hot off the press

The scaffolding team arrive at seven. They are five. I am one. It is twenty going on thirty....


The scaffolding is attached to the house with an anchor every 20 square metres. As the façade progressed I worked around the anchors leaving holes in first the insulation and then the timber cladding. These holes now need to be filled as the scaffolding is taken down. So I fill in the missing bits as the scaffolding comes down around around my ears. My terra firma for the last 4 months starts swaying like an enormous jelly. I'm so used to my giant solid steel shelving system that the first time it sways I swear blind I'm pushing the house over with the screw I'm driving home.

By three all is finished.....

Everyone, with the exception of the cat, is pleased to see the scaffolding go.

It's just like unwrapping a big birthday present. The Skater says its 'futurist'. I think he really meant to say 'modern' and is not referring to the triumph of speed and technology over nature in early twentieth century Italy. But one never can tell with The Skater.

The Client will be pleased.

Stay tuned. This is not the end.

Roll of drums

Scaffolding coming down soon - just put in the request. One more weekend of up and down the ladders like an early version of Donkey Kong and it's all over. Well, at least the façade.
Unfortunately no respite in sight for The Architect as The Skater has put in an urgent request for a wall and door for his bedroom.
Really, the cheek, when I was a lad we had to make do with...........

Beige?

Saturday morning at 7 am work starts on rendering the end wall (or 'pignon' in French). The end wall is in 20cm clay insulating bricks with an internal insulation, so it needs a render finish to make it weather tight and finish it off.

The render is projected onto the wall under pressure with a flexible hose from the compresser parked in the street. The compresser makes an infernal noise so communication is impossible without shouting very loudly, which the team of 4 builders manages very well. My command of portugese being limited to approximate interpretations of menus, I presume they are only shouting important instructions about the pressure regulation or the mix of sand and cement in order to spare the neighbours as much as possible an unpleasant awakening. I suspect, however that they are more likely discussing a football match or the events of the previous evening.
By the beginning of the afternoon the work is finished and a calm, broken only by the sound of distant DIY, returns to the neighbourhood.

The English Neighbour admires the work and asks when it's going to be painted beige like all the other houses in the quarter. I presume she's just teasing me and smile back....or maybe she really thinks I'd paint something beige?

The timber cladding is finished. All that remains are the fibre cement panels.

Photos to follow when the tropical rain forest effect weather ceases.

Progress slow

Progress on the cladding is slow. Rear façade 50%. Front façade 80%.
The render to the end wall is programmed for the end of the week. Passers by stop and watch. Cars slow down. Lots of questions. Neighbours chart the progress and comment on my form for the day. The Client likes it - but can't wait till it turns grey. The Skater hasn't noticed anything different - maybe I should post it for him on facebook?

Dernière lignes droites

Back to black. The chevrons are hidden by a building paper.


A test panel to verify the spacing.


And off we go on the rear façade. The Portuguese Neighbour was there to lend a hand. The English Neighbour took a break from planting her busy lizzies (?) to witness the first batten. The Client handed large pint glasses of cool water through the open window.


The street façade is next. Maybe we should swing a bottle of champagne against the side and invite the queen.

Chevronné

The façade is now practically ready to receive the larch finish. Last little detail is to cover the vertical timber firrings with UV resistant building paper in order to make them invisible behind the hit and miss cladding battens.
The lousy weather, worthy of a British summer, looks like clearing up for the long 'ascension' weekend. Just what's needed.

MacGyver

The drums of bituminous glue are too large for me. Once the powdered hardening agent is added to the black liquid it goes off in an hour and a half – (theoretically). Which means it’s a race against time to slap the stuff up before I get left with a drum full of extremely thick unspreadable gunge.
The technical rep had warned me about the problem and suggested that I only tackle a half a drum at a time. However, the practicalities of decanting and measuring out something that looks and smells for all the world like sewage that’s been in a blender does not appeal.
On any normal building site there would be the builder and the builder’s mate (friendly lot, builders). On the Maison Camy site there is The Architect all on his tod. In the theoretical 90 minutes of spreading window allowed there’s no way I’m going to use that much glue. So, Inspired by French cult figure MacGyver* and having read the small print on the product warnings I hastily put together a device to solve the problem.

The drum of glue sits in a tray made from an old container (recycled from famous ‘F bracket’ box) and polythene (recycled from the insulation wrapping) filled with water, the drum is then covered in cardboard (also recycled) bound tightly to the drum with string. The bottom of the cardboard sits in the water. By capillary action, and a little help, the cardboard becomes wet.
An old fan heater (recycled from The Client’s attempt to stay warm in a house without insulation) on blow without heat setting is then placed in front. The air current aids the evaporation of the water from the soaked cardboard. In order to evaporate, the water requires a significant amount of thermal energy – called the latent heat of evaporation – which it takes from the immediate environment, i.e. the drum of glue. The net result is a lowering of the drum’s temperature.
Now that the drum is at 10 degrees below ambient temperature the chemical reaction will be slowed down. The hardener is added and away we go – a full three hours of sticking fun.
Am I boring you? I know this would certainly bore The Client.

Anyway, work has now progressed so rapidly on the insulation that we are now ready to start the timber cladding.

*The MacGyver series was so popular in France that the term Macgyver has become part of the language – meaning the improvisation of pseudo scientific solutions to life threatening situations using everyday household objects.
Beats the hell out of me why the series was so popular in France. It could have been the Canadian connection.
Also makes you wonder what life must be like in France if the average French person gets to use the word regularly in conversation.