Fire and Ice

I woke up this morning, eager for the day, 

things to do and happy to say

that I am burning almost the last log of 5 steres.

Ho hum.

The winter has been mild and 'we', the 'Royal we', made savings 

and now pay for it later.  

It is the Law of Life. 

I complain not,  until,  I view my other woodburner
which at about 11pm last night I lit to warm up the icy rooms where lie oak parquet.  

Trees stand in winter so why did I do that when I am not there and cannot afford this year to keep the two fires alight night and day.  

It is an L shaped house - ground floor only - a veritable bungalow
with two large cavernous empty attics.  

Digression! 

On the hearth is a brown liquid which stops before it spills over the edge. 

 Behind the dead fire is evidence that treacly stuff has gone below the glass.  

I have emailed the Monsieur and sent photos but no reply. It is Saturday.  Monday I am sure they are closed. Tuesday I will be calling in! Monday I will call my insurance company. 

I cannot understand. 

Only two weeks ago the fire was blazing for a good 12 hours
and le chaleur was impressionant a mes amis. 

Pourquoi ????? For what indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am concerned that I shall only feel secure if the whole job is refait!

          Meanwhile just outside the door of the same room hangs an icicle.  My very own! 

LANGUAGE:

le chaleur = the heat or warmth
impressionnant = impressive
Le travail devra être refait  = The work will have to be redone.

The Small Room and the Oval Room

TWO SMALL ROOMS

Work for both of these rooms was done at the same time. 
The smallest room is destined to be an office or bedroom. 
The oval room on account of the ceiling moulding will become a living room.

ELECTRICITY

Electrical points and switches all had to be corrected. I removed the central ceiling light and installed two wall lights in the smallest room. I would like the telephone point to be in this room as it arrives on the exterior of this room but for some reason the wire travels through the attic of this part of the house to the furthest room in the building!

WOOD AROUND THE DOORS AND WINDOWS

It was decided to remove the very French brown, varnished tongue and groove boarding around the windows and doors. The rooms felt as if they could breathe. The revealed stone walls were then covered with plasterboard, filled and sanded, filled and sanded! This was the treatment for the cracks in the ceilings as well.

DOUBLE GLAZED UNITS

The window and doors (four units) were removed, woodwork lovingly repaired and double glazed units inserted. They were made draughtproof. It was complicated and took time.

SHUTTERS

These had all been sanded and painted by me in May 2010.

CUPBOARDS

The wallpaper in the corner cupboard was left on the walls but painted. The existing doors were sanded and painted but two of the four doors were missing so my friend built new ones so perfectly that no one would never know.

He built a small cover to conceal the water stopcock as once this room was a kitchen. I now need a cupboard to hide the electrics …. but later.

THE OVAL ROOM and the CHIMNEY

This room became a disaster when the stone chimney was opened to find out why there was damp.  I attempted to replace it with a similar aged fireplace but the price seemed prohibitive as in addition it would have required a woodburner. In May 2010 we had solved the problem by correcting the problem outside. Inside we removed the stone chimney by ingenious means and fortunately I managed to sell it.  Note how the clean water, waste water and gas pipes run along the back wall of this house from the kitchen!  I could not possibly afford to re-route them! 
The story is in photographs. 

Original 18th century stone chimney

The damage is evident...it had to go!

Think of the Ancient Egyptians!

The distance to the door is about 3½ metres

First the headstone!

The beef bone amongst the rubble.. Was this the French version of a medieval cat or shoes being left in the chimney?

Lovely dust as the last of the stones are removed

and laid outside for a buyer

and protected against wet weather

All cleaned up! Witness the pre-1985 wallpaper on plasterboarded polystyrene and the stone wall beneath.  We kept the chimney hole!

We replaced the plasterboard with fireproof board and all walls required a lot of filling and sanding to make them flat. My friend who’d had experience with woodburners before managed to work out the measurements of everything and I know that I could not have had such a beautifully finished room without him.

REMOVING FLOORING
I spent many hours each day on my hands and knees laboriously scraping off lino which left behind paper and glue. 

Not quite the last of the paper and certainly not the glue!

I then used various chemical products to soften the paper and glue and scrape it off the cement floor.  Towards the end we used machines to grind off the last stubborn remains.  It took weeks as I wrestled with the pain in my wrists and spent hours on my knees sobbing because of the difficult work and the emotional stuff that continued incessantly in my head and heart.

After I/we had lifted every scrap of lino, paper and glue from the cement and made the decision to lay oak it then transpired that it didn’t have to be removed and we could have leveled the floor over it. However, my mind was comforted because I know that it doesn’t exist and have photos to prove it!

Eventually we discarded the old skirting board. Under vigilant guidance I sanded and painted repeatedly brand new cheap skirting board and with careful drying out and weighting down it turned out well.

LAYING A SUB FLOOR, THE OAK FLOOR AND SKIRTING BOARDS

          I'LL FINISH WRITING ABOUT THIS LATER_____     Once the floor was laid, the radiator was replaced and the glass hearth and woodburner installed.

NEW INTERNAL DOORWAYS AND DOORS AND LIGHTING

One door way had to be widened and made higher. I chose two new doors and it was my task to sand and paint these. We bought the glazing from UK. 

INTERIOR DECORATION

I haven't yet added curtaining or hung photos / pictures on the walls.  LATER!