The beams and joists between the first and second floor are all installed. One can start to see on the pictures the layout of the entrance hall, the bedroom, the staircase and the mezzanine.
The challenge will be to ensure all the wood is carefully protected while the masons continue to work on the walls.
The construction of the walls around the 2nd floor is now well underway. The area above the dining room is almost done and the walls have reached the level at which the beams and joists for the second floor will come to rest on the walls.
Sadly, we have come to conclusion that there will not be enough time before the cold weather settles to finish the stonework and install the roof. We have made the decision to continue the stonework all the way to the level of the 2nd floor ceiling and then we will stop all work until next Spring. We will need to cover the top of all the walls with plastic tarps to prevent water from penetrating inside the stone walls and creating cracks. All the beams and joists from the first floor will also need to be carefully protected so the snow does not damage them.
As of last week, we have switched from a 100{86faa949d09500cfb2fb8be01edc8582822a5980221f039bd4bbebd1d0646763} lime-based cement to a 80{86faa949d09500cfb2fb8be01edc8582822a5980221f039bd4bbebd1d0646763} lime-based cement which requires less time to cure and can cure at lower temperatures.
We hope that the masons will be able to continue their work for another month but we it will all depend on the weather.
Today was a nice day and the masons, Barthé et Michel finished pouring the concrete slab above the rainwater cistern (which will be the garage’s floor) and on top of the cellar N°1. You will see on the picture that they have planted some rebar pieces along the right side of the garage and in continuation of the garage’s right side corner. This will anchor and connect the small stone wall that they will build all around the garage and on top of which the carpenter will bolt the garage’s wooden structure.
The masons have also started to prepare for the scaffolding around the dining room walls as they will start building the stone walls again on Monday. My dad and I covered the beams with plastic and built a walkway with planks on top of the beams for the masons to be able to work on the second floor stone walls.
We almost forgot to place a plastic pipe to keep a hole on the garage slab that will be for the cistern’s intake. You can see it on the right of the cistern trap door. This is where the rain water that we will collect from the roof will enter the cistern.
I climbed one of the huge trees at the bottom of our property to take the pictures of the North West façades.
The masons are preparing for the reinforced slab that is going to go over the cellar #1 and the rainwater cistern. They needed Ismael and me to clean the side of the road and the top of the old house’s wall that is against the road as this is where the outside edge of the slab will come to rest. They needed to build a small footing using rocks.
Yesterday the masons reinforced the top of the old house’s wall, completed the footing for the slab and finished setting up all the forms (planks, metal sheets, etc) on top of which the concrete for the slab will be poured. While two of them were working on the set-up, a third guy was preparing all the rebar grid for the slab. If everything goes well, they will bring the concrete mixer truck on Friday and pour the slab.
Everyone is really happy that the work on the cellar #1, the cistern and the slab went ahead (following my dad’s recommendation). The hole that was in between the house and the road will soon be all covered up and nicely finished. One will be able to walk from the road onto the slab and stand right in front of where the future entrance door will be.
Today was a funny day weather-wise: there were sudden showers and a bright warm sun right after each of them. Both the masons and the carpenters were there and they were able to progress with their respective work. You will see in the pictures that everything is ready for the concrete mixer to come tomorrow and that the carpenters have installed the beams above the dining room. They will come back next Wednesday to install the pillars in the main room and all of the other beams above the kitchen and living room and above bathroom, entrance hall and downstairs bedroom. My dad and I are going to spray them with a solution of sodium borates and water and put a type of oil to protect them against insects and dirt.
I arrived in Bigorre yesterday morning. We spent the day picking up the straw bales as the weather forecast had announced rain in the evening. It was pretty accurate and as soon as we were done covering the trailers full of bales, the wind started to pick up and the first rain drops started to fall down.
We harvested 2 full trailers of rye straw bales which is about 450 bales. We hope that there will be enough to do the whole insulation on the house. It was a good workout because you have to use a fork, lift the bale above your head and carry it to the trailer. As the trailer gets packed higher and higher, it gets harder to throw the bales to the top.
While we were taking care of the bales, the masons poured the long reinforced concrete beam that goes from the water cistern to the front of the first cellar. Today, they covered the whole cellar and the rainwater cistern with planks and steel sheets to prepare for the reinforced slab. While they were doing this, Ismael and I cleaned the side of the road and took some soil away so that they will be able to extend the slab closer to the road and rest on top of the old house’s wall.
The slab should be pourred and finished by end of next week.
Tomorrow, the carpenter is coming and will start his work on the beams for the first floor. Everything is moving along and it’s nice to see. There is still tons of work to be done but it’s already starting to look nice.
The stone walls around the ground floor are almost finished.
It’s now August in France which means that our contractors will be off on vacation for the next three weeks just like the rest of the country.
The work will start again on the 23rd and soon after the carpenter will start bringing the beams and joists for the first floor.
The picture below shows the South West and East walls of the dining room with the door leading onto the front courtyard.
The big South West wall with the three large bay windows has been slower to build because of the tall concrete and stone pillars which separate the bay windows. Each time there is an opening, it takes longer to choose and lay the right stones which will make the frame around the opening. The stones have to be square on one corner and of a specific depth so the window frame can rest as flat as possible behind the stones.
This is the stone laying crew. They have done an amazing job so far. The local residents as well as passers-by have commented on how old and authentic the stonework looks.
Despite de weather which continues to be very moody, the construction continues with the stone walls on the ground floor. The contractors decided to start on the walls at the far back of the house (the furthest away from the crane) and to end with the South West wall which is the one with the large window bays.
The lifting tool my dad built to pick up heavy stones (see pictures in posting “Cellar #2”) has been very helpful. You will see in the pictures below the size of some of the stones that have been laid on the wall. These stones are still coming from the old house/ruin that was on the land and that we cleared prior to starting the construction. It would have been very difficult to use these stones without a lot more people, scaffolding and pulleys.
