Windows and shutters

At the moment we are working on four fronts. We are getting the outside of the chateau all ship shape whilst we have good weather. Mostly this is what Mark & Michelle do but today we were joined by our English carpenter Mark & his wife Lyne. They are taking out all of the ground floor windows and getting them to fit in the frames properly. Years of neglect has meant that most of the windows and doors do not fit or open correctly. This is due to build up of dirt, movement of the building and the wood becoming a little swollen. There is also one window frame that is very rotten and Mark will make a new frame to replace it. In the meantime the second working front is taking up all of the floors in the 6 rooms 

that we are renovating at the moment. We will then put in a solid concrete base and underfloor heating before relaying the old floor tiles or new ones. This is hard work so the youngsters in the team - Eduardo, Klaus & Oscar - are doing this. The third restoration area is the repainting of the shutters and windows and this is my area. I think within the next week we will be able to rehang 8 of the shutters in the courtyard area. We have some more to send off for cleaning this week. Hopefully by the end of June / early July we will have all the shutters and windows repaired and working as they should. The courtyard should then look amazing!