Macons finished

A slight delay posting because our computer failed. The maçons left on Tuesday morning after pouring the concrete floor for the new kitchen. That's the new breeze block part on the left hand side. The rest is up to us, apart from the carpenter and roofer for the two new lucarnes. The breeze block parts will have a cream coloured enduit (lime based render) applied once the windows are fitted. It's a very typical finish on the exterior of French houses. The gites look a bit grey at the moment but once the windows and doors are fitted, Caroline finishes the pointing, the enduit is applied and a few wall plants grow it will look very different.

Caroline and I went to Rennes on Tuesday morning whilst the maçons finished up to order the new windows and doors. In France all the windows open inwards, unlike in the UK where they open outwards. In France it is much easier to clean or paint any windows because you have easy access to the outside without climbing up a ladder. You do lose your window sill as a storage item, but I think it's a small price to pay. Consequently the windows and doors are fitted differently. They are just mastic'ed and screwed to the inside of the wall rather than between the walls. It gives you a bit of room to manoeuvre.

|   8:25:24 PM