French Wooden 2 storey Garage, new construction, replacement of the old.

[clockmanFRA]

Slowly but surely I am getting the old farm buildings here back up to operational and working condition.

This is the old 150 year old oak framed and slate roof open ended wood barn where the old tractor/cart was stored.

When we took over the old farm, this wooden building was in a poor state, with the base oak frame well rotted out and some of the structural timbers rotted and broken. At the time i fenced it off to stop our young children from playing in it.

In 2008 one wall had fallen out and by 2011 the building had collapsed.

2017 we applied for official permission to rebuild the building exactly the same footprint and exterior materials to be the same and  similar design of structure, walls with joint edging strips, roof in slate, roof height and pitch the same as the original.

We got permission for 3 projects,.......

 1      the Sheep barn alterations and stables, just minor touches to finish.
 2      A new fiberglass salt water swimming pool, 4.5m x 10m, with a sloping 1.1m to 2.2m depth.  Totally finished, and Yes all run on our Eco power supply and system.
 3      Reconstruction of the wooden garage.

The garage is the last on my list.

Suffered at the beginning of the year with this nasty virus, and had very little money and very very few jobs coming in ever since.
So cutting back on everything, scrimped and saved, and got on with the 3 projects slowly but steadily.

Here is the old garage photos before it finally fell down in 2011.








Since permission granted for a rebuild in 2017, there has been changes around here, with a new Mayor and local council and new Officials and regulations that have clamped down on folk in our quaint valley from building stuff.

Now its 2020 Our new mayor has been hassled by the new 2nd home urbanites/Parisians that have moved in locally and got nothing better to do than keep reporting our building activities to the regional planning departments.

I have known our new Mayor since we first came here in 2002, and he is retired and okay. He called a few weeks ago and asked us to put a modern planning board up on our gate to assist him and the council clerk from being constantly bothered by the complainers of our works.

We have 2 separate planning permission approvals running at present, one from 2003 and this one from 2017, There are no time limits on the works being finished as long as they are being substantial undertaken.





What a World we live in.   It seems the old saying is appropriate, .... " the more work you do the more people become jealous of your progress".    In Lincolnshire, in the UK it was called "Green Eye".

Just me and using one of my fit school boys on occasions, block and tackle, Uk scaffolding for erecting crane jibs, and locally sourced and pressure treated timber.

2017. Concrete reinforced raft foundation, with concrete block 600mm high base wall, then up with the scaffolding.












   

[clockmanFRA]

End of August 2020 and the new garage goes up.

5m / 16ft x 5m /16ft with a max Hight of 6m 20ft.








Walls are made in 6 frames, using locally sourced pressure treated timber.  The outer timber for each frame is the classic French size 176mm/ 7inch by  65mm/ 2 5/8' inch.  All other timber is 150mm/ 6inch by 50mm /2inch.
Each wall frame has a full sheet of 10mm thick marine ply at 2.5m x 1.222mm, thats 98 1/2 inches by 48 inches.  I altered the design to take a full ply sheet without the need for cutting.

All timber joints are screwed, 100x6 or 120x6mm,/ 4 inch & 5 inch. With modern powerful electric NIFE battery screwdrivers drilling and screwing thousands of screws is just way better than using the good old nail methods.

Roof trusues joints are screwed and the galvanised steel joint plates are srewed with 35mm x 4mm or 1 3/8s inch , i think i have got through about 5,000 small screws.

 






2 more semi trusses to make next week and the gable end trusses to be studded for the covering support.  6 diagonals to be installed.

5 main roof trusses were made on the floor and hoisted up, the other 8 semi trusses were made in situ on the roof. 

Raining today, i hate working on roofs in the rain.

[electrondady1]

nice work . Should be good for a couple of hundred years. your grandchildren will call you blessed.

[MattM]

I love it.  Very nice construction.

[clockmanFRA]

Thanks guys for your kind comments.

Although my Mrs and the local French wood folk builders say that i always over engineer everything.

I think its the Engineer in me that says,  'what if we have 3ft of snow stuck on the roof in that once in a lifetime storm', and 'just that little extra to be safe than sorry!'

[clockmanFRA]

The Main frame structure is now finished.

End of next week will start putting the sheets on the walls, about 220 screws per sheet.

Note,  Found out yesterday why the 'doug' has put on a little weight, I cut the grass under the plum trees with the good old Roper 16, finished and walked past the trees to find the 'doug' laid down and gobbling up the crushed fallen plums.  I warned him, "Doug, you are going to have a soar bottom tomorrow"  haha!

But he still keeps the sheep in the field in order.

[SparWeb]

My dog eats worse things than plums.

[clockmanFRA]

A few pics of the progress.

[SparWeb]

It's starting to look cozy in there!

[Scruff]

Looks a bit shadey for solar. CM

Thanks for the pics of the roof hooks. You'd never believe the lengths I go to never use those.
Not that I'm afraid of heights, or wielding angle-grinders at heights.

Leaks. I hate being the one who makes or has to repair 'em.

I must get some hooks on standby for next time we have a roofer around.
I've another 8kW of solar needed to meet demand.

[Bruce S]

Nice fix for the brackets to work well within the slate.
You doing the cutting of the slate with a wet saw? or ?

Cheers
Bruce S

[MattM]

Slate is easy to score and break while you install.  Look up slate anvil.  I never heard of anyone sawing it.

Heck, the way it fractures you can pop a pair of nail holes with a pick hammer in about a second, too.

[clockmanFRA]

Sorry that i have not replied earlier.

Things have been chaotic and busy here in France.

Lockdown again.  I have to fill in a form each time i go out again, stating time and date and reason.  Reason not good enough, as in the terms of Lockdown then i get a mandatory Fine.

So hence me running around getting all my building materials and the like, French Gov do not see building materials as an essential shopping, before the Lockdown commenced.

All our Local nearby French town's old people homes now have the 19 infection and sadly folk are dying.

Hospitals here are at full stretch.

I have heard from a young lawyer that "what's the issue? so Old folk will die, and that's good for us younger ones, as we will have more job opportunities".

Ironic really ! I have 3 years to go before i get my Government state Pension, but then i will not be allowed to go out or travel and will have to keep away from young people and away from everybody else, basically the Governments are telling me to self Isolate permanently if i want to stay alive.

There is a book and an old Film, and i think a new film called 'A Brave New World' where once your old you are vaporised as it alleviates the States meagre resources, the State administrators say!

More cheery things.

Scruff........ those hazel bushes/trees are due for some severe pruning this winter, so no Sun shading those PV panels.

SparWeb....   The other half has already asked if a good sizes Bed will fit upstairs! yelps!

 
Bruce S...... I now cut all my tiles with a wet 180mm/7inch diamond cutter. Its fast and very accurate.  This one is now 20 years old.





MattM....  Here is my tile hammer this is the standard European model, also that slate copper clout ripper that slide up under the tile and with a sharp pull down cuts the copper clout.     I still use the hammer for tapping holes with the spike, but nowadays i use a electric jig arrangement and a diamond/cobolt 4mm diameter drill, and on the scaffolding i have a electric battery drill for those awkward holes on half tile etc, also i can change the drill over while hanging on the roof for a small pilot drill as inevitably i will hit a knot in the lath.      I worked it out the other day that i have laid over 16,000 tiles just here at Le Vivray's buildings alone.


 


Plywood stairs are in. Uses a cantilever principle for the landing support.  They are arranged so the mrs's Mazda MX5 (its an Old Mk2) fits under, and the car can be tucked to the side of the garage for winter storage.




Tonged and grooved Floor panels going down upstairs and also fitting them in the Loft.

[ Specified attachment is not available ]

[MattM]

Happy wife for a happy life.

Old is a state of mind.  If the mind don't mind all the aches and pain I say you're young enough to work.  Young folks just want to boss, none of them want to be the laborer I suppose.  If it wasn't the -19 it would be some other excuse why they cannot work.

I did a lot of sheet metal over the years and we often had to follow behind the non-native types that worked faster than the plan.  Had to tear out and replace slate around dormers and roof penetrations that were erroneously covered.  I never liked working over it because it breaks so easily.  Little guys around a buck-O-five might be fine going across it, but I have always been a wee bit on the tall and my bones filled out.  So, yeah, had to learn to rip and pop and snap that stuff.  Was a lot easier work than doing copper in the sun.  But it does wear on you roping, walking, and passing piles up and down scaffolding levels.  Nothing worse than being at the top and down to one last tile in your bucket and you do something wrong to it.

[clockmanFRA]

The French do do some cracking good  mahogany crawler ladders that fit flat on slate roofs and spread the load of the roofer person.

Although in 2000 the local builder merchant had not heard of the hooks that go over the ridge, and local roofers around here just throw a rope over the roof on the other side and secured it to something solid, or they stuffed the end in the gutter.  crazy man!

Walking on slate roofs here is definitely a No No.

This is my 20 year old short crawler, yes a few repairs/reinforcements.



And with the hooks holding on the other side.

[MattM]

We call them chicken ladders.  Flimsy legs on most of them.  And I was chicken enough to run a rope down the other side as backup.  I laid down carpet first and foam generously spread at strategic locations (aka depends on how much I had on hand) under the ladder to spread weight out.  My elbows and hips unfortunately would snap them as I worked off to the sides of the ladder. 

One guy I subbed for would actually put foam and an aluminum foil like underlayment between runners, giving the slate generous support.  And he used half inch thick material.  They also were considerably larger, about twice the dimensions of typical tiles.  Rarely broke his tiles but they were heavy to haul up and down locations.  I'd never walk on tile because they snap and you'd be down the roof in a fraction of a second.

[clockmanFRA]

Just to complete this little story, its all finished.

And i have moved all my stuff out of another building that i can now start on, into this one, yippeee!.



And the rear pedestrian entrance.



Those joint cover strips are oak, and cover over the sheet and fastening screws lines and are secured with stainless steel screws. All the walls are well painted with clear Yacht polyurethane varnish.




The original old oak and wood building had them, so why not? just a few more days extra work to keep the building historic concepts intact.

Not a Nail was used in this construction. Nowadays with modern hand power tools its so easy to clearance hole drill with one machine and then screw in with another.  In the end i reckon i used about 8,000 screws, from 35mm up to 120mm long and up to 6mm diameter.

The guttering is the traditional French Zinc, with all joints lead soldered with Fry's solder sticks and my propane burner. The French have been using Zinc for hundreds of years, and still do, Going on the state of old zinc guttering here it seems to last for about 50 years or so.


A very big thanks to those of you who helped in its construction and lifting the main RSJ and those on site fabricated sections into position.

And well, done everyone for a minimal cost and minimal use of sustainable locally sourced materials.

Out of our 12 independent buildings here at’ Le Vivray’, that require their own Electric supply and distribution RCD & MCB box.
9 buildings are now completed, working and finished.

The Lecture Theatre is till being worked on as we speak. The last big One, is now designed, specifications confirmed and works are starting, the water trough for the cement mixer and the sand heap has now moved, LOL, and the last building North outside brick building WC will be undertaken next year before its tiled roof falls down.

 

[Scruff]

I oft think of them souper fancy LEDs you can get these days as electronic windows when they're solar-powered.

Tidy restoration CM. I admire your finishing a job methodology. I take more of an it's all Lego approach and I've a mighty aversion to paint brushes.

[Bruce S]

Awesome finish to the exterior!
I'm a bit curious about the Lecture Hall. Will it be similar to the original use of the term salon?

Bruce S

[DamonHD]

Hurrah!  Well Done!

Rgds

Damon

[Mary B]

That is a LOT of marine varnish! Yikes! Hope it was sprayed on, brush would suck!

[SparWeb]

That looks so nice.  I admire your workmanship and your taste.

[clockmanFRA]

Thanks Guys, your positivity is always welcome.

Yep, i brushed on 6 gallons but with real bristle good brushes that hold well and stroke wonderfully.  3 coats, each about 4 hours.

Taste, hmm ..... well i stick to a modernistic version of the past, and as we have some fantastic modern materials why not use them.

I even managed to stick to my planning approval submitted drawings.   Slight cough, little windows, tum tee tumm.