I am very pleased to say that the jointing (crepie) has now been completed in the kitchen and I am absolutely ecstatic that I have solved the mystery of the water invasion.
Firstly the water. As originally suspected, the sheer weight of water coming from the large barn which is attached at 90 degrees as I illustrated in the video of the 5th June.
I placed a channel of upside down canal tiles in the gulley that the water was falling from the roof and it has done the trick. It is a temporary measure and when I get time, certainly before the winter, I will put up some oversized galvanised guttering.
As far as the barn is concerned we achieved another milestone. All of the internal walls which were previously mud joints have now been jointed using Renocal (a natural lime product) and building sand.
My next task is to ease all of the right angle joints on the block work which forms the inside skin of the wall before plastering with the Lutece 2000 lime plaster.
My little list will then read like this.
Plaster the wall and the pier with Lutece.
Install all of the electrical conduits to the wall sockets before tiling the floor.
Make three windows and fix in place.
Source and lay the kitchen floor.
Install and connect up the radiators to the heating system.
Install (make or purchase - still not sure) kitchen island with incorporated sink.
So the list is getting ever shorter which is really pleasing. I have a couple of little chores to do around the gite and swimming pool after which I need to modify what is the existing kitchen into a bedroom for Henry.
A good little tip if you want to make your French property look old and authentic. If you are using new concrete or terracotta blocks to form the internal skin but want to lose that sharp angle. Just break the angular bit away with a small hammer until the edge look blunt.
Do not worry that it looks ragged and take it back far enough and try and imagine crafting the plaster so that it flows around. Do not worry about getting it uniform. If you are like me you will actually be wanting to create undulations to soften the look.
