The ceiling in the front left room was showing damp and was simply made of hard-board. The joins were covered in oddments of scrap wood of differing sizes. Some pieces had screws, some nails and others were just hanging down.
There was definitely an odd smell coming from certain corners of the salon ceiling and the wheat husks on the floor suggested there were furry animals inhabiting the cavity.
This room is potentially going to be our lounge or salon as it is known in France. We’ll knock down the partition wall to make this side of the house one 9 meter long room with a grand stone fire place.
Unfortunately, the rear room ceiling is at a different height to the front room, so both ceilings ideally both needed to come down.
We expected the hard-board to put up a fight, but in fact it came down very quickly.
Underneath were Oak beams in incredibly good condition. They were axe cut, not sawn. They were unfortunately a dark colour and we wanted a natural light oak hue.
We found a couple of skeletons of very small rodents, some nests made from 1950’s magazines and lots of seeds. The electrics were probably installed in the 1940’s and unsurprisingly weren’t in the best shape; the rubber simply crumbled at the slightest touch. Luckily, we found no signs of woodworm and the damp appeared to be extremely localized to where a loft window had been broken.
The intention is to infill between the boards with thermal insulation. It will keep some heat in the downstairs area and provide a little sound deadening to the upstairs.
Bleaching the Oak Beams with Bi-carbonate of Soda
The plan is to bleach the Oak. We will try a solution of bleach, vinegar and bi-carbonate of soda and experiment with the mixture.
- 250ml water
- 250g bi-carbonate of soda
- 250ml white vinegar
- 250ml bleach
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@Our French Renovation
How did we end up with a House in the Creuse?
We were avid viewers of Escape to the Chateau and Chateau DIY.
During lock-down we were scouring the internet for potential retirement projects when we found this property. It was low down on our viewing list as it was rammed full of junk and you could see thick black mold on some walls.
We were lucky enough to be able to view it during a brief lifting of lock-downs, but the rest of the purchase was done remotely. We viewed 30 houses in 10 days! Some were way too much work. Several weren’t as described and others simply lacked character. Only 2 houses stood out.
We couldn’t, despite our best efforts, get a price for the first. Then there was this house in the Creuse which was definitely our favorite.
It took some vision to see past the hoards of junk that had been collective dust and mold for 30+ years. The bones of the building were actually surprisingly solid, the setting was amazing and the price was a third that of some we viewed in Normandy.
We bought the house and we have taken a year out to restore it. We are planning to permanently relocate to France.