Tag Archives: aspire

Tuesday 18th August 2009 – I STILL HAVEN’T …

… finished this flaming roof, even though I’ve made quite a bit of progress.

The morning was fine and I added the extra rows of slates and then did some cementing up and then cemented in the top row of tiles as far as I had fitted them. No need for ferro-cement though as I managed to get a very good and close fit of the top row of tiles.

I also finished off the drainpipe for the house roof as you can see.

The afternoon was a completely different story.

39.9 degrees and a record 88.8 amp-hours of solar energy will tell you the reason why I didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked.

With the sun beating down directly onto the roof I could only do about 20 minutes at a time before I had to go and cool off in the shade. It wasn’t until the sun went off the roof at about 18:30 that I could have a good hour or so on it.

But this weather is absolutely superb if you don’t have any manual work to do. It’s just like the summers we used to have when we were kids. Apart from the little bit of cloud yesterday we’ve had no rain for 9 days and the temperature hasn’t been below 30 degrees for 10 days. In fact, even as I write, it’s 27 degrees IN MY ROOM here.

On Friday there’s a 30% chance of rainfall and then it’s back to the sun again. Will it ever end? I hope not!

-3

Monday 17th August 2009 – I’VE MADE MUCH MORE PROGRESS TODAY …

… as you can see. There are now 12 rows of slates on the roof.

There is in fact 2m95 of roof, and each row of slates covers 17.5 cms, so 12 rows means that I’ve covered 2m10. 85cms to go means 5 rows, plus the topping-out row still to do.

You might be wondering why I’m not building up the back edge as I go along. The fact is that there is nothing particular underneath the back of the lean-to whereas my living accommodation is to the front. So I want to get that done as quickly as possible and can cut the slates to shape for the back edge once I’ve got my living bit covered.

After that I need to do the edging tiles, make some ferro-cement for the ridgepiece, and then fit the guttering as best as I can – depending upon whenever the bits come into stock at Brico Depot.

The postie came round this morning (bringing with her a big parcel that I’ve been waiting for for about 2 months and told me to get a move on as we are going to have a storm in the afternoon. It did in fact cloud right over at midday but the “storm” was about 6 raindrops. A storm in a teacup you might think.

At solar midday (about 14:10 round here) I happened to be in the house looking at the solar controller for the three panels that are currently connected up. And lo and behold! 19.4 amps! The highest I’ve ever had on any set-up. And 80.8 amp-hours in total (before the batteries topped out). In fact the solar charge in the house for the last few days has read 80.8, 64.5, 73.8, 83.3, 78.9, 68.0, 66.0. This is all pretty impressive.

And what else was pretty impressive was that at the Anglo-French group tonight there were more French-speakers than English-speakers. Only the second time that that has ever happened as far as I am aware.

-3

Sunday 2nd August 2009 – LOOK WHAT I’M HAVING FOR TEA!

Yes, new potatoes! And grown with my own fair hands too.

In fact there’s a story behind these potatoes. Readers of my blog in its previous incarnation will recall the sad passing-away of my good friend Liz.

On my way to her funeral I stopped off at a Pound Shop (Anyone who knew Liz would know that she would have appreciated that!) and one of the things that they had on offer was a pack of 12 well-advanced seed potatoes for a quid. So they duly found their way into my garden, and then into my oven.

And right delicious they were too. I’ve been having lettuce from my garden for a few days but today I’m starting on the spuds. Tomorrow it will also be the peas, beans and carrots, with courgettes planned for later in the week.

This morning I had a telehone call that disturbed me from my reverie. It was Francois who wanted to come and inspect the work. And at 10:00 too! On a Sunday! So I hauled myself out of my pit, breakfasted, and showed him round. He pointed out a few faults (he’s a professional roofing carpenter) and I had to agree with him.

Mind you, this is the first roof I’ve ever done and Terry has only ever done one before so it’s only to be expected. Francois also reminded me of the chantier at his house on Thursday – emptying the library before his house goes up for sale. But it’s doubtful that I’ll be there. I’ve far too much on right now.

Once he’d gone I slated the side of the rafters where I painted yesterday. That should keep the weather out nicely. And after lunch I started to cement under the eaves. My cementing is awful and I bet I dropped more on the floor that I stuck to the walls but after a bit of practice it started to hod together – which is a major advance for me. I’ll finish it off tomorrow night.

Once it’s dried off properly I can start to paint the front of the house and won’t that be progress?

-6

Thursday 30th July 2009 – THE HOUSE ROOF IS ALMOST FINISHED …

… as you can see in the pic. The only part that remains to be done is the bit to the side of the chimney and seeing as we have to get up to there to treat the woodwork (we are very generous) and put slates down the sides, that bit can wait til we have the scaffolding around there.

The aluminium troughs you see on the roof are the mountings for the framework for the solar panels and we should be fitting them tomorrow if all goes well. 800 watts near enough if all goes well and with that I shall be certainly ready for action. And if Terry is feeling up to it we may even have a go at putting the wind turbine up too.

By the way, do you like the ridge tiles? They are the ordinary plastic slates scored down the middle with the groove filled with contact adhesive. They were screwed onto the front of the roof with the stainless steel screws and silicone-backed washers and left for a few minutes to catch the sun. Once the sun had caught them they were easy to bend over the apex and screw onto the back of the house. Those silicone-backed washers were quite a find, I can tell you.

After Terry had gone I noticed that the water I had in the black plastic container covered with an old caravan window had reached 35 degrees. Cue the 12-volt shower (not the OUSA Executive Committee – the xylophrene for disposing of nasty little pests will take care of them) and I had a gorgeous scrub of my dirty bits. Following that I crashed out for an hour (it’s wearing me out all this work) and then tidied up my room so I now can sit comfortably in it.

In other news, Gilles came round this morning and had a guided tour of the works. He’s just finished renovating his cottage at La Cellette and he’s organising a barbecue for a week on Friday for all of us. I like Gilles and he did help me out when a solar panel needed fixing after a gale that we had in the winter so I shall be delighted to go.

This is an isolated rural area here with houses few and far between yet I’ve engaged in much more socialising and made many more friends than I ever did when I lived in Brussels.

-5

Wednesday 29th July 2009 – NO PHOTOS TODAY, PEOPLE.

And it’s hardly surprising. Terry was round early and we got on the roof and carried on slating. This required some intricate work around the roof windows and I surprised myself by being prepared for such an eventuality with some stainless steel screws and silicone-backed washers.

After lunch we were back up there to carry on but by now it was 35 degrees and everything on the roof was so hot that it was agonising to pick anything up. No use in working so at 14:30 we called it a day.

Terry went home to his good lady and I took a book and a drink into the comfort and safety of the water room. Once the sun moved from out of direct line with the roof I got back up on the scaffolding and painted the underneath of the eaves with xylophrene, a product that protects wood against dry rot, wet rot and nasty little pests (that’ll stop members of OUSA’s Executive Committee visiting me) and then with some of the brown wood preservative.

During all of this I had a visit from Tijas and his mum and so a guided tour was organised.

After all of that I was exhausted and it took me all of my best efforts to cook some food. I’m going to have to find myself a willing assistant for that kind of thing.

In other news, you simply cannot believe how craven the UK has become. Refusing to disclose the torture undergone by a British subject by the Americans in Cuba, on the grounds that the USA won’t share any more secrets with the Brits. Terry and I had a chat the other day about how pathetic the UK is becoming. Most Brits believe that it is still a significant world power yet as these events go to show, the UK is nothing more than an insignificant offshore island and a mere puppet of Great Satan. HIgh time all of the Brits grew up and had a good look around them. But with 24-hour drinking and 500 channels on the TV all showing “Corrie” and Big Bother, it just goes to prove that 99% of the population of the UK is totally brain-dead.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was all about bread and circuses, and I don’t see much difference.

-4

Tuesday 28th July 2009 – AT FIRST GLANCE ….

… this photo doesn’t look any different from that of yesterday. However, if you look closely you can see that we have put some slates on the roof.

10 rows in fact.

As soon as Terry came round we cracked on with it but as the day wore on we came across a problem of a different and most unexpected kind.

It was a blinding hot summer’s day and the heat was intense. And here we were, handling black slates made from recycled plastic whilst leaning on a black rubberised sheet of damp-proof membrane. By early afternoon Terry had resorted to gloves to handle the slates and I, leaning on top of the damp-proof membrane, had resorted to building a ladder-bridge to keep my body off the roasting surface. You can see the ladder on the left of the roof.

Clearly we couldn’t continue like that and by 16:00 we were obliged to call it a day.Terry plans to be round earlier tomorrow and we can bash on with the slating before it gets too hot and hopefully we can fit the base of the framework for the solar panels. It will be nice to have electricity in here again. But first I have to invent some kind of gauge to measure angles from the horizontal.

After Terry left I had resolved to paint the underside of the plywood but as it was so hot and promises to be so tomorrow I did a load of washing instead. And with constant interruptions for an endless series of phone calls and visits from Claude and Tijas I didn’t manage to get anything else done.

It just leaves me more to do tomorrow, I suppose.

-3

Monday 27th July 2009 – WE’RE CRACKING ON WITH THIS ROOF!

If you look very closely you will see that we’ve put on all of the plywood, the damp-proof membrane and we’ve fitted the windows in the roof.

Terry came round for 09:00 and we cracked straight on with it. A brief pause for lunch after we’d done the plywood, which was awkward getting around the chimney and it’s a good job I can wield a hammer with my left hand as well as I can with my right … "that’s not difficult" – ed …

Putting the membrane on was easier than I would have thought, and the windows were comparatively straightforward.

It was grey and overcast for all of the day so I remember telling Terry “as soon as we’ve put this last screw in the final window I reckon it’s going to p155 down”.

I was wrong. We had to wait about 20 seconds for the downpour. And quite pleasant it was too, watching the rain stream off the membrane and off the windows. But it was clear that there would be no more work done outside today so even though it was only about 15:30 (I told you we’d worked hard) Terry went home.

I had a coffee and then swept up inside the house and piled all the broken slates onto a tarpaulin. You might womder why I’m keeping them, but in fact I’m moving my vegetable plots this winter and there will be some permanent pathways. Slugs don’t like sliding on slate, so I’m told, and seeing as they are decimating my crops right now, I’m going to have to do something to stop them next year. So slate it is.

All we have to do now is
1) slate the front of the house
2 fit the brackets for the solar panels and mount them (that will be exciting – I should sell tickets for that) and wire them up
3) bend the ridge tiles to shape and fit them
4)move part of the scaffolding round to the side to extend that which is already there.
5) bend the edging tiles to shape and fit them
6) fix the wind turbine to the wall and wire it in
7) remove the tiles from the lean-to where I live, put the scaffolding on the flat roof underneath there and then bend the edging tiles to shape and fit them
8) dismantle the scaffolding.
9 replace all of the wood and the tiles on the lean-to.

When that’s done we can start on the barn.

In other news, the annual game of “10 Green Bottles” is now under way as a member of the Open University Students Association Executive Committee hands in his hat.
“Ill-health”, we are told.
“That’s right” he replied. “I’m sick of the b*gg*rs”

We are going to start a sweepstake for the name of the next EC member to depart.

-4

Saturday 25th JULY 2009 – I WAS GOING TO SHOW YOU ALL ….

… a photo of the front of the house with the insulation on, but we didn’t have time to take a photo of it.

I was up early this morning and while waiting for Terry I did some tidying up in the barn. I have to record this as me tidying up in the barn is a pretty rare event,

First thing that Terry and I did after he arrived was to thread 4 strands of 6mm cable through a 25mm flexible conduit (for the two solar arrays that will be on the roof) and 2 strands of 6mm cable through some 25mm flexible conduit for the wind turbine that will be on the apex of the roof. Then we cut a channel through the wall, fastened the conduit in and cemented it down. So that’s the wiring organised.

Dave turned up some time through the performance and if two pairs of hands are a vast improvement on one, then three pairs of hands are an even greater improvement. We had the insulation on in no time and without stopping fastened down the battening and had half the plywood on by 17:00. That was some impressive work and we can be proud of what we accomplished today.

Tomorrow Terry is having a day off and taking Liz to the chainsaw-carving. We have to keep Liz happy as our supplies of food depend upon it and the food is too good to miss out on. I’m going to have one of those rare days where I’m going to sit around the house and do absolutely nothing at all. I think I’ve earned it.

-5

Friday 24th July 2009 – WE WERE LUCKY WITH THE WEATHER TODAY

Mostly cool and overcast, with just the occasional passing shower. A good day for working on the roof and so with no misadventures and without any excitement we finished the slating of the back of the roof.

By 16:00 it was all done and as it wasn’t worth starting anything fresh we called it a night.

We had plenty of visitors though. Liz passed by to check up on us, followed by Claude and then by Dave (or Mr Blobby as those of you who followed this blog over from its previous home will remember) who drove over from La Chatre to check up on us, and finally by Tijas.

Despite my reference earlier to “a passing shower”, no-one from the Open University Students Association Executive Committee came here.

Dave acompanied us, not to the police station but to Terry and Liz’s where he was introduced to Liz’s cooking and was then given a guided tour over the Viaduc des Fades.

I’m back at home for now as I have so much to do and in any case Terry and Liz deserve some peace and quiet.

Tomorrow we are starting on the front of the roof. This will be easier to do but we have to fit the two windows and the brackets for the solar panels so I doubt if it will be quicker.

-5

Thursday 23rd July 2009 – THERE’S NO PICTURE TODAY, FOLKS.

We woke up at about 08.30 today to torrential (and I DO mean torrential) rain and thunderstorms. You should have seen the water cascading down the road – it was impressive.

well, not so impressive for working on a roof so we had something of a leisurely morning.

And just as we were settling down for the day the weather dramatically cleared so we went chaud-pied round to my place and the roof.

Chez moi, the weather wasn’t so nice – grey and windy. But that’s the beauty of living round here. The Combrailles is the junction of three different climatic zones (the Mediterranean, The Atlantic and the Continental European). Followers of my outpourings in all its previous guises will recall my discussions about the constantly-changing (and sometimes dramatically so) weather as the fronts collide above my head.

Added to that, the area is an old rocky plateau that is riven by deep valleys and gorges so that each valley has its own little micro-climate and that can often be confusing.

But anyway ….. we trimmed the plywood on the roof and then put on the covering sheet of damp-proof membrane. And that was no fun either, fitting a 10-metre square sheet on a roof in a howling gale.

After lunch I dangled over the roof fitting the tiles with the aid of Terry’s home-made tile hod. I built up the right-hand corner all the way to the top (this is the bit that takes the time – the rest is just quick nailing-on) but then we were driven off the roof and into Caliburn by a torrential downpour (hence the lack of photos).

Back here, it was bright sunshine and totally dry, which just proves my point about the different climates.

We had another marvellous lunch though thanks to Liz. And in the middle Terry announced
“Forget eBay – forget the lottery. If I could clone Liz I would be a millionaire”
“Yes, I would have a Liz clone” I offered
“Forget it, Eric. You’d be trampled to death in the stampede”

-4

Wednesday 22nd July 2009 – DESPITE THE RAGING HEAT THIS MORNING …

… we’ve covered all of the back of the roof now.

All of the insulation is on and you can see that the waterproof plywood is on there covering it up. Most of the waterproof membrane is on too, and half of the slating is done.

It was hard work mauling everything over the top of the roof and with the weather the way it was, it called for frequent pauses that at one stage had us both dozing off.

Terry, having worked on the insulation which reflected brightly with the sun, developed a bit of a headache and asked if I could produce any tablets. Nothing like that round at my place so I wandered off to the Dutch neighbours’

Not a big choice in the medicine cupboard but some unidentified pills looked hopeful.
“They look like Tera’s “Morning After” pills” suggested Tijas, casting aspertions on his sister’s character.
“Actually, I think they might be stuff that Tera keeps for her horses”added Guus.
“Take them anyway” suggested Lieneke. “They might work”

But judging by the way that Terry was running up and down the ladder and swinging from the rafters in the afternoon, I’m sorely tempted to go round tomorrow to see if Guus and Lieneke have any more.

-4

Tuesday 21st July 2009 – WE’VE DONE OVER HALF …

… of the back of the roof now.

Yesterday we put on another row of insulation plywood and damp-proof membrane and then went off to Brico Depot to spend another 400 Euros. This roof is becoming expensive 🙁

We did it that way round because the weather forecast predicted a boiling hot day so we did the heavy work in the morning. Mind you it was still pretty uncomfortable in the heat that we had. And to show you just how concerned I am about my workforce I spent a whole 22 centimes on a bottle of water for Terry. copulatum expensium, as we Pompeiians say

And excitement at the Anglo-French conversation group where Antoine revealed that he had been approached by a Dutch TV company that wants to film one of our meetings. This should drag out of the woodwork a few of the star-struck lurkers of our group. But of course when you have talent like yours truly, dear reader, who needs a makeover?

Today we tiled over the plywood that we fitted yesterday and then started to fit another row. This time we are boarding vertically as we have reached the top row at the back. Tiling was much more easy with the safety harness that Terry persuaded me to buy. I felt like Peter Pan, swinging over the roof like that. But I couldn’t find Peter Pan anywhere so I gave up that idea. When Terry had a go in the safety harness, complete with the wet tea-towel on his head, I told him that he looked like Ena Sharples’ granma.
“Who’s helping you finish the roof?” was his response.

My retort was that I dunno why he was complaining. In Soho and places like that people pay good money to be swung from a safety harness from the roof of a building (not that I have any first-hand experience of that sort of thing of course) and if he wasn’t careful I’ll knock the money’s worth off his bill.

Now we are having torrential rain, thunder and lightning. I hope it clears for tomorrow.

-4

Sunday 19th July 2009 – WE STARTED PUTTING …

… the tiles back on the roof today as you can see in the pic, if it ever decides to load itself.

What you will also see is an overhanging ladder. The ground at the back of the house doesn’t belong to me so we can’t put a scaffolding up. This meant that yours truly had to sit perched on the bottom of that ladder hanging over a bottomless void while he built up the bottom few rows of the tiling.

Those of you who know me will know that I have a thing about ladders and heights, and so a photo of me on the end would have been priceless, But Terry, who was up on the roof, had his eyes closed while I was doing it.

And so did I.

How we are doing the roof is that we are putting the insulation on – this space-blanket stuff that’s hellishly expensive but brilliant, and then putting counter battens on top of the insulation. The third layer is some waterproof plywood, with the counter-battens making the air gap that the insulation needs, and then a damp-proof membrane and then finally the recycled plastic tiles.

As Terry was leaving he told me to put on the rest of the tiles for the first row of plywood, and make sure I do them straight. Well, I did my best, but in years to come people will be coming up here, looking at the tiles and going “I wish I had a pint of whatever it was that he was on when he was putting all those tiles on”

-3

Tuesday 14th July 2009 – I HAD AN EARLY NIGHT LAST NIGHT

Yes, after the bedtime story (I can get quite used to staying at Liz and Terry’s), which was “The Chronologically-Challenged Duck That Was Admired More For Its Personal Qualities Than Its Physical Attributes”, I dozed off to sleep.

But not for long.

At 01:30 we were treated to the kind of spectacular storm that you only ever see once in a lifetime. Thunder and lightning continually until about 05:00. Impressive was not the word!

Terry stuck his head outside at 07:30 and it came back in wet so it wasn’t until about 08.30 until I got my coffee in bed (I can get quite used to …… “you’ve said that once” – ed) and once the rain quietened down at about 11:00 we set off to continue our attack on my roof. We had all of the chevrons on the front off (and half the front wall as well – this is going to be a longer job than I anticipated – we are even going to have to demolish the chimney and start again) and put half of the new ones on before the rain drove us off the roof again.

Terry came home and I stayed on to do some domestic chores but in actual fact I fell asleep.

It’s still thundering now so I dunno what’s going to happen in the morning. It was odds-on that the weather would change the moment I stripped the tiles off my roof.

-3

EPIC HALL

The Poisoned Pen (or Poisoned Chalice, more like) – or my relentless struggle against reality