Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Laying the Pipework

We finally got our permis de construire towards the end of November and at that point proper construction could start.

The floor to the cottage was just earth with tiles on top in some places. The builders dug down and cut channels for the interior wall foundations and laid the pipework to the downstairs bathroom and kitchen. A damp-proof course and insulation then went over the pipes and a new cement floor was laid on top.


Suddenly we could see what the downstairs will look like: there on the ground is the outline of the kitchen, hallway, staircase, bathroom, lounge.

I worried that the staircase looked too narrow and wondered if we would get the bedroom furniture up the stairs. The builders laughed and reassured me it's ample.

They dig under the wall by the front door and bring the pipework to the outside. The builders are Polish and they mutter about French building work and the lack of foundations.



Digging down round the cracked west wall exposes the fragility of the foundations in this area - it will have to be backfilled with concrete.

No comments: