Solar House In France - weeks 17 - 20 - interiors and electrical »  Viewing imgp0392     [Image 10 of 21]  :: Jump To  
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Comment: Attic spaces filled with hemp wool panels unpacked ready to be placed behind ceilings when the plasterer comes next week. To save money and hard labour we've decided to have plasterboard sloping ceilings done by a professional. Flat ceilings I am doing myself in poplar T&G boards.
On Tuesday 13 March the hemp insulation arrived from Castillon - the whole living area was filled with the cardboard boxes of semi rigid panels.

The spare bedroom on the mezzanine was also filled with hemp insulation panels.

The cellar store housed the loose hemp stalk insulation (chenevotte) to be used under the floors.

More boxes of hemp in the bureau. Wherever they were put. they were in the way and had to be moved again and again. Luckily thay are light.

Interior of mezzanine - temporary floors of loose larch exterior boarding (bardage) laid down wherever needed. Without the garage built yet storage of materials is a problem.
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I have made a temporary landing at the top of the stairs down to the sous sol using leftover and reject poplar floor boards, and plan to make a temporary stair soon to make movement between floors easier and safer.

The electrician started work the day after the insulation was delivered to keep just ahead of the plasterer. All the conduits and wiring that had to go behind the sloping ceilings had to be put in - also the conduits for plugs, lights and switches in the external monomur walls and sous-sol ceilings have to be fixed. He is going at an impressive rate and should finish the basics in a few days. We had to dash into Perigueux on Wednesday to choose fittings at Leroy Merlin and CGED.

I made the framing around the chimney duct and cupboard for the solar hot water tank in the spare bedroom. All the partition framing that affects the plasterboard ceiling has to be in by Monday morning.

A few days after the electrician started, we had high winds and rain which revealed some serious leaks in the flashings around the monopitch roof light (chien assise). The roofer had not followed my detail, and had cut the roofing felt ( a microporous but waterproof reinforced material) too short, and had not turned it up behind the zinc flashing. With a strong wind behind it rain blew uphill and over the edges of the tiles !

Another point where the back of a tile had been cut where it had to go round the oak post, losing the turnup at the back edge which would normally catch most of the water. This was the point of the the worst leak. Mr Mazières was summoned urgently and came after the Easter weekend holiday and promised to rectify the fault.
Album last updated on Mar 30, 2008 - 03:35 PM
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