BUILDING A SOLAR HOUSE IN FRANCE - week 16 - final windows and more interior

Comment:

Monday 15th February - at last the windows arrived a day early. There was a slight drama as the joiner had not phoned me to say he was coming and I arrived in the afternoon with a van load of Fermacell boards, and found some of the windows had been fitted incorrectly, and that the front door had been hung on the wrong side.

At the end of December Mr Mazieres and his carpenters left without finishing the rest of the timber framing to receive larch boarding. At the end of January I decided to finish it myself as the rest of the windows are due to arrive next week and I want the house to be water tight and air tight.

Nailing on the battens over the microperforated sheeting. The boarding can't be nailed on until the 'auvent' (roof linking house and garage) is built because of flashings etc.

Interior view from kitchen direction showing the 'echelle de meunier' temporarily in postion to the mezzanine.

imgp0242.jpg - Feb 12, 2008 - 10:16 AM

On Tuesday morning, a difficult meeting with Mr Dubuisson who agreed to correct the little errors of positioning , but tried to persuade us that the door would be better the way it was hung, but agreed that he should have phoned me before hanging it the opposite way to the drawings. We agreed to think about it.

Mr Dubuisson's joiner who built all the chestnut windows. They are all so well made and look so good that I find it very hard to be severe about the small errors in the reading of my drawings, but the matter of the front door is giving me a few sleepless nights ! We both like Mr Dubuisson very much, and respect his skill as a joiner, but I'm afraid I will have to insist that he changes it.

I am finding that working with the 'Fermacell' internal wall boards is very satisfying - they are easy to score and break along a straight line, and easy to screw in with plasterboard screws. They are heavy and quite brittle but they made very good sound proof partitions and have a pleasing texture. They can be sanded, screwed into and joints are easily filled and screw heads concealed.

View towards the corner of the kitchen with larder door and stair hole and front door on the right. The doors are solid birch to be glazed. They were bought from the Leroy Merlin sale.

Album last updated on Mar 30, 2008 - 05:02 PM