"two cool" Our Ruin in France: August 2015

Well, it seems we claim a busy schedule for not posting more but I think it is just lazy setting in. We love it down here in La Sud de France. We do stay busy and also tire easily and it is easy to procrastinate. We extend a warm welcome to each of you to come and enjoy it with us.

Progress made since we last wrote...

The bathroom upstairs

Last year we also roughed in the bath for a small bath to serve the bedroom. I swore off plumbing a few years ago (after setting a house afire) but was forced by my Scottish mindset to take up the art again. All the quotes were ridiculous so I bought a tool kit and went to work. It was simple once you get the hang of working the tools and stop pinching your fingers. And yes, I did reverse the hot and cold pipes on the shower. But thanks to a good supervisor (Pat) I had just enough pipe to correct it. I did get help this year in setting a shower base and lavatory. After this work we finished the drywall work and painting.

We also wired the chambre for lights, outlets and switches last year. To make it somewhat attractive, you must channel into the rubble walls deep enough to hide the wires. It is very messy and dusty. After the wires are in place, it all gets covered with a plaster product and smoothed out as if nothing had happened.

The Second Floor Chambre

We began work this year on the bedroom on the third level by starting on the terra cuite floors. These tiles were never meant to be "propre", only functional. They were used in barns, attics, work areas, etc.

Rough floors before any attention

Scraper and elbow grease

"clean" tiles before treatment

Pat worked on getting them as clean as possible and then called in the pro.

Kathymira is a specialist who restores ancien floors and we used her last year to refinish the floors on the ground floor. As you can see,we are really pleased with the results. Her son did the physical work by mopping with a bonding agent and then applying two coats of "resin", an epoxy type material.

After resin applied

After

We then set the toilet in the bathroom as well as the lavatory. The lavatory is the original from the only bathroom in the house when we bought. Being very old, the modern pedestals do not conform, so we have yet another "feature"!

After the floors, we began work on the ceiling. First we cleaned the poutres (beams) as best we could by hand. Then we applied a coat of huile de lin ( linseed oil) to the beams followed by a coat of clear poly. Since the roof tiles collect heat, we decided to install a bit of insulation.

Insulation and t square forplaco

We used my nail gun with staples and it was quite easy to install. Until!
Next comes the placo (drywall) for the ceiling which is installed using drywall screws. Now the problem: the screws wrap themselves around the foil and fiber material in the insulation and just balls up and won't penetrate the chevrons (rafters). While difficult, we persevered and got it done!

Work on Terrasse and Conservatory

Before the conservatory walls were rendered, we had to do all the rough in work for electrics, plumbing and decor. As before, we needed to hide the electrics, so we chose to add some faux columns that would not only hide the wires but also provide a visual break to an otherwise large wall. I used terra cuite bricks and stuck them to the wall with Mortar Adhesive (MAP). They are hollow inside to accommodate the wires and lightweight and easy to handle until an uneven wall is found. Then you can have a lot of fun lining them up.

There was also a rough timber laying between the floors on one side of the room. It protruded into the conservatory and provided no benefit so it had to be removed.

My Dewalt cordless was no match for very old wood and most of it came off a chip at a time with a hammer and chisel.

The preliminaries are complete and the crepi guys blew the walls and covered all my sins. Afterward it is just necessary to set the outlets and switches.

The crepi went on in three passes: a scratch coat of beton (concrete) followed by a finish coat of fine grit cement/plaster that is worked until smooth and a final coat of any contrasting features, in my case, the columns were white and the walls were a very light tint of green.

To further create visual interest, I set a brick border around the room at about 3 meters high. Again, these were very easy until a curvy wall is found. The only choice then is to hack down a hump or fill in a indentation. In rubble walls, nothing is ever straight, plumb or smooth because of the underlying stones that are used. The brick border is only three bricks high, but it provides a visual vertical break as well as a welcome color contrast.

After the crepi guys were finished, I commandeered their scaffolding and persuaded one of them to paint the walls above the bricks and crepi. I rented a good spray rig and the lad did a good job from the scaffold at heights of about 6 meters. Money well spent as I am not good on ladders or great heights!!

After the conservatory shaped up a bit, we migrated toward the terrasse. Our plan was to have an "inside" room (the conservatory) and an outside terrasse. But we wanted a good "flow" for entertaining year round. The solution was a glass wall with sliding doors that would separate the rooms when necessary and connect the rooms for optimum circulation. Mssr. Roque from Roujan offered a good bid to accomplish this work and they were very prompt, professional and courteous. To span the opening of some 6 meters, a new beam was required.

setting the beam

Leveling the Heavy beam

We used a product call a "nail web" and when installed provided the support for the heavy glass panels. Then the framing for the panels and finally setting the panels.

Adding the framing

Setting the sliders

Setting the fixed

Covering the work

Voila!!

Nouveau Escalier

The stairs to the second level were not salvageable as the wood components were worn beyond repair and the inset tiles had been patched and painted one too many times.

We hired Stoyan (the Magnificent and not to be confused with Diamond Jim, the Irishman from last year) to rebuild them. We used some tiles we thought were in keeping with the old house. Stoyan is a Bulgarian whose French is choppy at best and English non existent. (and I don't speak Bulgarian) He is a perfectionist who does excellent work albeit at a speed that makes a turtle look like a racehorse.

The tiles and nosing for the stairs was not expensive but Stoyan took about nine days to complete the work on 20 treads and the two landings. In his defense. no two treads were the same size or shape or level. A simple cheap job turned into the most expensive staircase in the south of France.

Social activity in the Winter

We fit in a little fun every so often. In February, we had a few friends over for a proper Chili Night. We catch a lot of grief from our Brit friends about American food so I wanted to show off a proper chili. I chose Frank X. Tolbert's recipe for North Texas Red as it is widely accepted in Chili country as the benchmark. His recipe is here North Texas Red and is interesting reading by itself. I used as close as I could get to his ingredients (including the beer and tequila) and it turned out very well. Of course the Brits complained about lack of beans but Genuine Texas Chili will never have beans. The chili was served with Southern cornbread, chips and rice (for the non purist). And since our little gathering was on Fat Tuesday, I also served a Cajun gumbo complete with okra. Okra is extremely rare here but we found it in the Paris Store in Montpellier.

My friend Claude, a true French chef and restaurateur, paid me high compliments knowing the difficulty of making a good roux. It was last year that Claude helped me make a authentique Bouef Bourguignon for the poker lads. As a side note, I made a proper Mexican night for the poker lads this year and about killed us all. It was the worst case of Montezuma's revenge I have ever had. When I apologized to the lads, they all feigned no problem but I think they were just being polite.

Le Jardin

Jake and Pat got their Jardin started early this year. Pat commandeers the street and a little tree planter and tries to beautify the neighborhood. Jake is a good supervisor.

Pat's Jardin de Rue

Le Boss

About a week later however, Jake could not defy gravity and he watched the Madam fall beside the road on their daily walk in the vines. Doing his best imitation of a St. Bernard, he got her home and next morning we are off to the Urgences for X-rays. Sure enough, she has a "fissure" (small crack) in her wrist. Pat was in a cast for about 5 weeks and a sling and brace for a little longer. (my cooking got old!!)

Maman's Jour

La Maman

On mothers day we wandered down to Vias Plage to the Pirate Bar. Yes, this is the same beach where young Hank (our grandson) had his first experience with over exposed beach goers. Clothing optional for all ages and its not known as a nudist beach. Any we had a great lunch in a beautiful setting just feet from the Med. We were lucky as we did not know they didn't accept cards and had just enough to pay the bill.