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Renovating our house in France
January 2010
MAJOR RENOVATION OF THE OUTSIDE WALLS
July 2009. The scaffolding arrived (thank you Olivier) and Jean-Pierre and Perry got to work, building it up against the north side of the house. It has been a long-standing plan to remove the cement that was applied to the outside walls some 40 years ago. It stops the walls from breathing, so the inside of the house can get humid. Since the original walls are made of earth and set on the ground without anything in the way of foundations, they draw up water. Since that cannot escape to the outside, it appears on the inside. Salt peter crystals break through and leave stains, mould grows and items such as books suffer.
The plan was to remove as much of the cement as possible from outside, then replace it with chalk (chaux) which breaths and alows moisture to escape. Easier said than done.
Perry bought two percussion drills and he and Jean-Pierre attacked the walls. Some came off in big chunks, a lot in small chips. Either way, it was very hard work for seven days in the hot sun.
In the north wall we found a series of rat runs and nests. They are now filled with chaux, so hopefully we have cut off nearly all entrances for them to return.
Once all the cement was off, we then nailed chicken wire over the whole house.
This acts as a holdfast for the new chaux. The cement at the top of the house was still good so we left it. The important thing is that the lower part of the house can breath and release the humidity that climbs up from the earth.
Nine tons of sand and almost two full palettes of chaux were mixed and shovelled into wheelbarrows, then shovelled again up to Jean-Pierre, who then scooped it up with the projector and spread it onto the walls. The first few days were hell, but it got easier.
The south wall revealed all sorts of surprises. Hidden pipes, electric cables and
colombage (half timbers). It was in too bad a state to clean up and so we covered it
again with chaux.
Teamwork!
All the cement we took off is now outside the studio at the back of the house. We plan to use it for the bed of the terrace that we'll be laying some time in the future. But first the barn roof needs replacing...
Once the chaux was dry, we started building a skirt around the house from local stones. The fields here are full of smooth rocks of all sizes, so we had free material which was mortared with a special breathable chalk product. This allows moisture to escape yet keep salt peter from coming to the surface and leave stains.
We used old chimney bricks which are much harder than ordinary bricks. These were originally made by grinding down normal bricks into a paste and firing them again, making them incredibly hard and able to withstand the heat of a chimney.
The bricks were used to trim the skirt around the house. Note the two ventilation holes.
In October 2010 we're going to add the second layer which we have the colour we want.
That's the plan at least.
A bientôt.
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