And work continues

It has been a long time between blog posts.
Our last post ended in mid-September with our party and visitors. Between then and
when Deb flew home (early October) work and fun continued.

 ...as always, click on the pictures to enlarge...

As we have found with many of our tradespeople on this project,
they tend to have abilities in more than one area.

Little did we know that our plasterer was also a stone mason, but boy, did we have a job for him … Time for a couple of new gate posts to match the stonework of the house!!

He arrived each day in his leather sandals (safety edition of course), polo shirt and stubbies (even though the mornings were definitely getting nippy), worked solidly with plenty of huffing and grunting, and brought his own packed lunch (including a full baguette).

Where possible, we have tried to commission work locally, which not only supports local trades and artisans but can also yield great results and originality. Our new gate (to fill in the gap between the new posts) is a great example. We were able to create a custom design with a local ironmonger who created a very impressive, sturdy and beautiful gate with a very fast turn around.

The girls hand painting the fence in dark Forest Green. Despite being advised by certain other well-learned people that spray painting was the norm for steel structures, Jess and Deb decided they were confident in their choice. Well, they had a fun couple of days.

Another important development has been the laying of a "chape fluide" or self-levelling concrete, over our underfloor heating pipes in the downstairs kitchen and living area. This is the stuff you often see in shows such as Grand Designs (in countries that are cold enough to warrant it!), a very very wet mixture that is poured over the pipes to create a level surface that can be polished, tiled etc.

The start of the pour, with the 'tripods' that are calibrated by laser to show
the finishing height of the floor across the space.

And 15 minutes later the pouring is complete! Very impressive.

Agitate, agitate!!

Wet, wet, wet. Not polished.

Give us a ceiling and she'll be right to go!

Work has continued upstairs in the continuing effort to make the space livable (by someone's standards). Much to the amusement of the French who prefer metal studwork, Michael knocked up insect-resistant cedar stud walls with insulation and double-thickness plasterboard to create the bedrooms, sitting room and bathrooms.
Dylan proved particularly adept at fitting fragile plasterboard into the angled window alcoves.

Dylan cutting plasterboard.

Master and apprentice. Installing boards in the tricky angled window spaces.

End result - bathroom window with some fresh waterproof plasterboard.

And the other rooms are also taking shape!


Master bedroom.

Second bedroom.

Salle de jour

While the house is the focus, time out is taken for workers' maintenance.

And time for other fun activities.

Patrick's birthday

Dylan and Jess went to Barcelona for the weekend - mainly to have fun but also on a mission to buy tiles for the bathroom. Not only did they find some great tiles, but also showed-off their Spanish.

 Dylan in Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.
The last time we visited here was in 1998 when we lived in France for a year. Boy, has it changed!

Back to Work!

Jess taking the paint off the school's old door handles.  The beanie was a present Dylan brought from South America, but was later stolen when our car was broken into in Toulouse.
 

Michael spraying the doors to prevent woodworm.
(not my favourite job!)

 An old school door, stripped by Deb, sprayed by Michael and adorned with the
original handle de-painted by Jess.

Pointing the stones of outside walls using different methods.

Dylan throwing the lime mortar.

Nick and Dylan carefully applying the mortar.

Deb's final night – family dinner at the Abbaye de Camon
A beautiful setting, delicious degustation meal and great company.

The girls being silly.. Can't take them anywhere!

xo
The Team

All we do is Party

In recent times at L'Ecole de Campgast, not only has worked rolled on with steady advance, but we have also had the pleasure of receiving a number of guests and enjoying various accompanying celebrations and frivolities.

Included in this update is the laying of the slab for the new preau, visitors, partying, and gliding.

...as always, click on the pictures to enlarge...

 Our first international guests!! Annie and Lochie, old friends drop in for lunch. Unfortunately they couldn't stay for long but they promised they'll be back (when there are bedrooms)!!

As various guests arrived, work continued, including the laying of the concrete slab for the new preau building behind the house. This lays the foundation for Michael's workshop and guest bedrooms and bathroom.

After preparing the space, erecting the shuttering and double-triple checking their levels, Nick and Steve lay down waterproofing, insulation and reinforcement under the slab area.

A day off for a trip to Toulouse to pick up a very special guest! Jess arrives and it is off to the bike shop to go helmet shopping (??!?)


Straight to work Jess!!

 Also arriving from Australia, is another great friend. Greg was in the land of croissants for a conference in Paris, but couldn't resist coming south to lend a hand and check out what the hell we're doing over here. We hope this type of chance visit will continue as the open invitation extends to anyone passing through this part of the world.

 This is Greg on his birthday shovelling gravel.  He never stopped working!!

A section of the concrete slab in the preau goes down. Supervisor Dylan is on hand.

More supervisors as the concreting progresses!

At one point we had a total of four guests and a full family of four, stretching our accommodating capabilities to the limit. But all were more than willing to pick up a hammer, shovel or drill and pitch in. One seemingly simple job that became communal was the removal of the existing concrete gate post attached to the house. Communal as most gave up hacking away at the very stubborn post after a certain amount of time...

Michael tries hitting it! But this post ain't succumbing to a silly little hammer.

Dylan ups the anti with a grinder?? Nope, not with that little toy, hahaha...

Andrew's turn next.  … not with that silly drill of yours either.

Ahh, bring in the local cavalry!

In reality Andrew did a lot of work to expose and cut all the reinforcing steel before the tractor came. A job well done!

Victory!!
Andrew, Julie, Jess and Dylan.

Michael met Andrew way-back-when in Cambridge and reconnected recently when Andrew stayed with us in Sydney. After Deb and Michael recently attended Andrew and Julie's party celebrating 25 years of their own French abode (see previous post: L'Ecole taking shape) they decided to pitch in for a few days and re-explore with a part of France they'd previously visited as a young travelling couple.

Greg: "I work hard in the mornings!!"
(Despite the fact it was a milestone birthday he did actually spend
most of the day shovelling gravel. Hero!)

As well as being enjoyably busy entertaining our guests, it also happened to be Deb's birthday (... her 21st if you were wondering) and Greg's. So let's party!!

The guests arrive.
A mix of our neighbours, local and international friends, a bit of food on the new barbie and a drop of wine = instant party, construction-site style.

Shine a light on!! Thanks to all our guests who helped out greatly in cleaning up the site and making it more than presentable for the night.

 Nicknamed the "slab party" for the perfect timing of completing the concrete pad in the lead up to the night.



Day after the party and looking fresh before attacking the daunting peak behind,
with the Chateau of Montesgur atop.

Andrew, Julie, Penny, Greg and Jess.
Penny is Deb's cousin and stayed with us for a few days after swimming between islands in the Mediterranean, cycling in France and just before walking in Spain. Not a bad trip if you ask me!!


And as it was Deb's birthday, of course she deserved a present! Why not a tandem flight in a glider at our local (100m down the road) airstrip! She initially expressed interest in the idea soon after arriving at Campgast, but in the subsequent weeks she wavered back and forth after hearing varied gliding experiences from friends. But as the day drew near her resolve was steeled, with encouragement from the rest of the family: "You're doing it! We don't have anything else for your birthday, and we want to do it too!"

 "I hope Dylan translated the safety instructions correctly!!"

For some reason Jess has all the men wanting to give instructions.  "Put your shirt down and I can concentrate on what you're saying!"

Being towed up with the Chateau de Puivert in the background.

Campgast with our L'Ecole sitting pretty in the middle.

Our valley!
Campbonnaure (left), Campgast (right) and the grass airstrip.

Playing 'silly buggers' as only siblings know how.

Next time...

...we actually get some work done and the house starts to resemble a house!!

New Technology meets Old School

Since our last update we have had some major movement at the station. 

These include the installation of our high-tech, super-efficient heating system, the destruction and removal of the old, rotten preau (out building) structure, plenty of work building bedroom walls and a few other surprises along the way.

The south of France is associated with hot summers and comfortable winters, but as you ascend into the Pyrenees mountains, things can get very woolly in winter. Hence, as we find ourselves in the foothills, where snow is not uncommon, a good and reliable heating system is imperative.

Our system consists of an energy efficient wood burning fireplace with a water jacket and heat exchanger atttached, underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. The domestic hot water is also passed through a coil inside the hot water tank for heating to the desired temperature. As it stands, it looks like Dylan will be giving the system a true test run in the coming months.

...as always, click on the pictures to enlarge...

Squeezing the hot-water tank into the house with a little aid from the mini digger.
A very tight fit!

The tank in her final resting space.

Michael and Callum install the underfloor-heating pipes on top of 50 mm of foam insulation.

The downstairs underfloor system, all plumbed and ready. 

Now we're just waiting on the final concrete to be poured over the pipes.

The man, lighting our fireplace for the first time!
Looks like he's a little out of practice!!?

Our first fire! Lit in order to test the new heating systems.
Just happened to be on our only 30°C day in August.

Deb harvesting our plums!

 What to do with them all? One option – plum and almond tart prepared by Dylan.

 Deb doing her thing with the windows and doors – several days of oiling.

Puivert Wednesday night markets. Last one for this summer!

Paul and Michael – serious market chat.

 Dylan and Joris removing the last tiles from the preau roof.

Time to take the preau down. Manually. 

Dylan... really making an impact!! hmm
 

Steve cutting the roof away from the stone wall.
"Young" men's work.

 Nick and Steve – employing whatever means necessary to bring her down.
There goes the first section!

Taken from Michael's angle, while quickly running away.

Creating a mess … and some firewood for Nick.

Some of the joinery found in the old preau roof structure. 

Unfortunately all these rafters are riddled with woodworm and damp rot!

Despite the renovations, shopping and socialising, we find a little time for a Sunday family ride.

Riding views – solar panel excitement!
Barns with full solar-panel roofs are a common sight in the area.

Riding or drinking, hmmm!!?
"Le Tube a Vin"

Dominique – our main man on the job!
Dominic is a true craftsman and a great worker.
A plasterer in the traditional style, he starts early, lunches from noon till two and finishes on time.
During work hours he is constantly up the ladder repairing our plaster and
bringing the beauty back to the interior of L'Ecole.

Dominique working on a rather large patch of damage downstairs.

Our project manager looking sharp.

A good way to avoid the stairs!
Another plasterboard delivery for the upstairs rooms (Dylan's arm).

A man in the ceiling!!

A view of the back of the house with only the walls of the old preau standing on the right.

Lunchtime swim at le lac de Puivert.
If you look carefully you can see a glider being towed up from our local aerodrome.

Another discovery. What do we have here?

 Michael: "They say you'll find surprises renovating an old French house.
They didn't say they'd be good surprises!"

Ahh Well!!

Under the soon to be guest bedroom in the preau we have accidentally and fortuitously discovered an old well buried under bitumen and clay, still in very good condition. About four metres deep and covered by a concrete cap and stone manhole cover, we have been assured by our neighbours we have stumbled upon a 'gold mine' that will greatly aid our garden during the (usually) hot, dry summers!

View from our "new" rental house in nearby Rivel after arriving home early,  i.e. before sundown.

Boys, cracking out the new barbie!!
(Dad cracking out the guns: "At least I have something to show for the last few months hard labour.")

 Cheers, to us!!