Solar House In France - weeks 17 - 20 - interiors and electrical

Comment:

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.

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.

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 boarding.

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.

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.

Another temporary landing on the mezzanine that I made quickly out of leftover poplar floor boards to make the access at the top of the temporary stair (echelle de meunier) safer. Note the rolls of 17 layer multi reflective insulation that I am using in a few places where the depth is insufficient for 300 cm of hemp insulation, and where the reccommendation that the wall or roof must breathe is not strictly required.

The roof has a series of leaks under the windows here when the wind blows a gale.

Album last updated on Mar 30, 2008 - 03:35 PM