The current “kitchen” is no more than a breeze block wall that is holding up a cheap sink and the portable gas cooker. Given that we know we are going to totally refurb this area as part of the major renovation it did not make any sense to start putting in a final kitchen so the decision was made to buy some B&Q cabinets & doors, a natural gas hob from eBay and a solid work top from Brico Depot to try and give us somewhat of an inexpensive but functioning kitchen.

Items Purchased & Suppliers
Kitchen carcases & doors (B&Q) – £345
Natural Gas Hob (EBay) – £90
Sink (Brico Depot) – €88 (£85)
Taps & Waste (Brico Depot) – €40 (£39)
Solid wood work top (Brico Depot)- €99 ( £95 )
Wood Sealant (Wickes) – £10
Total Spend – £664
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Preparation & Sanding

So this is what we started with ( click for larger image ), I have no idea how long it’s been here but it’s time for a refresh and there were a few things we needed to tackle first and this was going to be somewhat of a messy job.

You see every service that is available has been plastered and then stippled to give somewhat of the same effect as Artex ( without the asbestos ) but it’s a right nightmare so the first job was to remove this and the quickest way to so this was with a belt sander but that was only going to result in one thing and that was massive amounts of dust, and that’s just what we got.

Wearing eye protection and a respirator the place soon filled up with dust.  At the start it was comical how much there was but it soon dawned on Dad and I this this was a small wall no higher than 4ft x 6ft and we had far far bigger walls to come. This was going to be messy but it had to be done.

Once the sanding was done it was finally times to start removing what was there,

Removal not as easy as it appears.

It’s now time to start removing that is there starting with the awful tiles that are used as a splash back.  A claw hammer and a chisel makes easy work of this. Next it’s time to remove the sink so with the water off, the waste secure we removed the link and that’s when the corner of the wall fell out. I couldn’t believe it you should have heard the language. It appears that the sinks final position in the wall was level with the join in the wall and removing the sink dislodged this and away it came.  I don’t have any pictures of this due to the sense of humour failure I was suffering at the time, but my quick thinking father realised that the breeze wall could be trimmed with the rip saw and that’s what we proceeded to do. More dust, cursing and breath holing while the whole structure wobbled we levelled the wall and proceeded to remove the sink, ready for fitting.

As you can imagine to get to this stage there were a lot more pictures as this was an eventful job that should have been so simple. I’ve uploaded a few images to the gallery below while I write part 2 of the build and fitting where we try to get something like a useful kitchen.

A quick recap :
While we are finalising the plans for the house we are working on a “Petit Renovation” first. The house in it’s current layout had somewhat of a  “livable” area consisting of Kitchen / Lounge, Shower room and 2 bedrooms both approx 11ft x 10ft each, however given the actual state of disrepair to all of them we really needed to fix up these area’s so we can comfortably stay in the house for holidays etc etc, and that by itself is no small task. Welcome to our “Petite Renovation”

The plan for the week is quite ambitious and we have a LOT to get through. This is actually Renovation Week 1 of 2 with the next week we are out here being Easter however this is the week where we must try and get things done to the bathroom as the wife can’t be without a toilet or at the very least a toilet door. Me and my father can just resort to being Neanderthals when needed

Plan for the week:

Bathroom
Remove and replace the bathroom. Everything in it from the WC to the 1/2 Bath / Shower need to be replaced. There is the option to level the floor and retile as well as remove and replace the awful foam square polystyrene ceiling and insulate.

Kitchen
Fit a kitchen of use! The “kitchen” as it is right now is a sink and a mobile gas cooker. A small kitchen has been purchased along with a new sink, natural gas hob and work top. This will enable us to have a functioning kitchen so we actually stop eating items cooked in one small saucepan and one small frying pan.

Plaster
The walls in the house are either covered in yellow stipple pain / artex or wood cladding. You by now have already seen the images of the walls we bought back to their original stone, and the plan is to finish this off where we can and then plasterboard, seal and paint the rest to create a clean space.

Fireplace
Rescuing the fireplace is one of the items that is on the top of my list that really shouldn’t be. This house has stood for over 300 years and the fireplace is very big, functional and the large stones used to create it have been painted over in yellow stipple paint and it angers me every time. While this is not urgent (as the fireplace works) this is on my hit list.

Rewire
I could write about the electrics in the house all day. Needless to say that they are badly done and very unreliable. While we re-plaster we’ll be relaying cables & adding data cabling as well. Given the ease of the French system of “Spurring” and the small size of the “Petite Mason” this actually sounds harder than it should be.

Plumbing
See above -  but just replace electricity with water! Everything is either bursting, pained or ready to rot. I’m looking forward to this as it gives us the chance to replace it when we fit the new bathroom and sink. Also some isolation values would in the past have been great as at present the water is either on or off to everywhere.

So you can see there is a LOT planned for 1 week, however we do have another week here in 3 weeks time but this is the week of long days, dirty work and no doubt a bit of swearing. Oh and of course I’d better let you know my budget: €2000 sounds fair

Drop in all week for running updates and photo’s ( there will  be LOTS )

What I’m looking for is a solar panel the size of an A4 piece of paper (21cm x 30cm ) with a data logger on the back. The kit should also power itself from the energy generated & charge a NICAD battery (for when it’s not generating power), record the time and the power that it is producing at any given moment then log this for a maximum of 7 days ( possibly 30 ) so that I can then plug a USB cable into it and get a raw CSV file out of it.

With this data it’ll then be really easy to move the panel to different area’s of the house to determine the best location for a panel plus given we know how much the average power output is for a panel this size, some simple maths will let us scale this up.

Here I’ve even got a diagram for you as inspiration but I’m under no illusion that I don’t have the smarts to build this so I’m assuming I’m missing something here and it’s harder than I think.

If you have something similar PLEASE contact me as this will lead onto a decent spend in solar panels for someone.

PS : Sorry if i sound like i’m a little ratty in this post but the truth is I am!
Looking to move to solar seems to be far harder than it needs to be and while I want to contribute to being part of the solution it seems it’s easier to be part of the problem. Below are the links to the other solar posts i have done and you’ll see the results ebb and flow from positive to negative.

Solar – Is it worth it?
Solar – Round IV
Solar Survey Part II

Grab them while you can.

Register HERE and be quick as there are only 10,000 available. Please note these tickets are only valid weekdays after 5, so if you want to go at the weekend there is no benefit. However we’ll do a report for you.

Here’s the blurb from the advert and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves:

Meet Martin Lewis at the show on 20th March

This year’s EDF Energy Ideal Home Show is designed to help you make the most of your home. We’ll show you how to fall in love with your home again, offering inspirational ideas to brighten up your life, from de-cluttering and making the most of every inch of space, to energy saving initiatives that minimise your carbon footprint. And, of course, there’ll be plenty of money-wise ideas that could help cut your bills!

Martin will be at the EDF Energy Ideal Home Show on the opening day, Friday 20 March, and will be speaking at the Smarter Living Theatre at 7pm. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to hear some expert advice.

To celebrate Martin’s involvement in the Show, we are giving away 10,000 free tickets to users of MoneySavingExpert.com. The tickets are valid to use after 5pm on any weekday of the show.

Show opening hours: Weekdays 11am – 9pm, Weekends 10am – 6pm, Final Monday 10am – 6pm

We of course will be there and will try and get the podcast sorted by then.