Scrape Scrape

That's right: tapatapatapa has given way to a new sound. Actually there was one intervening noise as well, a loud hiss, accompanied by dense clouds of apparent fog drifting across the views of the few windows left open to us.

After all the pick-work was done, Nicolas & Son got out their sandblaster. Nice big orange compressor, nice long hose. And they started in. The results were instant and glorious, the color of the stone revealed, the remnants of cement and render erased. So many beautiful little stones.

Our neighbor complained a bit about the dust. But a bottle of wine by way of apology soon fixed that.

Then came the rejointing. I must say, my first impression was a bit disturbing, and for a day I was a little freaked out. You see, the grout they were mixing and using was quite a bit darker, yellower, browner than I had imagined. I was terrified that, after so much work, I was going to hate the results.

Nicolas assured me that it was wet, and that it would lighten, first as it dried, and then with age in the sun. I have to trust him on this. And I must admit that, a few days later already, the color is much much mellower.

The second freak-out came over the jointing style. Their technique is as follows: first, slather the grout all over the place, really way too much of it, and then let it dry for a day. Then, they go over it with tough-as-nails brushes, gently sanding away the grout, exposing the stone, until it looks just right. Except that their idea of just right involved a bit too much grout, and not as much exposed stone, as I would have preferred. Uh-oh.

We asked them about it, and Nicolas explained that you sort of have to go with what the wall demands, and that the way it was originally built, many of the glorious and beautiful stones which had been exposed and brightened in the initial stages of the work were too small and set too far back in the wall to remain so exposed at this stage. If they brush down the grout further to expose the hidden stones, the more prominent boulders will stick out too far, where they can collect water. Water is the enemy.

All morning I fretted. Finally we had to go out and speak to him about it. I don't care if water is the enemy, I want to see more stone. The water's not gonna dissolve the rocks in the next few decades anyway. "You're the boss," he said. "But we can't go too far." A compromise. That's ok with me.

And the wall is looking much much better. I'm still unsure about the color of the grout, even as it dries it still looks a little too yellow to me, but Sarah absolutely loves it, so I can't complain too much about what makes my wife very happy. And it does get lighter every day.

In this picture you can see what it lookes like before they start brushing the grout away (lower left), some variation in grout color as it dries (they went from upper left to upper right, where it's still relatively wet), and the amount of stone exposure we'll be left with at the end.

Also, this older portion of the house was built using much smaller stones than the front half, which will look stonier. Likewise top to bottom: the bigger stones are toward the bottom of the house for obvious reasons.

And meanwhile, we've been out raking leaves and branches, trimming trees, and generally keeping busy while our walls take shape. Lots to do. Including considering the shutters.

After all, with the scaffolding still up for some days to come, we are starting to think about how we might want to repaint the shutters.

Photoshop can help. Of course, the wall will look different with grout between the stones, and on a brighter day, but general concept is what we're looking for here.

Many people around here paint their shutters a rich oxbloody color, called "rouge basque":

but perhaps that's too strong, taking away from the glory of the stone itself.

There are also several local variations on the theme of grey:

I like the darkest and the brightest, but not so much the middle ones.

Sarah likes what she calles "appley":

which is ok... but perhaps an aubergine would be good instead. I like aubergine. Or how about purple paisley? Who doesn't like purple paisley?

I know I do. But we need to see how the grout dries out, and how the walls end up looking, first, before choosing a color anyway.

And Kristi, I'll detail how our windows look and work very soon. I promise. Just as soon as we're allowed to open one of them.