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| on the road from Paris |
Jerry and I have been back in France for two months
now. We were anxious to get here and
enjoy the warm breeze and the sunshine as we contemplated the projects we would
be starting. When we landed in Paris the
weather was icy cold with snow everywhere.
Jerry assured me the weather would improve as we travelled south. The best thing I can say about getting
further South is at least it isn’t snowing.
There has been an inordinate amount of rain, cold temperatures and just
overall icky weather. It is 30th
of April and we still have our heat on!
Oh well! Work has started
regardless of the weather and I am sure it will warm up eventually.
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| bathroom door |
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| new entrance door to chamber |
One of the very first things Jerry addressed was the “tunnel
of wind” from the attic to the ground level.
The wind would whip under the roof tiles and head straight thru the door and down the
stairwell. He installed a new door on
what will be some sort of bathroom in that chamber. Then he built two doors for the chamber entrance
since no readymade door would fit. He then stuffed insulation boards into the
area above the door (actually across the entire wall) to insulate against the
wind. I cannot tell you how happy this “little”
project made me. The house warmed up
almost immediately!
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| the loo and broom closet |
The second project was the “loo” on the ground level. This is important because at the moment the
only bathrooms in the house are on the 1st level (which means you
climb a flight of stairs and you access them thru bedrooms). It is inconvenient when we have parties or
guests. Now there is a water closet just
as you enter the garage from the house.
Jerry also enclosed the water heater so I have a separate room for my vacuum,
floor polisher, broom, his golf clubs, etc., etc. That little room makes me happy because everything
but the golf clubs was in my tiny laundry room.
At the moment we are waiting on the electrician to get here and do the
electrical stuff. After that I can get
in there with a paint brush in hand and Jerry can finish the tiling. Then “VOILA”!
Jerry has also been busy building the last panel for the
dining room. It will be set within a day
or so. With the weather being so cool
and rainy it takes the paint longer to dry ….
And it took a long time to dry when the weather was warm and sunny. After that panel is set the kitchen/dining
room will be finished.
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| the attic |
.JPG) |
| The attic |
The renovation of the chamber in the Attic has been started
as well. Last year we cleared all the
junk, wood, rubble and trash out of the attic.
Now we have started cleaning the walls and ceiling and wooden beams…..dusty,
dirty let me tell you! I have pulled
probably 100 nails out of the first wooden beam. The previous occupants must have hung meat,
dried vegetables, flowers, or whatever up there! At the moment we are contemplating how the
bathroom will work up there….it is a problem and I hope we can get something
figured out.
The other major project will begin the middle of May. We have acquired a contractor to begin
construction of the terrace and the sunroom.
This project begins with strengthening the floor and putting on a new “skim
coat” plus waterproofing. Stairs will
also be installed in the garage for outside access to the terrace. The stairs will be in the general location of
the new “loo”. Because we do not know at
this moment in time if we will be allowed to remove part of the roof, and
because we have to have some roof repair done in some places, we are installing
translucent panels. The panels will let
in light and will stop the leaks. There
is a lot of cleanup to do on the walls and I am not sure how we are going to “sweep”
them down. Big, black cob webs are hanging
from the very high ceiling and dirt is clinging to the very tall walls. Guess
we will figure it out……like we have done on so many other things!
