Few weeks ago, we started restoring another old house here in Fitou. Long time ago, it has been a larger house which was separated into two houses as a result of an inheritance debate.
The separation wall was partly made with flat natural stones in gypsum and small terra-cotta bricks but only about 5-7 cm thick.
house restoration
Ich bemale nicht nur Leinwände an, sondern auch richtige Wände, genauer gesagt, ich verputze sie. So auf die traditionelle Art, mit Kalk, Sand, Gips und Marmormehl, je nach Untergrund und Verwendungszweck. Das ist für alte Häuser hier in Südfrankreich die beste und auch nachhaltigste Methode. Die alten Häuser sind überwiegend aus Natursteinen und Kalk oder Gips und Sand gebaut. Die Wände sind oft bis zu 60 cm dick, regulieren so ganz gut das Raumklima.
The design of walls, their colours and surface structure, decisively influences how well we feel in it. Of course, this also subject to trends and fashions, but I think it should fit to the personality of the people living in it. It is like a coat that envelops us.
We took on a new project, an old, small village house in Fitou. This time it is for a young couple who would like to make a living here or rent it out, we’ll see when it is ready.
It’s the fourth house we are going to restore in Fitou and by now it is the one in a comparatively good condition. Together with the owners we made a plan how to transform it.
Depuis un peu plus de 1,5 ans, nous avons restauré la maison en 22 Grand rue et maintenant il est prêt!
Nous avons eu beaucoup de soutien et d’aide et nos voisins qui ont résisté à la poussière et le bruit que nous avons fait.
Il y a encore du travail à faire dans la cave, mais les trois appartements spacieux laquelle nous avons créé sont prêt à emménager
Maintenant, il est de temps de célébrer! Venez jeudi prochain, le 7 Août à 18h00 à jeter un oeil sur ce que nous avons fait.
Nous vous attendons!
Restoring a wall starts with removing the old plaster and all the odd pieces and covers which are not original, such as pieces of cement, gypsum, wood, plastic etc. The best way to remove the old mortar from the surface is doing it manually bit by bit with a pick hammer.
It has been a long time since I wrote about our activities, we simply had a lot of work and no energy at the end of the day to write about what we did, just few minutes for some photographs we could spare.
Well, we did a lot:
There were a lot of things I did not take into account when I was writing that our floor in the first level will be ready last weekend. I was a way too ambitious!
As always in an old house, a lot happens on the way you can’t see in advance.
It’s really a stressful time for us as we need to work a bit for real money in our company , organize our household (yes, it’s necessary to clean the house from time to time, wash clothes, buy some food stuff) and do this restoration work. There is not much time left to write in detail about our activities, therefore, just a short summary of what we did in last two weeks:
When we bought the house it was clear that we need to renew the roof. The roof was built in the traditional manner, with terracotta tiles. Over many years water penetrated some beams, the rafters and walls and it was in disastrous condition.
What we didn’t know was how should we repair it. So we asked several people, looked at several houses, searched the web with the result of being more confused at the end.
Of course, we wanted