The Wall

To divide the two work areas I chose breeze blocks. A relatively inexpensive but sturdy solution, with the possibility to fill up the cavities with concrete at the hight of the enlarger studs. Fixing the enlargers to the wall is the only way to really avoid vibrations.

The blue markings indicate the blocks filled with concrete. The big orange line on the wall behind indicates the enlarger fixation hight on that wall. These old granite walls are made of rocks found in the fields. The quality and hardness of different rocks can vary considerably. So, I have to choose the fixation points very carefully. Because of that I have since decided to use another system.

I had never built a breeze block wall before. After documenting myself on the internet and getting some excellent advice from a neighbour, I ordered the blocks, the cement and some iron armement. The most important thing is to position all the blocks perfectly in line horizontally and vertically. With a few threads and a water level I managed well. But... I forgot one surface. The inside of the door. Half way up I realised that the door opening was slowly getting narrower. Just one centimeter and it's not a major problem, but still. Since I'm working on the barn/darkroom to learn as I'm going too, I'm glad this happened. Now I won't make the same error again when renovating our bicentennial farm.

Wood treatment

Notwithstanding the deathwatch beetles, the pine beams and floor of the first floor are in good condition. But a treatment with long lasting insecticide is necessary.

For months I have searched for ecologically safe alternatives. But in 2008 no serious candidates exist (yet). Boric salt (sodium metaborate or 20 mule team lime) is only a repellant. The best existing ecological treatments are only effective for 5 years at the most. Chemical insecticides are guaranteed for 10 years at least. Since I don't want to demolish my ceiling every 5 years to retreat all the wood, I chose the chemical universally used in France : Xylophene.

This stuff is real poison. Once  I took off my mask for only two minutes, but I ended up vomiting my guts out. Fortunately the wood has been dry for a70 years, so it sucks up the chemicals like a spunge. After ventilating a week, there are no illegal tenants left. The real work can begin.

A new concrete floor

The barn needed a new concrete floor, so in the winter of 2007 we started demolishing the old slab. First by hand with a sledge hammer and a wheelbarrow. Later I bought a power pick. A friend (on the photograph) sometimes helped, but I did most of it myself. Because of the hard physical work, working at - 10'C was possible. Any colder than that, the work stopped. All in all, it took the better part of winter to pull out all of the concrete and the granit stone foundations. The whole floor was lowered by 20 cm and egalised with gravel.

In february 2008 othe neighbours helped to pour in the 5 m3 of concrete for a 10 cm slab. It went well. Unfortunately nobody had ever done this kind of work. So the surface isn't as smooth as it should be. A second thin layer of liquid concrete will have to resolve that problem later on. Ofcourse I put in the connections for electricity, water supply and sewage before pouring the concrete. But you can never have too many tubes in your conrete slab. Today I would put in more.

A few problems

Before building the actual darkoom a few problems have to be resolved.

1) The old concrete floor has a height difference of 70 cm from front to back ! Maybe that was convenient to extract manure from this former pig stable. But it isn't for a darkroom. The whole concrete floor has to be replaced. At the same time I can lower it to get a bit more than the actual 2.10 m ceiling height.

2) The ceiling beams show the presence of deathwatch beetle. Longhorned house beetle is present in some roofbeams of the upper floor. Nothing to be really worried about, but the wood has to be treated with a long lasting insecticide.

3) There are no windows or doors. Just holes. Lighttight but ventilating windows have to be installed. And the big entrance has to be closed by more than the existing barndoors.

4) There isn't any electricity, water or sewage. All this has to be installed. The same goes for a toilet.

5) Some heat and phonic isolation between the darkroom and the upper floor would be nice.