1001 Arabian Nights: February 2017

Plouhinec house, exterior

This blog post traces the improvements I am making to the Plouhinec house exterior.

In 2013 I refreshed the exterior. I pressure washed the old paint off, using a mild bleach. Then I primed and painted 2 coats of white acrylic. I also made a new gate for the courette, stripped and repainted the shutters and stripped and revarnished the front door.

Front door, stripped and revarnished with 5 coats of marine acrylic

Repainted walls and shutters

Repainted extrior with new courette gate

New courette gate and front door

New courette gate

Plouhinec House, Salon

This page tracks the progress of the remodeling of the salon of the Plouhinec house.

This is a 3d mockup of the eventual appearance of the north wall of the Salon. This is what will replace the wall which is being partially demolished in the photos at the bottom of this post. A new concrete footing will be placed. A lightweight insulating concrete wall will include 2 book alcoves and a spot for a gas heater in the middle (flue not shown). I am retrieving one of the granite blocks from the existing wall to use as a lintel over the gas heater.

12 Feb. 2017
Removed the formwork from the new footing and cleaned up.

11 Feb. 2017
In the last few days I cleaned out the footing area at the base of the north stone wall. I got rid of all loose material. They I set a form board across the front edge for the new concrete base. I laid a heavy plastic sheet to block moisture from coming up from the ground. Moisture will inevitably rise up. But with this sheet under the slab the moisture will follow the path of least resistance and evaporate through the outside wall, rather than into the house. After placing some of the concrete I set a light gauge mesh of steel reinforcing. This sill minimize shrinkage cracking of the concrete. Finally I placed the remaining concrete, level to within a few millimeters in every direction.

ground cleaned and prepped for the plastic sheet

Form board and plastic sheet in place

half the concrete placed and reinforcing mesh installed

The hose will serve as a chase for a future gas line to the gas fireplace

Demolition complete (2014).

Here is a collage picture showing the north wall of the salon, which I have partially demolished and will rebuild (2013).

View towards where the wall will be opened up to connect it to the main house.

Plouhinec house, kitchen

This page tracks the remodeling of the kitchen of the Plouhinec house.

The final kitchen will occupy both the space of the existing kitchen and a portion of the back of the cottage, visible in the demolition photos at the bottom of this post.
Here is the floor plan.

From lt. to rt., pantry, fridge, cooktop/oven, sink, dishwasher, combined undercounter washer/dryer

Kitchen elevation

Demolition in progress. The end wall will be demolished, joining this space to the existing kitchen on the other side of the wall. The gap between the floor and wall, visible a the bottom right was filled with concrete on 7 February, 2017. See the bathroom post for pictures of that.

2013, pictures of the original space.

Plouhinec house, Bath 1

I'm going to use my blog as a place to track progress on the Plouhinec house remodel. This page will be for the ground floor new bathroom. I'll add to it as I make progress, putting the latest work at the top of the blog post.

This plan shows the final layout of the bathroom. The entrance is at the left in the angled wall. This arrangement minimizes the view into the bathroom if the door is left open. To the right of the door is the toilet with an on-demand water heater above it. Right of that is the sink, which is separated from the shower area by a glass panel. The open shower area is open to the tub. This arrangement is inspired by the traditional Japanese spa, in which it is customary to shower before soaking in the bath.

Bath 1 plan, dimensions are in meters

7 February, today I filled the gap around the floor with concrete.

The tub and shower will be at this end

The gap in the floor is filled

Demolition complete and cleaned up, ready for work. There is a gap between the floor and the wall, measuring about 6" wide and 4" deep. At one corner it opens to an area around 30"x30". This will need to be filled.