La Studio - Ground Floor Insulation & Preparation

 Monday 31st January 2022

So, having laid a Sand Base on the old, stable stone floor last week, today I was able to proceed with laying the DPC to both rooms, as well as the Polystyrene Insulation Boards, that I taped.

East Side Rear

West Side Front

West Side with Grid

A metal grid provides extra reinforcement for the concrete base, although as the original stone floor has not been disturbed and as been down for many years, it should just be extra assurance.

East Side with Leveller

I was then able to check the floor level, which is pretty level across from East to West, but drops from the Back Wall to the Front.  This was perhaps deliberate when the building was used for animals to help with 'run off'.  I had already determine that this could not be corrected as the front ceiling height would be compromised and the door threshold has been limited to 12cm.

I decided install 4 wooden, 5cm thick lengths in each room running front to back, to allow me to lay the concrete and be used to secure the floor as level as possible.  To help I have installed cross supports to raise the level lengths where needed to achieve as level a floor as possible!

So, now I have a 2 day task to mix and lay the concrete in each room and leave it for a week to settle and harden, whilst I attempt more task upstairs.

La Studio - WeekEnding 30th January 2022

Having created the door threshold and east side front window threshold to define the internal floor level on Monday, I was able to move onto to other work, as I needed to wait for the 1Cu3 of sand ordered to provide a smooth base to level the stone stone.

I moved onto the Upstairs and Downstairs Downlighter wiring and succeed in get all the wiring threaded and in place, in advance of the Insulated Plaster boarding to be started on "Valentines Day"; once the downstairs floor is completed next week, hopefully.

Will add pics of Upstairs next week, as I have removed the ladder and did not want to disturb the sand bed. Downstairs I have had to drill through the oak beams to run the cables, but these will be hidden by the 50mm Insulated PB to line in-between each beam . 

I cleared the floor of rubble and wheeled in the Sand, 10/12 wheel barrow loads in each room to use up all the 1cu3 bag I had estimated spreading it just over 2cm across both East and West Side Room and it worked out.

I levelled across the area and then compressed the sand and gave a final soft rake. I will leave this to settle over the weekend, before another compression. This will enable me to lay the DPC, Polystyrene and Metal Grid, before the bigger job of laying 10cm of Concrete next week.  This should allow time over that weekend to dry enough, before starting other work.

East Side Sand Base

East Side Rear

La Studio - Step Formation

 Monday 24th January 2021

Door Thresholds and Internal Floor Level

As planned and despite the early morning frost the rest of the day turned out warmish and work went well on creating the Stone Step for the rear French Doors at the rear.  

I also used an old Oak Bean that I cut to size to use as the Threshold for the front Door and floor level window.  

I laid a damp course for both beams to sit upon and applied some mortar to both, followed by a concrete base on the outside upon which I have laid stone step against which the stone gravel will come up to.

La Studio - January Task 2022 Task List Plan

With the slight relaxation of entry rules to France I have planned to travel across this weekend and should be able to commence the work plan on Monday 24th, if all goes well.

I have organised materials delivery by Gedimat, who have responded really well yet again, and from Leroy Merlin, but will need to sort out electrical items when I get there, as my order was cancelled and it seems prices have nearly doubled!

Here is the Task List for my 30 day visit.

Gray Plot in Colondannes 2021

Here below is the latest aerial view of both La Grange and La Maison, as well as what will become La Studio within our plot at Colondannes.

I suspect it was taken sometime during Summer 2020, as last year I had not erected the Sun Sail on the patio and the grass look too dry for last year.  Hopefully my feeding and seeding during the last year will result in a greener lawn this coming year, even if we have another drought!