La Maison

From leak to leak

Sorry it's been such a long time since the last blog but we have been extremely busy.

Our main worry has been caused by smells and leaks. Both the downstairs bathroom and one of the upstairs bathrooms have been rather smelly. The plumber reduced the smell upstairs by putting a vent in the roof but this didn't solve it completely. I've tried dunking litres of cleaning fluid down all orifices but to no avail and there was no obvious other source. The only solution (without knocking down walls to check each and every pipe) seemed to be to seal off all cracks and holes where the smell could be coming from. So far that seems to be working - early days though.

The third bathroom did not suffer from smells but a leak. After putting in new grouting and silicon we seem to have solved that too - Jo has tested it several times by taking a shower there.

However, after an afternoon of torrential rain, we had another small leak in the roof of the far downstairs bedroom. Fortunately no beds were underneath. Andy popped up on the roof and found an accumulation of moss causing the rain to build up behind the moss and run back up the tiles. So he spent an afternoon clearing the moss and reinforcing the flashing at the side - otherwise the roof seems to be in good condition.

The wall onto the lane (which fell) has now been finished.

And the inside of the shed has been whitewashed and the doors varnished. We are still waiting for the electricians to come to put in the light, plugs and fuse box. It is now being used as a tool shed by Andy.

Stuart has been busy stabilising walls and putting in a flower bed in the one by the terrace.

He brought his dogs one day.

Work has also started on clearing up the mess in the car park. A lot is wood, including huge tree stumps, which have been dealt with by burning. Much of the rest will be used to level out the car park. The garden in front of the shed and the car park will be attacked next week when Frank will come back with the digger.

Meanwhile Andy has done a lot of work inside the house. He has built a place for saucepans, a ledge and a new shelf around the cooker.

He has made a bookshelf for the sitting room and a new shelf for one of the upstairs bathrooms. He has also checked all the doors and windows to make them open and shut smoothly - shutters still to be done.

Given all the work in the house, in particular the electricity, it has become necessary to re-decorate almost all the rooms other than our bedroom upstairs and one of the bathrooms. So Jo and I have started work on that. The downstairs bathroom and the upstairs bedroom have now been completely redecorated - using the same paint as our Brussels kitchen in order to use it up - so the bedroom will now be known as the blue bedroom.

We are now doing the sitting room and hope to finish that, and our upstairs bathroom, before coming back to Brussels at the beginning of May. That leaves the two downstairs bedrooms to be decorated when we come back in June but the amount of wall is quite small (especially compared with Brussels) so it shouldn't take long.

Outside, the countryside is transformed, as is the garden. All the trees are now in leaf, including our chestnut tree.

One of the roses is out.

And Jo has bought a bike.

But hasn't had time to use it yet!!!