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| The
New Patio |
After
two years struggling with the tiny patio at the rear of
the farmhouse and with all the major renovation work completed
it was time to turn our attention to the rear garden of
the farmhouse. When you are running gites you need your
own personal outdoor space and somewhere to entertain
so we decided to extend the area outwards and build an
all weather outdoor dining area. This would mean more
excavation of the centre terrace and with no excavator
this time it was back to the trusty spade and some serious
sweating! Before starting on this, however, we decided
to re-mortar the rear of the farmhouse. Fairly boring
work and I've never been great on scaffolding, but all
that part of the job was completed in April. Using a 3
to 1 mix of sand and chaux blanche. (Note there are two
types of chaux (lime) available in France - chaux naturelle
and chaux blanche. Chaux naturelle dries to a more sandy
colour, chaux blanche dries white (naturally!) If you
are remortaring then there are a few precautions to take.
Firstly remove old mortar down to a depth of around two
inches, wash out the joints afterwards to clear away any
remaining debris and soak the stonework. Finally, don't
make too large a mix of mortar, it dries out pretty quickly
(particularly in the sun). Work in sections, and when
the mortar has dried off after around 4 hours or so, gently
go over it with a hand brush to provide an even finish
and remove any trowel marks and excess mortar from the
stonework. Here in the Limousin, April or October are
probably the best months to carry out this work, provided
the rain holds off, as the temperatures are pleasant for
working in and the mortar dries relatively slowly. The
height of summer is definitely NOT the time to be undertaking
this sort of work - holding a glass of wine or cold beer
is more appropriate!
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The
"lean to" was constructed from standard timber
found in any of the region's builders merchants. The main
beams were 160mm - the rear beam being bolted to the wall,
and the lower outward beams fixed into wall hangars. Additional
"belt and braces" being applied by further supporting
the wall beam on to the outward beams (as shown in the photo
opposite). If all that makes sense then you're a better
man than I am!
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 The
outer supporting struts are 12cm round section poteaux which
I found at Agribati. These are concreted in at the base
and are braced at the top to provide additional lateral
stability. As the overall roof is around 4 metres out from
the wall an additional crossbeam was inserted at the halfway
point in the roof structure. With all the basic structure
completed - time to lay on and fix the chevron rafters at
around 400mm spacing, followed by the lateral battens to
lay the tiles on. The tiles used in our case were "flambe"
mechanical tiles whose colour matched very well with the
weathered tiles on the farmhouse roof. Unfortunately I didn't
take any photos during the construction so the roof structure
is hidden by the plastic fibre which we used under the roof
to prevent dust etc. falling into the dining area.
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 The
photo opposite is of the porch extension which is the same
basic construction. Don't forget to double up the batten
at the edge of the roof to ensure that the edge tiles sit
at the same angle as the rest. All the trellises were made
up from chevron for the outer frames and batten for the
actual trellis work. Finish was in Cuprinol Ducksback -
blue - not available here in France, we brought it across
from England. |
 The
new retaining wall with built in brick planter. The second
level of terracing was de-turfed and laid with gravel to
form a sunbathing area. |
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