If you want to get ahead, get a hat

With all the snow last year, we found that the fins on the back of the compressor for the heat pump cot covered with thick ice, which bend some of them out of shape.

As extreme weather seems to be the norm these days, Tina thought it was best to build something to protect the compressor from whatever weather gets thrown at it, so we decided to build a roof over it. This is normal practice in Scandinavia, but didn't used to be necessary in South West France.

We bought the framework from Leroy Merlin, and fixed it to wall with chemical fixings, as the wall is a bit to crumbly for raw plugs, and the canopy will be a bit heavy once all the tiles are on.




I managed to re-cycle some old pallets to make the voliges that support the tiles.




We also had enough left over tiles to cover it all, so in a couple of days the whole thing was done.



Now we just need some snow to see if it works.

Progress

We have been cracking on with the new bedroom and en-suite bathroom this year.

In the winter, Robert installed all the pipework, so we were then able to start insulating the walls, chip boarding and then plaster boarding them.

It was a bit tricky, fitting everything round the pipework, as we tried to get as close as possible to the pipes, for a better finish.

Tina then varnished all of the beams, before I started jointing the walls, as this made it easier to get all of the spilt plaster of of the wood.

We decided to skim the walls, rather than dry lining them, as it took ages to do the joints in the living room, and when the sun hits the wall from a certain angle, you can see all of the joints perfectly.

The french plaster has taken a bit of getting used to, and I will try a different brand for the bedroom, as recommended by Robert, but as I had already bought the cheap stuff from BricoDepot, I am going to uses it up, rather than bin it ( tight/echo warrior ) .

The window has been plastered, and a concrete sill has put in. and Tina has now undercoated the hole room, and painted the ceiling as well.

The paint for the walls arrives next week, and when that is done, we will be ready to start fitting the floor.

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