THE FIRST COTTAGE - part 2

The top section of the ceiling completed. It's no fun heaving full 2.5 x 1.2 metre plasterboard sheets up to the top of the house, and even less fun trying to get them into position for screwing down. I devised a couple of props from chevron (the nearest equivalent to our 4 x 2 timber), which were in the form of a T with the top section hinged. This worked remarkably well. Placing the sheet in position then jamming the props against the plasterboard, the prop takes up the angle of the ceiling and prevents it from slipping. It's a very cheap alternative to specialist equipment. The oak purlins were stained down and finished with a water based acrylic varnish (I've never been a lover of polyurethane), the plasterboard joints taped, skimmed with filler, sanded and then painted. Having finished the ceiling then the grenier floorboard were removed, followed by most of the joists.

In our opinion, the first thing to plan in a property like this is the position of the bathroom, in particular the toilet - principally because of the size of the waste pipe. With a plethora of oak beams to navigate and 3 ft. thick walls to go through, it makes sense to position it first and ensure that the route out is feasible. Thus all our carefully drawn out plans were thrown out of the window and replaced with a piece of chalk! We drew out the room plan on the floor, making it up as we went along, changing and adjusting where necessary until we had catered for everything. It would be the way we would work on the other properties as well.

Meanwhile we also completed the studwork to block off part of the attic area over the bedrooms, which would have flat ceilings. Here we built the studwork inside the original oak beams which would eventually remain exposed.



You will note from the photo opposite that the roof has no internal lining. It's an enormous undertaking to fit internal lining because it involves removing all of the tiles, so unless you are actually re-tiling the roof then it really isn't practical. Frankly we've never had any leakage problems with the modern interlocking tiles although we do carry out an external check on them each year.

My neighbours were fascinated by the studwork - it's very uncommon in France, where metal section is normally used. Although metal section is probably cheaper and easier to use, I personally dislike it, particularly for walls. I like something which at least looks solid - the metal rail system leaves a plasterboard wall around 5cm thick, and looks out of place in an old property. Studwork also allows for the installation of a thicker sound insulation material.