Thursday 12 September 2013

Tree felling

Have now got a video on YouTube of the farmer that helped get the chainsaw out of the tree that got stuck when cutting it down. 

As the tree was hollow I was unable to cut a notch in it and when I had cut all the way round the tree didn't budge, and the saw got stuck between the top and bottom of the tree. 

Luckily the farmer saw what was happening and volunteered to stand under the tree and rescue the saw whilst I pulled it down with my car! 



Thursday 5 September 2013

New games room!

After finishing the work on the main house we had time to convert one of the 50 square metre vaulted cellars into a new games room. The first job was to clear it out and level the floor. The cellar started out with a damp soil floor and the walls were all bare granite and also very damp. The plan was to render the walls with a breathable lime and sand render and make a concrete floor with a damp proof membrane. The cellar at the beginning of the job:

The lime render was mixed in the cement mixer, then transfered into buckets and applied to the walls using a sponge. A very time consuming process (several days) as there are a lot of walls and they have deep gaps betweem them that need filling also.
The finished walls, turned out quite well and a lot less damp and dingy now.

Next a really big job is to level the floor, we now have a laser tripod level which makes this a much easier task. we shifted the soil around the cellar until it was roughly the same height everywhere.
Then we laid the damp proof membrane.


Next we place metal work around the floor and cement it in at the same level all round to give the final floor height and allow it to be leveled off later. We also used reinforcing mesh to stop the concrete cracking.
I made up a chute to pour the concrete down from boards and lined it with damp proof membrane to allow the wet concrete to slide down it. This way we can have the mixer outside next to the piles of sand, gravel and sacks of cement and when mixed I can flip the mixer down the chute. Ro has a wheelbarrow at the bottom of the chute and can then place the concrete where its needed.

As the floor is so large we laid it in sections and worked on it when we had time over several weeks. We used about 3 cubic metres of concrete in total with my trailer only taking a ton of material at a time that was a lot of journies to the DIY shop to get sand, gravel and cement!

The final floor, doesn't look bad for a first attempt!












My next job was to wire in lights, sockets and bring a tv cable down from the house. Luckily I was able to pull a cable down from the kitchen ceiling, through the conduit for the wiring circuits in the cellar and then extend it along the walls via my new wiring to the sockets.



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The new games room is large enough for a full sized table tennis table, a pool table, several sofas, table and chairs and still loads of space. Cost us about a 1000 euros in materials, so not bad for gaining such a decent room!







Ridelimousin swimming pool

We bought an above ground pool last autumn and decided to install it in one of the front gardens as it is a spot that gets sun all day long.
Firstly I spray painted the outline of the pool on the grass using a central stake with string attached and car spray paint. The next step was to dig out the soil until the base was on a flat level, if you get this wrong the weight of the water will collapse the pool. Unfortunately this area is on a fair slope so lots of digging ensued!

We soon regretted digging by hand with spades and pick axe as there were several tons of soil to remove and lots of rocks (some as large as a wheelbarrow).

After the soil was removed we layed a ton of sand and used this to get the ground more level and to smooth out the surface under the pool.
Then to construct the pool and check for leaks (which there were a couple).

Pool is up and looking good.







Tree felling

One of the trees at the front of the house was completely rotten so we decided to remove it. I cut all the way round the trunk with a small chainsaw but the tree would not topple over as the trunk was rotten and I was unable to cut a notch in one side to force it over. Also the saw got stuck in the tree and was impossible to remove with the weight of the tree on it!

One of the neighbours who saw what was happening came over and helped us get the saw out and fell the tree. We tied a ratchet strap round it and to the towbar on my car. The farmer stood under the tree and wrenched on the chain saw, and told me to drive away from the tree. He managed to free the saw as the tree came down and just ran out in time from underneath! He wasn't bothered by this but no-one else would go near the tree for obvious reasons! THen we spent a day chopping the remains for next winter.

Finishing touches

The new skylights in the loft have been fitted with black out blinds to ensure a good nights sleep for the guests.

New cork tiles fitted to the loft bathrooms and waterproofed with polyurethane varnish:

Finishing the guest living room in the loft club room

The guest lounge in the loft is now also finished. We made a cupboard to fit the alcove from sheets of ply/ chipboard and fitted a sink and tap for guests refreshments.

Also there are 2 sofas, a large fridge and TV with UK Sky channels.