MY EXCITING ENCOUNTER WITH A FRENCH PUSSY - MARVEILLEUX

I'm with dag on the work and the champagne. A nail here, a sip there, a pick axe here, a gulp there. Hic.

Lord E., don't you dare go scrubbing off that moss patina from the walls and walkway like you did with the stairs. Moss is beautiful and ancient and people pay a fortune to establish it in their gardens here in the US. I think you should even plant some miniature ferns (spleenworts) in that wall.

I don't speak in contradiction, Greenie - I only lived in the northwest US for about 5 years, and didn't absorb all possible info. Still, moss on roofs was problematic, I gathered.

I'd be interested in the pros and cons on this. Presumably the danger of moss depends on the nature of the roof.

Prior to all that, I lived and worked in LA, where people painted pots with buttermilk to get something to look even mildly mossy...

Osso - not the roof. The moss is all on old stone (see previous pictures), including the stairs. It looks like limestone, and the moss patina gives the feeling of a fairy tale. I"m sure Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella would feel right at home having tea with Lord E. in his courtyard.

see, for us europeans moss is just moss and it has to go. i do like it, but to chime in ond Lordie's behalf, I'd get rid of it, too, being an obsessive cleaner. I think moss is not given the same aesthetic value as it is in the U.S.

Wow, it's one of my favorite plants/textures/colors.

sure, it's beutiful in the forest, but not on my sidewalk. i spent the whole childhood battling moss. plus it keeps moisture - not always good - and all sorts of critters.

merveilleux

I love the idea of having you behind me, Dag, it fair puts a spring in my step.

Actually, Two or three of us slipped down those stairs when we first arrived, and more importantly, I had a case of beer in my hands and anded up smashing three bottles! OUTRAGEOUS!

So...it was decided that the whole entrance needed a scrub and a polish, in order to avoid any future breakages of bottles or bones.

I cleared the stone wall by the well, as we have just had (he's just finished this past weekend) the local dry stone wall builder working on that stretch, repairing a span of about four or five feet that had collapsed.
It WAS covered in brambles and tons of moss, so we just reckoned it would make it easier for him to work on it if it was cleaned.

Ordinarily, if there is a small amount of moss and a few alpine style plants sticking through, I'd be more than happy to leave it, but if the moss just takes over and completely covers the wall, making it look nothing more than a hedge, my wire brush comes out and I take a fair bit of it off.

I'm just about to load some more piccies in a mo.......(must have a comfort break first)

<Ellpus minces to bathroom in rather a hurry......>

(That guy sure spends a lot of time in the bathroom)

Hang on a mo....I've got a crossword on my lap and am trying to work something out with a pencil.

Multitasking!

In the meantime, here's something to keep the French mood going....

OOH LA LA!!............

Unfortunately, my speakers are fried and I can not hear the music.

But if you turn your speakers down and watch the video, such as I did, you will notice startling similarities between the piano man and the one who played in Reefer Madness.

AH! That's a weight off my mind!

Now...where were we?

Oh yes.....one more shot of those bloody levelling pads. We had to use several different combinations of wood bits and pieces, to obtain the exact level. It looks a bit Heath Robinson, but they are all nailed in tight, and when the flooring goes on, they will only receive downward pressure, so they won't be going anywhere in a hurry.

Interesting. I would have used a different method myself.

But yours will work. Just a bit labor-intensive is all

moss crumbles cement over time. i am eastern european. i like cement.

that concludes my moss study for today.

Next fiddly job was to fit strips of plasterboard in between each beam, so that from below it would still allow that full beam to be exposed, whilst giving the appearance of a plaster ceiling in between eacg "run".


So....from above....





(if the above pic comes out sideways, I'll run into the garden, naked with a hot flannel in my mouth, screaming AAARRRGH! I've been trying to adjust it and have done it on my PC, but photobucket keeps showing it as wonky. I'll adjust later if necessary...you'll just have to turn your heads for a while)








,,,,and from below......

On this first pic, you can see the first stage wiring in place, ready for a row of concealed spotlights, which will be above kitchen worktops.

That method was mused over, by four French male neighbours, the funny sounding large male guest we had staying over from Boston, and a Dutch woman who was very formidable and tried very hard to get her own way.
My brother and I sat in the background, drinking copious amounts of Pastis, not wishing to dampen their enthusiasm by telling them that we were bloody miles from nowhere, not a DIY store in sight, we had very limited time and had to use the stock of wood and bits and pieces that were actually on site.

You could have joined us Gus. You would have enjoyed a Pastis, whilst just listening and smiling.

Yes...very labour intensive. And sore on the knees.

Of course, the plasterboard will have a thin skim of plaster put on to hide the seams and give it a slightly more rustic look (which translates as a bit bumpy, as we're no good at plastering)

(just noticed a hand, mysteriously emerging through the plasterboard on the top pic)

After the plasterboard was in place, next came the wiring.

This wiring was for the bedroom sockets and switches, and for the downstairs (kitchen) electrics....aforementioned spotlights, power cables for sockets, lights etc.





Then, of course.....loads of insulation, for both heat and sound.