The window frame was made from some oak beams of 10cm by 20cm sections to take a 60cm by 75cm window. That's the internal dimensions of the window. The window is actually about 4cm larger all around as it is fitted to the inside face of the frame. Just for fun and a little authenicity I used oak pegs to made the joints in the frame. Because the joints in the frame might leak on the window sill there are two channels cut into the underside of the sill and a plastic membrane running under the sill and up behind the window. Hopefully this should allow and water to drain away outside, rather than collect in the wall and cause a damp problem inside.

Making the hole in the stone wall is a little scary, as the hole always seems to end up about twice the size that you need it because of errant large stones. From the photo you can see the inside beam at the top of the hole that protudes right into the wall. The new window was deliberately positioned right under this beam so that I only needed to use one acro prop to support all the stone above the window. As you can see quite a lot of stone still falls out which all needs putting back in. Personally I use quite a dry mix of mortar so that there is very little 'cement water' that seeps out to stain the face of the stonework. Any mortar is also raked out at this stage to leave a gap between the stones for pointing later.

The inside of the window is just shuttered with some old planks and concrete used to fill out the inside wall. I used a couple of bits of oak beam to make the internal lintel then infilled with stone above. The internal lintel is not shown in this photo. The internal stonework and concrete has to wait until the external stonework is complete, but not all the external stonework can be done at once. Therefore this whole process has taken several days, by building up several layers of stone outside, backfilling with concrete, then more outside stonework etc. etc.

Personally I pretty pleased with the end result. Things are really starting to move along quite swiftly and the downstairs rooms should start taking shape soon.

Two new windows have been fitted downstairs. The replacement windows are just direct swaps for the old windows, but as usual with old houses nothing is ever quite that simple. Getting the old windows out took much longer than anticipated. The old wooden windows had been cemented in place along with some metal brackets cemented into the stonework inside. Removing the old windows meant lots of chipping away around the frame to get all the old mortar out. The downside was that once removed, the inside face of the brickwork was not vertical or very flat. Not ideal for the new windows.

The first two pictures show some batons of wood fixed around the inside of the window to provide a guide for adding mortar (strong mix) to the inside face of the window opening. The brickwork was about 1.5cm off vertical between top and bottom. Once the mortar was set it was actually easy to fit the new windows, just a bead of silicon and some simple metal angle brackets to screw the window home. Between the sill and the bottom of the window I also added an expanding waterproof foam strip, compriband, for extra protection against water ingress.

Whilst the mortar for the windows was setting I was also able to tackle the old fireplace in the kitchen. As in the lounge this was once a traditional, very large, Breton fireplace (a bit like an inglenook) but also bricked up with a smaller breeze block fireplace painted green and brown! The kitchen didn't need a fireplace so it was to be demolished and blocked up. The chimney stack will be re-used by the house next door. Once all the breeze block was removed and the concrete hearth lifted I found, yet again, the original granite mantlepiece. Fortunately this time it was in one piece and in good condition. I intend to use this to re-create the hearth in the renovation fireplace in the lounge.

And if all that wasn't enough I've also been shopping for materials. I've bought 80 square meters of maritime pine floorboards to plank out upstairs. Fortunately the local supermarket had a promo on for various DIY tools and I bought a 2 tonne chain hoist (palan a chaine) for just 24 euros. It made light work getting all the floorboards upstairs and also came in useful to lift the granite mantelpiece out of the floor.

I've also ordered from the builders merchants loads of wood, metalwork for stud walling and insulation. That all arrives tomorrow morning, so I'm going to be fairly busy for a while. I did originally also have 400 square meters of plasterboard coming but I've delayed that for now, otherwise it just gets in the way.

Oh, alongside all this activity Debbie has also been doing some garden designing. The weather has really started to feel like spring for the last few days which has spurred us on about the garden.

No rest around here recently.

brittany renovation

The lintel is 20cm thick, the width of the board, which doesn't leave much room above to pour in the concrete. To make it a bit easier I knocked up a 'chute' out of scrap wood to slide the concrete in the gap. Apart from laying a few lengths of iron rod into the mould it was just a matter of pouring, tamping and pouring. It ended up taking 6 or 7 mixer loads (I lost count) to fill the thing up.

Judging by the state of the concrete I poured last week I reckon I should leave this for at least a week before removing the shuttering. I can, in the meantime, re-fill the hole above the lintel either side of the beam with stone to support the wall above. Once everything has set firm I can take out the supporting beam and then finally fill the last hole.

The other thing I did today, which was very satisfying, was put in three of the new windows. All three went in like a dream. I had been very meticulous ensuring that the oak frames and window sills were all level, square and vertical. It certainly paid off. The windows came with some metal brackets that twisted into a groove on the edge of the window and then just screwed onto the inside of the oak frame. A little silicon mastic around the edge and squoodge, installed. One handy thing about the windows is that when delivered they come with temporary spacers around each opening pane to 'lock' the whole assembly square. There is a tiny bit of give, but not a lot. The supplied instructions said to remove the opening window panes, fit the frame, check the diagonals for square, then re-fit the panes after everything had set. I couldn't see the point, so installed the whole lot all in one and just made sure the top and bottom edges of the window panes were level. Checking later in the day confirmed my laziness paid off, as everything worked fine.

The other good news is that the roofers finished the front today and removed the scaffolding ready to start on the back. So to celebrate, here is a photo of progress so far, compared to the starting point.

All in all a good day, the building is starting to go back together and look like a house again.

brittany renovation