Re-pointing the Piggery

The piggery is under a process of miraculous metamorphosis. At the moment, it's an awful lot like a piggery. Minus the pigs. The plan is to make it into a little gite (or spare bedroom) with a double bedroom, shower room, kitchenette and terrace with panoramic views of the Correze. We need to dig out about a foot of floor, some of it concrete. We then need to put on a tiled roof, for the sake of aesthetics and things that go bump in the night.

The first job was to pull out all of the ivy- that took DAYS!

And my next job is to re-point the stone walls. They are presently just piles of stones with clods of mud daubed between them occasionally. There have been small attempts to patch it up using cement between the stones, and that's not very pretty, so I'm having to hammer and chisel that out first.

You wouldn't believe how tediously slow the re-pointing process is. A whole bucketful of the secret recipe* only does about a square foot. I have a pile of spare stones at hand to plug up yawning gaps; hammering them in is surprisingly satisfying, as, sometimes, they splinter a bit and super-fill the gap. 

Now, I said the process was tediously slow, but it's not tedious in a bad way; re-pointing is in fact immensely pleasing. The following photos show my progress over three days:

No, that's not snow or hailstones along the front- that's dropped mix. Yes, yes, you're right. That may, indeed, be why a bucketful only does a square foot...

* The Secret Recipe for the Secret Process

I have a friend, I've mentioned her before, (Sue, that's it) who excels at re-pointing stone walls. (I'm speaking in hushed tones now, lean in closer...) Well, she came to our farm** to give me a lesson. Previously, she'd given me a secret shopping list of ingredients and tools. The list was copyrighted. I think it'll be okay for me to mention that the secret mix includes: sand, lime, PVA and water. And this cut down Vanish container is a vital part of the equipment.

Here is some of the other equipment (Stop looking at my droppings!):

I'll be posting further photos of my re-pointing escapade in the weeks to come. Exciting, eh?




** Well, it WAS a farm. Just because it has no animals doesn't take away the fact that it's a collection of farm buildings (ruins).