Go... ?

On Friday was the first Reunion de Chantier, or site meeting. Present were the two contractors doing the main part of the works - Renovital, who will do the heavy duty demolitions and building work, and Murmuur, who will do the interior work, insulation and finishings. Last but by no means least, from the architect's office was Cédric, who will be overseeing and coordinating everything.

We still have to sign the contract with the firm doing the technical parts (water, electricity, bathrooms, ventilation), which is planned for this week, and work out what we are doing with the front windows (repair or replace?) and line up a contractor for that, but that is all in hand.

Finally, we have decided to take out some of the finishings (painting, sanding floors, fitting the kitchen and stripping doors) since we can save a lot by doing these jobs separately at the end, in a rather Belgian manoeuvre...

The first major event will be the demolition of the kitchen annexe at the back, and dismantling and repairing the roof. But before they can get out the sledgehammers, we have to arrange an Etat des Lieux with the neighbours, to establish the current state of the dividing wall, in case of any complaints down the line about cracks and leaks caused by the works. That is scheduled for next Friday 27th.

Meanwhile, on the inside, Murmuur can already get started with setting up the site and removing the existing electrics, pipes, etc.

I also pointed out the various items which we would like to be salvaged from the demolition of the back: the pierre bleue steps (which I plan to use in the garden as paving), the original windows and doors (which a friendly woodman expressed an interest in), and a chunk of the mosaic floor that may come in useful for repairs later. Let's see what comes of that...

In terms of timing, they have given themselves 140 working days to complete the works. So excluding weekends, public holidays and the occasional day of weather so awful that works are impossible, that takes us (optimistically perhaps) to mid-September. Then add on another few weeks to finish off with things like sanding floors, painting and fitting the kitchen (if we don't manage to squeeze that in during the works themselves), that takes us to mid-October.

A rough estimate it may be , but I think it deserves a countdown widget.