We already knew the garage, which became a small north-facing dining room where we had so many breakfasts, courgette gratins and sausage and purée puddings at the end of a beach day, but the future laundry room is taking on a generous amount of water.
The doors have lived through the years, suffering from the claws of cats and dogs, the rising waters of the gutter and, more recently, the flooding of the kitchen. The wood at the bottom of the doors has become spongy, and the mechanisms have seized up to the point where you can’t open the leaves except with a hammer and chisel.
Dismantling the locking mechanisms, rust-proofing, stripping, scraping away the soaked wood, cutting and amputating, trimming the cleats, routing the gutters in the new rain gutters, plastering, planing, sanding and painting to give new life to these doors that have seen so much traffic. a little before and after of the day. Just 56 more door and window leaves (no, it’s not a joke, I counted three times and broke out into a cold sweat, there are 65 in all, of all sizes) to restore or, at best, strip and repaint before fitting thermal double-glazing. Winter 2021 will be hot, and winter 2020 is shaping up to be ultra-laborious (and therefore ‘hot’ too)…
North entrance (ex-garage, small dining room): the feet of the doors are spongy and perforated, letting in water every time it rains. 
The first door was dismantled, scraped to the heart of the wood and the ‘dead’ parts cut away. Chestnut wedges and braces, shimming the freshly refurbished mechanics. 
Cutting the joints before rebuilding, cutting the rain gutter to the profile of the original before tearing out to prevent it from shattering. Roughing out the new rainscreen. First protective undercoat Router preparation of the rain gutters for the next patio doors. Glycerine paint for lasting protection. And that’s one!
