March 27th 2010

This week has seen a lot of progress. the first block work for the foundations was completed. Gilles filled the foundation withan get on. I guess about 50 tonnes of hardcore and compacted it with a "Wacker" plate. When we arrived on Friday, the cement wagon was there pouring the first fill. As you can see from the photo's the services have been installed, sewer pipes for the two toilets, electric, water and telephone conduits ready for connecting. in all it has been a great week. Problem is the weather has changed, the plan wad to put the insulation on the concrete slab along with the steel reinforcement and then pour the final concrete, but the forcast for next week is for rain and snow!! Just hope it improves so Gilles can get on. That's all for now, hope I come back next week with more news!

At last the first blocks have been laid, water is now on site so the build will proceed a pace next week. Keep watching!!

15th March 2010

Well what a week last week was! Really looking forward to lots of progress, and guess what it snowed! Gilles could not lay the concrete into the trenche's as the day time tempreture was as low as -10deg. C. Things warmed up towards the end of the week and Gilles must have layed the concrete on Friday or Saturday. We went over today and it was great to see some progress. Dont think there will any more work this week as I think the concrete will need a week to go off. Talk soon.

foundations 05-03-2010 latest pictures

Friday was a great day, very cold but the clearest sky you could imagine. Gilles our French builder finished digging out the foundations, put in the first layer of concrete and set the steel reinforcement ready for pouring the concrete on Monday. The ground is very sandy so Gille had to go a lot deeper than normal for the foundations. The bungalow next door has cracking to the floor due to the builder not going deep enough with their foundation.

Today Sunday 07-03-2010 we woke up to snow!! Thats not good news, the forecast seems to show that its not getting any warmer. This is worrying because it could hold the build up, just have to hope that its a bit warmer in Gouzon. Well thats all for now keep checking for the next update.

Day one

Well after months of planning and waiting for the start day, it finaly arrived! The build has started! On the photo are Marilyn, Manuela our friend and translator, Gilles our French builder and Charlie our new Golden Retriever pup (watch him grow).