The Renovation
Maison Laudiere was a major restoration project over a period of 3 years. Below is a small insight into the work that was done. There are still some 'smaller' jobs to finish off but there always is with older properties!!
The roof was not the best when we bought the house so a complete new roof was ordered. Most of the original oak woodwork was preserved except the centre section which was too far gone to keep.
To the front of the house there is a well that used to supply all the water to the house, now re-designed and only used to water the garden, etc. The area to the front of the house is now finished allowing for parking of several vehicles and although a gravel type finish it is solid enough for motorcycles - I ride mine on it with no problems.
A new upstairs floor was also fitted to the main house and the 'end cottage' allowing us to convert the main loft into two good sized rooms both with en-suites and the end cottage with a bedroom, retaining the original oak and an en-suite. At the same time, a hole was knocked through the wall in the loft area to allow access between the end cottage and the main part of the house. This gives us greater flexibilty and allows us to offer self-catering with one or two bedrooms.
Bedroom 'Lotus' before
And after.
Bedroom 'Lavande' before
And after.
When we bought the house, the oldest part (the left hand side) was in a pretty poor state as the roof had been open to the elements for a fair while. The floor had partially collapsed into the cellar and the ceiling beams were all that remained of the first floor. A new 'floating' concrete floor was fitted downstairs and, where needed, the ceiling beams have been re-worked using traditional techniques.
The before and after pictures of the self-catering room above and to the left.
Standing in the garden is an old 'colombage' (stone and timber framed building) that was really in a sorry state and had to be taken down to this stage prior to the re-build.
It has now been rebuilt using block work and some vertical oak posts instead of the old 'mud and straw' technique then rendered with sand and lime. Looks a little rustic but not bad for my first attempt!
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