Bonnevaux

Work starts for real. Hours on the computer. Lost sleep planning things over and over. In the end, you just need to take the old roof off.

Sans arret du neige

Removing to old snow stops, only a few years after replacing them.

"Is it finished yet?" ... "what are you doing now?"

These two have spent the day asking helpful questions.

One sheet at a time

No sign of rain … yet

Clouds gather

The cloud increases as the tin reduces

Let there be light

Charles has had a bad day. Horse fly bite, wasp sting and ….

Original battens ... circa 1849

The view emerges

… finally he falls running down in the road, slices his knee and we need to go to the doctor in the morning. Great.

A busy day …

Another failure to comprehend scale …. the tiles arrive

Big Lorry, Small Boy

Now it’s real …. Terreal

9 Pallets

At this point, I’m rechecking my calculations ….

Terreal

Samse - Bravo les hommes en Bleu!

Now we just need them on top …

Tiled In

They’re everywhere

Yesterday I left the house at 9:30am and returned at 5pm. So no building work. Visited the bank for large quantities of cash. Went to see Mr Maxit at the saw mill and settle the bill … french style.

Maxit Bois - Saw Mill

Set off for Thonon to try and finalise the elusive insulating board. Found Lalliard Bois, and they speak English! Really helpful. All sorted out; ordered the board, arranged delivery, got a discount. They told me to glue the boards, like Pavatex. That saves wasting 20 tubes of glue. They also said to put a waterproof sheet over the T&G that covers the eaves.

Visited a few more builders’ merchants, spent a fortune in the supermarket and made my way to Geneva to fetch Monika and the boys. Parked up near the Palexpo and waited for Monika to call. In the sun the car thermometer reached 38 degs C. Loaded everyone up and headed for the hills. A long day.

Made a small start. First I unpacking the car (2 hrs).

Half Unpacked

Then arranged the scaffold tower outside near the low part of the roof. It’s quite a view up there.

A view from the roof

Made a start at last. Took down the chimney. The

Rossie's

blocks are too heavy to move by hand, so I needed to break out the ropes. A block and tackle later and I was soon able to begin lowering down the blocks. If the weather stays like this, we’ll burn to death.

Finally arrived after weeks of planning. Drove down yesterday with the car loaded to the limit. 8 hrs driving, 35 to the gallon. The car handled fine despite the weight.

Can’t wait to see the wood!

8 Cubic Meters

So this is what 8 cubic meters looks like.