La Studio - Interior Oak Doors

Last week I collected the Oak Tongue & Groove panels that I ordered  on line from UK Oak and was so delighted with the quality of the material.  I ordered lengths of 1.5m x116mm & 24mm thick to construct a simple doors, using large French ring and pin iron hinge supports, for the internal doors downstairs an between the now two hayloft rooms.

I had looked to buy pre constructed doors, but realised I would need to cut these to size and made to measure doors would be too expensive.  So after some research I decided to use some simple shed style doors, but these would need me to cut to size.  I concluded that these were easy to make and the use of Oak, rather than pine, would be more in keeping and result in a stronger, better end result.

The openings are 150cm x 80cm so I ordered 7/8 lengths for each door at a total cost of under £240.  In fact they had packed 30 lengths, so I have spares to enable me to use these to line the Stair opening and the light well in front of the French Doors to create a smart finish, in keeping with the building.  The means the doors will cost less than 100 Euro, including door fittings. RESULTS!!

Here below I have assemble 7 lengths of the Oak to show the quality and an example of the doors these will create.

La Studio - Upstairs Floor Base

TUESDAY 7th December 2021

Started work today, but things not quite on schedule as I got the impact of the delivery and need to move into the barn to keep dry. 12 x Demi Chevrons, 10 bags of Insulation Board Adhesive and 15 bags of 35kg Cement!  Will also need to move the 40 Insulation Boards stack outside before I leave.  I arranged delivery to ensure this essential material was here for my January visit and the work planned.

So the plan to get all the upstairs floor base, both sides, was a little delayed.  Nevertheless, I managed to remove the door opening stone to the front side very carefully and will fix edging stones later in the week when I mix some cement to create the back step up to the French Doors.

The floor is down and secure on the East Side and cut around the stairs opening, with just some finishing to do and a slim edge board to cut and fix across the hayloft door edge.

The boards are all in on the West Side as shown and hopefully will get these laid & fixed tomorrow.  

I can then apply the Tyvek roof lining and the ceiling cross supports before departure this week.

WEDNESDAY 8th December 2021

Not so cold today, and managed to get the West Side Upstairs floor base down and the space is looking a felling good.  Have to decide how precisely to treat and finish the floor in front of the Rear French Doors openings, from a height viewpoint, but might wait until the doors are in before a final decision.

Also managed to install the Tyvek to the East Side Roof and install the ceiling cross supports to secure the insulated plasterboard and after I fill the void above with some spare wool insulation I have left from La Maison and Grenier.

THURSDAY 9th December 2021

Some times plans don't quite work and things happen!!  Today was a lost one that I should planned better.  I had ordered 6 Steres of Logs that were delivered yesterday and today the morning was taken up in moving these into the Log Store ( the first door in the barn).  It was tiring work to move and stack them in the dry store, but all done and should last a few years now!

The afternoon was even more exhausting work to move 15 Insulated Plasterboard to La Studio upstairs.  I had hoped to move full boards this time, as there were no stairs.  WRONG... they were too heavy so I needed to cut them in half, lengthways to be able to lift them to the hayloft rooms.  

Still got another 5 to do tomorrow, having moved them into the barn to avoid the rain and then will have to move the other 20 full boards for La Studio Downstairs, into the barn for dry storage before I leave.  

This will mean the other tasks on the list that  I had hoped to completed will now have to wait until January!

FRIDAY 10th December 2021

Well, I moved the 1/2 cut boards into the West Side upstairs and then offloaded 4 full boards, moved two up onto the floor in the barn, which was tough.  i moved another four into the barn as a first stage and the rain came. PANIC!!! So I covered the rest of the boards outside and reflected that I was not going to be able to move the rest, given the rain and the huge effort it took to do so on my own.  

I have decided to leave them outside and will now cut them across when I need to move them into La Studio for the walls.  I should have enough offloaded for the walls and ceiling upstairs.  i will cut the downstairs ceiling boards  into lengths full lengths of 40cm widths and then cut the rest width ways for the walls downstairs which will be easier to cut and handle in the New Year.

I have now double covered the ones outside which should protect them until needed..I hope!

La Studio - December 2021 Task List

 Having finalise some calculations and ordered a few items for delivery the following is the Task List for my brief December Visit of 6 days, hopefully will be able to get all completed and prepared for the longer visit in January 2022.

La Studio - Renovation Video......work so far

The end of the autumn visit has arrived and today was a final tidy up day, in readiness for my return to the UK.

This brief video is summary of the work status so far, as has been indicated in the previous posts and pics.

https://youtu.be/xXMYvwxnurc

I will be back for a brief visit in December, but will return in January 2022 to undertake preparation work on both floors, run the electric cables and install insulated plasterboard to the ceilings and all external walls.

 

La Studio - Oak Beams Sand Blasted NEW!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together!

I had planned, at some point in the project to get my wire brush to the Oak Beams and give them a brush up, but realised it was a lot of manual work.  THEN a few weeks ago I saw another Facebook Post from SAND AND BLAST and decided to get Bobby to do the job, not realising what a fabulous end result could be achieved on my beams.

Not only did Bobby do the business of the downstairs rooms, but he did the four upstairs Purlin Beams and refreshed the old external doors.  I was not planning to use these, but having seen the end result have decided they will now make good Shutters, once I eventually do some more repair to the rotten ends.

These pictures do not do justice to Bobby's work and the end result, but I am delighted and could never have come any where near to matching.

Opposite are the before and after pics that Bobby took of his work and better shows the transformation.

So, work on La Studio is complete for this visit and will commence again in January 2022, when I return for  a month to lay the floor base down and upstairs in advance of laying Underfloor Heating, Tiles and QuickClick upstairs.

La Studio - Hayloft Door Edging

Upon inspection, I  realised that strangely the Back wall side of the new door opening edge had more gaps and stone removed, compared to the front side, which needs stone to be cut to level up.

Today, I concreted in the back edge with stone fillers to ensure strength and once full dried when I return in December, will render in and the whole wall both sides, once the old render covering is removed!

I took all morning and longer than I expected, but it was work that had to be right to find the correct stone pieces and I worked from the bottom to the top.

La Studio - Hayloft Door Opening

Successfully knocked through the 40cm door opening 80cm wide in the central wall to create access to the West Side from the stairs to be installed in the East Side.

Took care and mainly used chisel and mallet, but loosened the big stone with the electric hammer.  

I also installed an old wooden cover to hide the 3 lintels and filled the void with expanded foam.

Have left some of the edge stones until I finish the edges and concrete in, tomorrow.  Will cut off the protruding edge stone to leave an 80cm opening once I return in December and all has set firmly.

La Studio - East Side hayloft door beam

The use of the acrow props has I am sure resulted is the successful knock out of the stone and installation of a new beam in the middle of the wall section and old beam on the east side of the wall, with minimal damage.

I also managed to render in the stone surrounding the beams both sides.

So, tomorrow the central section will be removed to create the door opening,,hopefully!

La Studio - West Side Hayloft door beam installation

 

Managed to complete the West Side support beam insertion, without damage and also installed a right angled steel support at the back of the beam for additional strength.  Once the door opening is complete, will render in the stones above and whole wall.

It proved the benefit of using the acrow props and being very careful removing each stone in turn.

Obviously, the door opening is a bigger task but once the East Side support beam is installed, it should be straight forward...hopefully. 

I finished the week by boarding the floor and marking out the wall for the other side, with the acrow prop in position to support the weight of the Main Beam and the other in position.

So all ready for work on Monday.

La Studio - Hayloft Door Opening

After checking the ground floor levelling work needed and deciding my initial plan was not feasible and a reduced level approach would need to be adopted and I would need to accept a slight level drop from back to front.

I therefore started to plan the work needed to create a door opening on the middle hayloft wall to allow access between both rooms.  I marked out the West Side wall and decided to initially install a existing old beam on this side 100mm deep.  This would avoid me having to clear a support opening through the whole wall and hopefully reduce the risk of collaspe. 

I gently chipped away the render outline and then some of the stones and decided to install an acrow prop on one end to provide support as I remove enough stone, as well and a prop to the central roof beam.

So far so good!

Tomorrow, I will add some cement/concrete to support  the wall end stone that I had to remove to create the room for the end of the beam and let this set, before continuing to remove more stone across the support beam opening.

Gently as you go....

La Studio - Rear Door Opening II

It proved easier today to remove the second half of the wall opening for the rear doors. perhaps something to do it the structure being more open and fragile!

Having removed all the breeze block I installed the upper beam to support the roof, then chipped away the door sides to and removed a couple of stones that obstructed the clear installation of the vertical supports and door side mountings and stone filled most of the gaps that will eventually be sealed with Render on the exterior and some cement inside.

This leaves a 2.1m x 1.0m opening into which slim French Doors will eventually be installed in May 2022, if all goes well. Much of the small crushed bits of the breeze block will add to the rubble at the back to make a small hard standing area.

La Studio - Rear Door Opening

 As is often the case, the best laid plans can go wrong.  A week ago I booked to hire a Stone Cutter over this last weekend, but was informed by Loxam that there was not one available.  So, my good neighbour agreed to loan me his Sthil unit  Today, I planned to start work, but despite my feeble attempts I could not get it started and revert to plan C and use a masonry blade on my have rotary saw.  

SUCCESS, it worked!  I have marked up the exterior breeze block wall and was able to cut through the fist section of the three sections of the blocks to enable a clean lime on the exterior wall.  I realised that it was not necessary to do the same on the interior, as I would have plasterboard to hide the rough edges here.

It took 4 hours of hard work to complete the demolition of 1/2 the wall opening, but proved successful and hopefully will be completed tomorrow.

I will then be able to fit a wooden surround to support the roof and create a clean edge, for accurate measurement of the door(s) to be made to fit.

La Studio - Beam Repairs

In advance of cutting the Rear Door opening into the breeze block wall section, I have taken down the damaged last cross beam and created a repair opening, as shown here:

I realised this cross beam was fire damaged, as can also be seen on the wall and upper roof beams.  There must have been  stove of some sort in the corner of the room with a chimney up the back wall and roof at some time that damaged the centre of the beam.

I cut the centre of the beam and removed it from the support holes either side.  I then installed two supported from the back wall to the second beam and this allowed me to cut the old cross beam to size either side and secure with bolts, that will eventually be largely hidden but the insulated plasterboard.

Once the old beams have been sand blasted and the new sections stained, they should blend in. The 1,000 x 700mm opening in the ceiling in front of the rear door will have a reinforced glazed light well installed to let some natural light to the upper attic room if all works out!

La Studio - Ceiling Support Beams

I had planned a day in the garden, but lots of early morning rain led to a revision and I decided to work inside.  

The ceiling and beams above the entrance door we missing, to allow for access to the Left West Side room attic and as I will install stairs in the to access both rooms upstairs, the space above the main door will be boarded.  However, beams need to be replaced. Having removed the damaged beam at the rear of the Right East side room, I have been able to reuse this broken beam to support the floor above the main door.

I have realised that that there is no beams running along the front and back walls, but the old Lathe & Mud floors were supported by small indents in the wall.  I have decided to install support demi chevrons along the walls, level with the other support beams and upon which the chipboard upper floor base will rest. These will eventually be hidden behind the Insulated Plasterboard that will be secured to the outer walls

Having drilled into the walls and secured them, there were gaps as the stone is uneven.  So, I have used ExpandIT Foam to act as a filler and gripper to fully secure to the wall and provide extra support, which I have found useful before.

Once I have cut the back wall hole in the breeze blocks for the rear patio door, I will need to fix the beams on that wall.

 La Studio - Oil Base Floor Levelling

Having hired and collected a 28KG Pneumatic Jack Hammer from LOXAM in Limoges yesterday, work started on the removal of the old concrete Oil Tank Base in the left hand/west side of La Studio.  It very soon became clear that I could not have succeeded in the task without hiring this piece of vital equipment.

This was the floor taken when I arrived and shows the Oil Tank Base on the left hand side that needed to be removed to enable a flat floor based to be created.

Started work at 9:00am and finished the destruction using the invaluable Jack Hammer by 12 noon.  Hard work and a little concerning at first, but soon realised how to best use the hammer to break up the concrete.

Having removed the debris I was somewhat relieved to find the two rooms had a reasonably level floor, although there is a drop from back to front in both rooms, that hopefully will be largely resolved by a sand base.

A little more work to do, but overall the result is satisfactory and I started to work on removing the back breeze block wall section, but will defer any further work until 2022.

 La Studio - Ceiling Levelling

Had a good day yesterday that resulted in the levelling of the ceiling on the right side East Room.  the original beam were just laid and not fixed from the side walls onto the large central beam.  This made the task much easier and using wooden blocks to lift the centre of each has result a a nearly level based.  Once the interlocking chipboard  is laid, I will be able to fill the gaps to ensure a supported base onto which to lay the Insulated Boards, Heat Mat and then Livyn, like I laid in La Maison.

The ceiling on the left side West Room have newer fixed beams and is level, so needs little adjustment fortunately other than the repair to the damaged back beam.

Both rooms will need new back and front wall beams to properly support the floors, before the chipboard is laid.

Having levelled the ceiling I is clear that gaps will be exposed, so I have applied a blanking strip to hide the gap and will stain these once the beams are Sand Blasted and Insulation has been applied.

Gave the floor yet another sweep and filled another wheelbarrow, to reveal the original stone floor that must have been down for circa 100 years!  This will provide a firm based to lay the floor foundation, rather than rubble.  I will get is level from back to front with sand before applying the DPC and Polystrene, topped with reinforced concrete.

La Studio - Mud Ceiling Removal

Removal of the Mud Ceiling was completed by Friday last week in both downstairs rooms and proved easier than expected. These ceiling were a traditional wooden lather and mud construction laid upon the horizontal beams across the voids.  Once the first sections of each were removed the rest were very straight forward, albeit a bit messy & dusty as I let the debris fall to the ground floor.

I thought I could use the wooden lathe and mud to repair some of the platform in the Barn, but discovered that the lathes are too small and longer lengths will be required.  In clearing the debris today, I realised it would have been useful to lay some tarpaulin before to make shovelling easier!

Once exposed it was clear that the last ceiling bean at the rear above the breeze block section was rotten, if fact upon inspection it is clear that there was a wood burner in the middle wall corner at some point with a chimney through the old roof here and the beam is burnt, requiring a new beam or central section to be replaced.  Over the weekend I realised that once blocks are removed and a new rear Glazed Door is installed it will not only allow light in downstairs, but in the upper floor if I installed a glass floor section 70x100cm in this area and i have found a company who will provide the tempered glass to do the job, once everything is prepared and final measurement are available.

Props have been installed to support the damaged last beam and the roof section above the breeze blocks that will be removed to make the new door opening, once the old oil tank support base is removed.. Hopefully with a pneumatic jack hammer I will hire this weekend.

I was able to take some initial measurements of the existing floor levels once the debris was removed and concluded that whilst the floor drops down slightly towards the front the level can be adjusted when I install the Sand Base, before laying the DPC and Polystyrene to create the new 17cm floor on top of the firm stone foundation that has been there for circa 100years.This picture also shows the ladders where the stairs to the loft rooms will be.  This is at the rear against the middle wall in a void created by removal of a broken floor beam, that is the right space ad avoid have to install a replacement beam. I have found some cheap wooden stairs 60cm wide that will fit fine in the space and all clearances seem fine.

La Studio - Masion Grise Work Begins

 Removal Preparation  Work

So Day 1 of the removal started with a test attempt using my Impact Chisel Hammer to remove the old Concrete Oil Tank Base and whilst some patience could have result in success it would be very time consuming, so I have decided to hire a Pneumatic Hammer from LOXAM next week for 2 days which should do the job!

Here are some pics before work starts:

This is the East Side Upper Door to what looks like a Hay Loft

This is the left side, inside the Hay Loft.  The Central Dividing Wall will allow me to knock through to the East Side Loft and install a door between both sides, with internal stairs up to the rear corner of the Hay Loft from downstairs and make good of the space into the ceiling where a rear corner wooden beam would otherwise need replacing

This is the East Side Upstairs.  This gives a 2.5m head clearance and and indicated it seams the roof is "newish" and should allow insulation and plasterboard to be installed, which exposing the original main wood beams 

This is the North East Rear Side Upstairs

This is the East Side Room Downstairs looking towards the West and through the existing door opening 

This is the East Side Room Downstairs looking towards the North East Corner from the existing door opening 

This is the West Side Room Downstairs looking towards the South Door  and shows the internal door opening to the East Side Room

This is the Rear of the East Side Room Downstairs looking from the South Door to the North. It shows where the rear stone wall was removed to allow the Oil Tank to be inserted.

I will remove the Breeze Blocks and install double French Doors to a rear patio area 

I decided to started by removing the floor ceilings in both side and it is proving a lot easier than expected, as the mud floor is simple laid on  some Wooden Lathe Strips across the main support beams, without any fixings and then mud applied about 30mm thick and left to dry.  I managed to remove all of the Left West Side and about 1/4 of the Right East Side today.

It has proved useful as this material will be saved and can then be used to repair the platform floor in the main barn in an original manner in the damaged areas.  RESULT!!