Last of the wall pointing

Alarm is back on and I started mixing lime mortar as soon as we finished breakfast while Breezy cleared up and did a quick email check. Unplug and move the fridge; then we are both attacking the walls with pointing trowels. The last little bits of pointing always take longer than expected. All those awkward angles and bits that have to be done left handed.

There were also a couple of fairly obvious cracks in the pointing upstairs above where the new window went in which needed filling. In hindsight we were pretty lucky that we did not loose more of the wall as the pointing inside seems to have stabilised the inside quite a lot.

That is it for pointing now as we have run out of white sand. Hurrah!!!

Odd jobs in the evening included sorting out a table top from a recycled piece of plywood, filling the new planting bed with compost from under the terrace and making up a 3rd raised bed for out the back.

Last chore for the day was to wire brush the pointing from the morning; taking excess mortar off to get the finish we wanted. All the mortar that was brushed off I quickly remixed to fill the big holes in the corners while Breezy jumped in the shower. My turn in the shower was cut short by visitors. Hans and Claire came up for a beer having walked their 3 dogs up to the waterfall.

Once they had taken a turn around the barn and the grounds we headed off to the bar to catch up with some locals. Alison and Peter were there as well as Jean Claude (our neighbour). Then Françoise and the Baker family turned up. A very social gathering and very varied conversation, mostly in French.

Omlette and salad supper as that is all we have left. Shopping day tomorrow.

Categories: Summer 2012, The Project