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Barn House

The Gite

Improvements under way

 

Barn House

The Gite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cath & Doug Smith
La Tronchaise
87150 Oradour sur Vayres
France

thesmiths@latronchaise.fr

 

The Gîte
We had to remove the floor timbers that were infested with dry rot. That left some big holes in the floor!

Dry rot infested timbers were removed, leaving some very large holes in the floor!
 

 All the walls were dry lined to insulate and eliminate draughts

We dry lined all the internal walls using metal studding and expanded polystyrene.
 

 

All the walls were dry lined to insulate and eliminate draughts

 

 

 

First steps towards a working fireplace

We cast a concrete lintel in situ and then tiled the fireplace ready for the wood burning stove

 

 Fireplace finished, wood burning stove installed and a piece of chestnut wood from one of our own trees forming a mantelpiece

Wood burner in place and a chestnut wood beam cut from one of our own trees!

 

 First fix electrics - lots of conduits and carefully labelled cables

First fix electrics involved lots and lots of conduit and cable - all carefully labelled at each end for the electrician

 
We installed the kitchen and tiled the wall

We found some lovely kitchen units, installed them and tiled the wall behind

 

 We removed all the original windows and door. We burnt off the many layers of old paint and varnish and carefully rubbed them down to a smooth finish. We then re-painted them in an attractive red colour and replaced them.

Next came the walls. We used a  special finish - 'Murs du Autre Fois' or, in English - walls of olden days. It is spread over the walls and completed with a coloured wax finish.

Finally, we turned our attention to the floor. It was a bit of a mess. Some nice wooden floorboards remained but there were also some area of rotten wood, some concrete and some chipboard. There was no other solution than to tile.
 


Upstairs, internal walls were erected and doors fitted


Upstairs, walls were erected and a small room for a toilet was constructed

 We painted the bedroom walls and stained the floorboards
Bathroom units and healted radiator were installed in the newly decorated shower room Upstairs we erected new internal walls and created a separate bedroom, shower room and toilet.

All the upstairs rooms were painted and the floorboards were stained.

The shower room was fitted out with a wash basin and shower - et voila!

 A shower cubicle was carefully installed in the shower room