Quote from Leon

Leon (my next door neighbour) has sent a quote for the garage doors: 4400 Euros ! sounds a bit pricey, but I think Herve's quote was over 10 grand.

In other news Rob and his family are staying in Morzine this week and have reported that the glass is going in to my windows. Sounds like I will have to take Leon up on the garage doors.

Happy Easter

Just got back from a very nice Easter long weekend in Morzine. Finally made it back, seems like ages since I was there. My first surprise was that the window frames are in and I have a front door:
The chalet its self is all still in one piece. Apart from some blocks that have fallen over as the builders have not got round to backfilling around the chalet yet. One of the things I need to talk to Herve about.

I managed to do quite a bit in the three days I had to work, well two and a half as I lost half a day blinded in one eye! Long story but I was wearing all the protective gear, goggles, ear defenders, face mask and still I managed to get something in my eye!

Anyway drilling lots of holes and breaking chunks pf concrete to make room for plug sockets

These take about 45 minutes each and leave you with no feeling in your hands for about ten minutes after that! The look tiny but they are hard work. Even harder was chasing out the concrete above my head for this cable

This cable comes out above here just to the side of the big wooden pillar upstairs. It needs to be chased in like this as it will be visible until it gets below the door.



One of the big things I wanted to try out this time was some paint I found in the local diy superstore (called Jumbo) so in a scientific frame of mind I read the instructions and discovered that the 7kg of paint I had bought was supposed to cover all of 3 meters square, So I marked out three square meters so as to get the correct thickness. Then I read that the paint needed a primer on absorbent surfaces, well fresh raw concrete is pretty absorbent so I guess I need a primer, but do I really as buying primer was about half as much as the paint. So I devised a further experiment! (cue maniacal laughter and thunder clap!) I divided the three square meter into six areas, three I painted with primer, 1 I would apply the paint to the fresh concrete and the other two I would make the concrete damp first and then apply the paint. I was awarding marks for ease of application, finished surface and durability.









Before and after.
I let it dry overnight and came back to discover no discernible difference between any of the panels at all. It was all stuck to the wall solidly and all looked pretty much the same. The only difference therefore was how easy it had been to put on and the only thing I would say there was that the primer and the damp surface was marginally easier that the dry panel. So I wont be messing about with the expensive primer. Well maybe on some important places like the stair roofs, but other than that I will be washing the walls and applying. The finished surface looks like this:


This is fine and very similar to the finish we have in our current apartment.



I managed to do lots, more electrics and run loads more wires around and through and all over the place. I have christened the hole most of them disappear down, "The snake pit"


I marked out where all the internal walls were going to go.
I swept the whole chalet to remove all the debris from previous visits, made a lot of difference. I marked out the kitchen.

Things to do next:
Speak to Herve about temporary power.
Speak to Herve about water.
Find out from Herve about what the time table is for back filling, tiling and finishing off.
Get more 2.5 mm cable and install the rest of the plug socket wiring upstairs.
Internal walls
Water
Floors (upstairs at least)

So everything to play for then ....