My enthusiasm and drive is returning. The three rooms and the corridor upstairs in the gite have been painted. Classic white ceilings and cream/magnolia walls.

Abricot gite
master bedroom

Compared to UK prices French paint is very expensive, about two or three times the price. No idea why, maybe someone else knows. Anyway the upshot is that we had about 150 litres of emulsion paint shipped over from England by Caroline's parents to paint both gites. Before painting the plasterboard, and after filling all the joints and screw holes, I bought some sous-couche plaque de platre from my favourite DIY store. It was only 8 euros (5 pounds) for 10 litres. It worked really well as a white undercoat on the board removing much of the grey board colour and helped prevent the paint being soaked up like a sponge. The smell and consistency of the sous-couche reminded me of PVA adhesive. People have advised me that bare walls should be 'washed' with diluted PVA before painting, so maybe this stuff does the job.

This feels like a major step forward and the place is alot less like a building site and more and more like a holiday cottage.

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At last all the taping and jointing of the plasterboard upstairs in the gite has been finished. All the walls and ceilings have been rubbed down and caulked ready for painting next week.

As you can most probably tell, it's my least favourite job. Dusty, tedious and time consuming, but because I can't plaster, I don't have alot of choice.

Also it doesn't make it any easier the fact that I've been through this whole process once before in the other gite, which is now finished, and I just want to get to the end.

Started back working on the gite on Monday taping and jointing the plasterboard walls and ceilings upstairs in the gite. The corridor and two bedrooms have both had thier first coats and the third bedroom is next.

It's a bit of a tedious long winded job but once finished the walls and ceilings will be ready for painting. Slow but steady progress at the moment.

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As some of you may have guessed I've been taking quite of bit of time off recently from the gite renovation work. The first of the two gites, Fraise, was finished at the beginning of September and we've since had some guests to stay. Lots of nice comments about the finish and presentation make the hard work worth it and a little out of season income is always welcome in a seasonal business.

The second gite, Abricot, got a little attention, a bit of tiling and fitting sanitaryware, but the fatigue had set in. So, time for a break. A sabatical. Apart from catching up with a few odd jobs around the house and the inevitable repairs etc. in the existing gites I've been taking it easy. Much more socialising (good for my French) going to the cinema (first time for three years), and generally catching up for the three lost years whilst we've been building a business.

But, there is still about two months work (maybe three) to finish off the second gite and that is planned to start in the new year. So until then I going to continue to relax, have a lazy Christmas and do some more of the things we all came to France to enjoy.

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I was thinking back to the start of our gite renovation project when I just didn't know where to start, what job to do first, the 'correct' order of work etc. It was all a bit overwhelming and difficult to focus at times.

Having a good grasp of the order of works does mean better scheduling/devis of the trades; macon, electrician, plumber etc, and act as a checklist of jobs to do and things to buy. Buying large quantities of materials too early is a pain as you seem to spend alot of time moving stuff around or climbing over it.

In our case we are in Brittany and started converting a barn with a mud floor, stone walls and slate roof. So, from memory this is the rough order we did things in and it worked OK for us.

• Plans – draw up building plans
• Permits – obtain necessary permissions + fosse if necessary
• Excavate floor
• Holes in walls for PTT, Electrics, Water, Gaz, Drains
• Lay hardcore/sand and soil pipes according to plan. If necessary gaine for water, electric.
• Waterproof membrane, insulation and metal grid for concrete floor
• Lay gaine for electric feeds from fusebox
• Concrete floor
• Openings for doors, windows
• Fit doors and windows
• Fit Veluxes
• Upper floor(s) ceiling joists
• Upper floor(s) internal studwork (metal or wood) + doors
• Hidden cable and pipe runs (VMC, heating, water, waste, lights and power) as plan
• Plasterboard ceilings + make loft hatch(es)
• Plasterboard and insulate walls
• Tape and joint or plaster walls and ceilings
• Ground floor screed/chape
• Ground floor studwork and internal doors/frames
• Hidden cable and pipe runs (VMC heating, water, waste, lights and power) as plan
• Insulate and plasterboard
• Tape and joint/plaster
• Floor tiling/grouting
• Staircases (possibly earlier or later as may get damaged)
• Fit showers/baths
• Tile bathrooms
• Fit remaining sanitaryware, toilets, basins…
• Wood trims, architrave, etc.
• Paint ceilings/walls throughout
• Paint doors/frames thoughout
• Fit door furniture
• Upstairs flooring
• Skirting boards and ceramic floor plinths
• Fit electric switches, sockets, lights, TV points, PTT…
• Fit kitchen cabinets
• Kitchen worktops and sink + taps/hob and appliances (Dishwasher…)
• Connect services, water, electric, … and check and get inspections if necessary
• Ceiling/loft insulation

I haven't mentioned roofing or temporary electrical/water supplies as in my case the roof was sound and I had a long extension lead!

Installed the electric radiators and towels rails in the new gite. We've got a booking in Fraise gite at Christmas so they will definitely need heating, unlike in the Summer. Fortunately we had planned to install heaters, so installation was very easy. Just a simple connection to an existing heating socket. However the towel radiators we forgot about, so I had to run some new circuits behind existing walls. Not an easy job threading cable behind plasterboard etc. Lots of string, bendy bits of plastic and another person poised by a small hole in the wall ready to grab anything that moves.

Electric heating (well electric) is very expensive to run in France and we did consider other forms of heating the gites. The downside of the alternatives is that the capital outlay (installation cost) is much much higher than for electric heaters, and for the most part the gites are unoccupied during the winter months. So the electric heaters seemed a reasonable trade-off in terms of installation cost versus running costs.

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Intentional holes I would add. After shopping all day Monday to buy heaters, towels rails and roof vents today seemed like as good a time as any to get on the roof. I'm not that keen on heights but the only way to install the roof vents was from the outside. Two vents, one for the septic tank (waste gas from the bacteria) and the other for the VMC. The VMC is a small extractor fan unit that sits in the loft and extracts moist air from the bathrooms and the kitchen via a network of ducting. It's a standard fitting in French houses (and gites) and quietly runs 24 hours a day sucking out damp air. There is a detector in the unit so that if the moisture content increases (during a bath or cooking for example) it sucks harder.

The vents are about the same size as a slate tile and are almost a direct replacement for a slate and fit flush with the roof line. The previous owner of the house left a home made cat ladder that rests on the roof with the bottom of the ladder sticking into the guttering. I've seen the French roofers doing the same thing, using the guttering to support the cat ladder on the roof. Fortunately all our guttering is zinc and very securely fixed to the gite. I'm not sure I'd do the same with plastic guttering.

Once the first slate (the hardest) is off the roof the others just slide out because they are all held on with stainless steel hooks. One end hooks onto a batten and the other to the bottom of the tile. You need to remove about 10 tiles from around the proposed site so you can slot the vent in place and get the flashing under the adjacent tiles. Replacing the tiles is as simple as removal, just hook them over the hooks working from the bottom up. The last couple of tiles are the hardest as they sliding up under the existing tiles. It was much easier having someone inside the loft space to coax the last couple of tiles into place.

Now my knees have stopped knocking I can have that glass of wine postponed from lunch.

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With the first gite (Fraise) finished and the guests installed, it's back to work. However there was a major amount of tidying up and sorting out to do in the second gite (Abricot). As we neared completion over the final week we just dumped all the spare materials, packing, off-cuts and all the various tools and equipment into the gite next door. By Sunday it was choc-a-block full of stuff. You could hardly walk across the floor.

The last couple of days I've been to the tip (rubbish dump) with three van loads of junk and had a major clearout of my workshop and barn. Once I'd made space in the barn and workshop it meant I could move everything out of the second gite and sort out all my tools etc. and make a clean fresh start.

Amazingly I've only lost one screwdriver in the whole eight months, but seem to have gained about ten 5mm drill bits. All the spare electrical, plumbing, screws, nails, etc. are nicely sorted into boxes and easy to hand. It did get to the point at the end where it was quicker to go to the shops for a much needed part than rummage through the debris looking for a piece. I think this time I'll be a little tidier and more organised.

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That's it, the first gite is finally finished, with guests in residence. Phew!

The last couple of days have been a marathon cleaning exercise. The tiled floors downstairs needed a hands-and-knees scrubbing several times. We did have dust sheets down, but somehow the muck gets through. Next time I think I'll be a little more careful about protecting the floor. All the curtains and net curtains Caroline made have been hung, pictures on walls, furniture moved in and everything finally ready. We really really need a holiday, we are both completely physically and mentally exhausted.

Below are photos of the new gite showing the living room, dining area, kitchen and the two upstairs bedrooms. We are trying to find a traditional old fashioned wooden bed in a Breton style for the master bedroom. Once we do the pine bed will move to the downstairs bedroom.

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It's been a hectic week trying to finish off the gite ready for our first paying guests on Sunday. I thought they were arriving on Saturday, but fortunately we've got an extra day!

The downstairs disabled bathroom is finally finished. Ian, myself and Caroline have been tiling, grouting, painting, etc. furiously to complete the room. I'm really pleased with the walk in shower, I just wish I had one myself. Hopefully having the wheelchair/disabled access should help with out of season business for the gite.

One bug bear is that almost without exception the fittings supplied by the manufacturers for things like toilet roll holders, shower curtains, coat hooks, etc. are woefully inadequate. I usually throw away the tiny screws and plugs they supply and go and find something about twice the size.

An unexpected and pleasant surprise was the arrival this morning of three window barriers. We asked the local firm that fitted our stairs to give us a quote to make, supply and fit three window barriers for the upstairs windows. It being August at the time, and the whole of France on holiday, we didn't hold out much hope for them to arrive on time. However by lunchtime three new garde corps installed and looking splendid. A coat of finish needed, but a necessary safety addition and one more job ticked off the list.

It seems to happen quite regularly that French firms and businesses just seem to come up trumps and pull everything together at the last minute. It's happened on many occasions with this project, the roofer, the gas fitter, the electrician, … nothing happens for months, then a quick phone call and they arrive the next day and sort it all out. It's just something you have to get used to and not get stressed out about. It turns out OK in the end.

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