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Gite renovations.

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clothmama
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Gite renovations.

Postby clothmama » Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:33 am

We are working on getting the little medieval house next to our section renovated to rent out next year. Huuuuuge amount of work to do but we are doing it when we can and looking forward to getting stuck in more when Rémy starts school next week. It will be a kitchen / dining / living downstairs as well as a bathroom and a huge bedroom and small bedroom upstairs with possibly a small shower room if we can fit it in. We have lifted the floor upstairs as it was bizarely on a big slope and we are working on getting beams out that need to come out and getting the ancient plaster / cob off the walls. It feels weird taking off stuff that could be hundreds of years old!

There is a scary poorly supported stone fireplace in the upstairs bedroom - it has cracked and been poorly repaired which is a shame as it is gorgeous but well build support columns underneath and then repair it as best we can.
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Lots of old plaster to come down: Actually this was the base of the fireplace:
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I got most of this wall done the other day but didnt' get an after photo:
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J and I also got down the beam from the end of the room where the new stairs will go to access the bedroom (currently only stone ones outside), luckily it was in 2 sections and one of them was totally rotten so not too heavy!
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This is what the bit facing up looked like when we got it down - thank goodness we needed to get it down anyway for the stairs as it looked fine from the other side :shock: :shock:
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Will be so good to have more time to get this done without a toddler home all day! Will keep updated as we go!

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Allie
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby Allie » Sun Sep 03, 2017 8:35 am

Looks like a lot of work but what an exciting project for you. Can't wait to see progress pics.

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autumnalgirl
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby autumnalgirl » Sun Sep 03, 2017 9:19 am

Wow!!! Look forward to seeing more! I think you need to advertise on here!

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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby clothmama » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:55 pm

J has been back out in the gite (been doing stuff inside to help us be warmer this winter then we've had a break over Christmas / NY) last week throwing lime mortar into the walls to sure up the ones that were looking a bit had it! Next step is getting our ceiling height sorted so we can get on with getting the beams sorted then the floor. The ceiling height being dependant on the staircase!

We managed to source a preloved solid oak staircase before I went to Oz and it has been sat waiting for us. We need to work out exactly how high it was so have spent this morning attaching to a pulley and carefully lifting it in the air / jacking ti up in order to get it how it should be so we can measure it! I never saw it up and I'm really impressed it is a lovely handmade item - just so devastating that they have stained over the gorgeous oak. We have decided that it will probably be worth the effort of sanding it off so guess what I'll be spending many days doing :giggle: at some point!

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autumnalgirl
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby autumnalgirl » Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:35 pm

That staircase looks amazing!!!!

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clothmama
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby clothmama » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:22 pm

autumnalgirl wrote:That staircase looks amazing!!!!

It is - there is no way we could afford to buy something new of that quality and it fits exactly where we need it! We went and measured heights after I posted and it looks like it is pretty much spot on with very little mucking around with either floor heights or staircase needed :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

We also unloaded half a tonne of sand from the trailer :loopy: before going to get Remy and now back to sort the chickens and the kitchen which didn't get done before going out to work outside this morning :loopy: and J gone to get Josh!

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Aeseldyr
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby Aeseldyr » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:38 pm

WOW that is a big project - but its gonna be great :yahoo: looking forward to follow it :yahoo:

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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby clothmama » Thu Jun 28, 2018 12:46 pm

Well things ground to a halt for months as it was too cold (you can't cement / lime mortar when temps drop below a certain point) and it rained and rained and rained from November until recently so it was a bit flooded and damp and horrible :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: . So frustrating!

J has started doing the support columns under the fireplace over the last week or so (can only do a couple of rows a day). Today we finally got to the point where we could jack up the fireplace (with me outside with phone in hand ready to call the ambulance if it all went wrong!), remove the beam and build it up :yahoo: very exciting to feel like we are finally making progress!
The beam still in place and J jacking it all up:
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The 1/2 a beam chopped out and removed:
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Looks so much better with loads more light and gives us a feeling of how it will be head height wise once the big centre beam is gone (we are rejigging it all as it is over constructed and feels very dark and low):
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A close up so you can see - this is the left hand side with the stone fireplace base above and our support column underneath - now fully built up :widesmile: The 'columns' will act as fake fireplace walls with a woodburner stove in the middle and we'll do it with a proper ancient wood lintel and then lime mortar it all so unless you knew it would look like there had always been a fireplace downstairs!
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Re: Gite renovations.

Postby clothmama » Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:07 am

Both columns are all built and supported now. This is the really bad one with the collapsing side of the chimney above - he built a board frame and poured concrete in from above to have it come right up tight under the fireplace:
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Other side was easier as it was more supported in the wall above
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Josh was the cement mixer person!
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The big beam has now come out and we all managed to move it outside. J and J also took all the old render off the walls so we can see what is going on (on some bits earlier we'd found holes behind from 200 years of mice, crumbling etc!).

J had broken through the front wall in order to make a door through to the bathroom, on Tuesday they dug it all out underneath and laid the concrete base so that the frame can all be built up properly on the sides of the doorway:
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Not sure how much we'll get done for the rest of the week as it is sooooooooooooooo hot! After the bathroom door is done we'll break through the back wall to put a French door in which we have to do before we can get the stairs in (and seriously hoping they will fit even then :lookround: :loopy: :loopy: ). We also need to work out if we are happy with the old beams or if we are going to replace. It is kind of a head / heart thing - we are worried that taking them out will spoil the character except we aren't sure how well they'll clean up and I'm worried they'll always look a bit dirty or something. if we put new ones in it will be easier to keep clean / look lighter / easier to put up ceilings either side etc. At the moment the old ones are winning :giggle:

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