Sunday, 17 January 2010

Project - phase 1

There is no getting away from the fact that this little corner of France is cold in Winter. The house is currently heated by wall-mounted electric radiators, plus a new wood-burning stove in the lounge, and the long-term project is to replace all the electric heating with heat from the central wood-burning boiler that currently heats only the gîte.

So, beginning with the living room, a warming project is under way. Most of the wall space has items of furniture in front of it, so wall-mounted radiators won't work. The solution, that has been in plan since the renovation of the gîte, is for underfloor heating. The installation project starts (or should) on Monday.

Meanwhile, preparation. Empty the lounge with some kind help from friendly neighbours, take down the wooden skirting and clean the soot off the walls preparatory to painting.

I wonder if the workmen will turn up on Monday.. place your bets...

The lounge full of furniture, and empty...




















Take off the wooden skirting.....



















Ladders to access the smoky top of the wall to clean it... then we're ready....
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7 comments:

  1. Molly Potter17 January 2010 at 08:46

    Wow - you've been busy. Great room.

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  2. ReedBunting17 January 2010 at 08:49

    Underfloor heating - good solution! You should have very cosy toes and your cat will love it I'm sure. Fingers crossed it all runs smoothly...

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  3. @eloh17 January 2010 at 09:26

    It's a lovely room.

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  4. Helen17 January 2010 at 09:34

    What a beautiful room! Will you be installing some kind of piping around the perimeter of the room underneath the skirting, or does part of the floor have to come up? Or both? It's interesting to see how others keep warm. We have a combustion heater in our main living room, and electrical panel heaters in the bedrooms. Not very efficient! It would be interesting to see your progress on this project. All the best...

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  5. Lia18 January 2010 at 15:13

    We use to live in a house with under floor heating, it was grand, really cosy and fairly cheap to run.

    I see the cat is helping you out. Oh and I do hope some one will foot that ladder, that floor looks very slippy.

    Oh and not that I am on drugs or anything, but in the photo of the room full, your coffee table appears to be floating. lol.

    Much love
    Lia
    xx

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  6. Mark In Mayenne18 January 2010 at 23:51

    I never noticed that Lia, but you're right, the coffee table looks like it's floating. It must be those specially-shaped legs, they're a spacewarp drive.

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  7. Mimi Lenox31 January 2010 at 08:12

    Tell me you did not climb up that ladder. There was a black cat afoot as well. (saying prayers...)
    I guess it's too late now though.
    Are you alive?

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