes me fearful for my loved ones.

A trio of airbus planes flying overhead in formation a few days ago (A380 on the left).