Levels of Peril

You left us building a retainer wall for our massive terrace. Despite appearances, this has been a two-handed job, Kevin laying the blocks, and me filling the gaps with cement mix. We congratulated ourselves on how quickly we were moving!

There will be two gaps in the front wall, one for the steps down to the 'garden', and another for access to the swimming pool. 

Ah, you've spotted that earth ring developing in the background... That's where we will be laying a concrete base for the swimming pool. As I've mentioned before, the ground here is very sloped, so this job entails digging down to about a metre on one side and around half that on the other in order to make it level, and at the right height for access from the terrace. There will be a small amount of decking around the pool, but we haven't talked about that much so far. There'll also be a little gated enclosure within the terrace to prevent children wandering in and falling into the pool. The French are quite strict about pool safety. You may also have spotted that the clods of earth I've been digging out so far have gone to fill the gap behind the retaining wall. This entails a good deal of smashing down so as not to leave any subterranean holes. There's still more smashing to be done... *

Now is the time to consider the channelling of water and electricity to the far side of the terrace, hence those lengths of pipe.

The careful and repeated use of various spirit levels and string tied around posts has meant that we've built a perfectly level wall, which will help us ensure that we have a perfectly level terrace.

The tubing and cables go in for the lighting.

And now, as night fell, it was time to check the accuracy of our levels using the super powers of the laser.

This is the beautiful level at one end!

And here it is at the other! The end which, if anything, looked too low! Disaster!

So, what do we do? Well, first of all, we convince ourselves it won't matter, that no-one will notice. I propose to Kevin that it's possible that his treasured laser level has lost its wits, but he's never been more sure of anything than he is about the infallibility of his laser. But then, after some concerted staring and musing, sense kicks in, and we have to admit that we don't want a terrace that's 25cm higher at one end! And then we spend time considering whether, conversely, we do! Yes! Drainage- who wants water pooling on the terrace? Fortunately, yet again, sense arrives and we resolve to address the problem...

Kevin puts in more cabling for yet more lights.

And so a new course of blocks is laid at the end that's too low, despite looking too high. But from this end, it must continue on a gradual downward slope. Do we chip away at blocks to make them increasingly slim-wedged? Or do we build up shuttering and fill it with concrete? We're still experimenting with that. It'll all be hidden by crepi (ubiquitous external surface coating that looks like porridge) in the end, so our incompetence won't be evident to visitors eyeing up the sloping block lines.

Look! The corner of the wall at this end is now the same height as the corner of the wall at the far end! You have to admit that it's deceiving!

Once the wall is level, we'll set to work levelling out the mud, laying a layer of hard-core, and doing a bit more smashing, before we launch upon the much-debated terrace surface. We can't afford decent paving slabs, so we're planning a home-made stone surface using the almost endless supply of natural stone on (and in) our land. Even if this goes horribly wrong, I won't admit it; I'll insist that whatever emerges was our intention.

* Crescent moon, to bagel, to ring doughnut, to full moon. The story of my digging addiction.