joidevie

Thanks.. Roughly what I was thinking.. Ratio of chaux to sable?

Bang in Zone 10 on your map (Southern bit)... Wells are around 16m deep with the water table around 4m, and these quickly fill up overnight if you empty the well (impossible as they're around 4m in diameter -  a LOT of water!). NO nearby surface water with a central village location The stones are the usual mix of whatever was around at the time, but no flint that I've ever found.. We don't really want 'exposed stone' as this was what we had before in our barn which was more rustic in feel (although it would do a good job of dealing with rising moisture - going dark after heavy rain up to around 1m high, but soon drying out..). This is more of a 'town house' in feel - hence the quest for a good base coat on the stonework before going to the thin top 'skim type' coat of chalk mixed with 'Predose' (a natural additive to help adhesion) with added pigments for the decorative finish. I anticipate a 'bonding' type coat of around 20mm will be needed.. We're not so worried about the wall being temporarily 'damp' after rain, and would rather want the water to do what it has to do, and go away afterwards.. ie. sink back down, or disperse upwards. The fibroplaques were so unsympathetic to the effect of moisture and for years trapped all the moisture in the wall.. So too the lino laid on the tomettes, which, when rolled up and chucked, revealed owners desperate to hold something back that may just needed to have been allowed it's natural cycle.. The suits & masks, yes, maybe a little over the top, but at £3 a pop, worth the Ebay purchase.. And a couple of great snapshots for the photo album! Any more thoughts? Thanks..

OK.. We removed the sheets (wearing full disposable overalls/masks etc) as full sheets - our decheterie takes them in a special skip.. The wall is pretty dry now, but I guess I'm still looking for some advice on rendering the exposed stone (which goes to about waist height - clearly this has been taken off prior to the panels being put on..) Many thanks..

Sorry, I linked to the wrong thread.. The one I was referring to was one about damp - here Thanks again..

Great stuff.. I actually re-pointed the last place I had like you have (not the 'decorative' way!), and the damp would appear and disappear as the moisture built up and give no problems and simply evaporate.. The new place has 'proper' classic flat interior walls and I'm hoping to go the "let the moisture breathe route..". I posted a thread a while ago where much consensus was aimed at this rather than laying damp courses or cement rendering on top... Is this not a valid route to pursue? Thanks..

We have one front facing wall to a village house which seems to like to absorb moisture from the ground, especially after some rain (though not always, there are many wells only 4m deep in the village). After removing some panels of 'fibrociment' (put there by previous owners, which only served to keep all the moisture behind it) we're left with exposed stone & mortier. We've left it to dry a few weeks but realise that the moisture will return, but are philosophical and want to let it 'breathe' rather than cement it up or put in a damp course. We plan to use natural 'chalk paint/enduit' for decorating and may open a couple of 100mm breating holes along the wall.. What I was wondering was what sort of mix to use as a 'bonding coat' to render the stone wall before the final 3-4mm chalk paint/enduit? Something that will 'allow' the wall to breathe rather than seal in (and eventually breaking out) the damp? Does anyone have any good experiences, and some mix ratios or additional additives to put into the mix? Many thanks..

OK, we'll see.. I just subscribed to liste 'orange' so awaiting my suivi commande.. So you cannot be ex directory? So why even have a 'liste rouge' option on the Orange website? Cheers..

We just tried to subscribe to FT's 'Liste Rouge' with our new Orange Net Plus  connection.. And I've just receive a suivi de commande email now telling me that the service is 'incompatible' with one or more of the services we are taking.. So, are the lists only compatible with FT land lines? Does the Net Plus have a similar opt out feature? Many thanks if anyone knows..

Sure, i'm quite aware of the speeds and distances.. But the CONTRACT says speed 1mbps... Does this "cap" the speed or merely take into account the actual available on my line? Is the contract 'smart' in that respect? Than again..

Thanks, I did get that bit, but there was some. reference earlier in the thread that it may be possible with some know how. The engineer has now been, and confirmed that a livebox IS necessary for the free Orange calls. We also just had our contract through the post, and it states "speed of 1mbs".... rather than "up to 20mbs but you may only get 1mbs in your area" - does this imply that they actually KNOW the speed you will get and are obliged to refer to this inu the contract? 1mbs is in fact the speed my neighbour currently.gets.. I suppose it's a case of keep on asking if faster speeds are available as a previous poster mentioned? Thanks..

I too am about to have this package connected (today). Will a standard NETGEAR DG834 modem ADSL work instead of the livebox? It's a reliable workhorse and not previously 'assigned' to another provider.. And I'm also a little unclear how you would set up a standard handset to work with the voip? In the UK I use a Siemens voip handset which has the box that plugs into the standard ADSL modem.. And I presume you will still get the free international calls even withe the netgear if it worked? And, as I didn't speak to the salesperson, do we need the trippleplay for this, or just the plus? My partner booked the engineer and was simply told we are signing up inc international calls.. Many thanks.

Thanks.. The pierre d'argile sounds great, though I'm interested to see if it will have much impact on an initial 'restore'.. I guess an artillery of options may be the way to go! I found this useful thread (in French)

Wise words.. We looked at it carefully and have just opted for taking EDF from the day we moved in to our new (old) house. I believe the previous owners were EDF, so I'm hoping that we will be considered 'existing' customers?? We also considered 'Planete Oui' for their 'green' credentials, but after 3 calls to customer services to get the low down on having the old blue meter changed, they had no clue, and simply referred us to ERDF. I had this in the previous place and ended up having all the hassle of devis for this. EDF on the other hand, had a quick answer and immediately said they could do a meter change in 7-10 days for around €50..

I was wondering if anyone had some good tips on restoring original tomettes? We have a mix of wonderful untouched and untreated ones (1 room only unfortunately), some nicely 'worn' and shiny from wear & tear, and far too many which have been treated with a red 'cire' (wax) over the years, leaving patches here and there depending on where the furniture was at the time.. Is there any wonder product or raw chemical (hydrachloric acid?) that may strip or lift this? Sandblasting comes to mind, but a huge hassle and awful job..  Or am I resigned to using yet more 'wax' to try to make these rooms look nice again? Many thanks if you've been down this road & can offer some suggestions..

This is a very infomative thread, and also quite relevant to our situation. We have inherited 2 balons, one (small) at one end of the house directly above the kitchen sink, the other in the bathroom at the other end of the house (200l). We plan to move the kitchen underneath the bathroom, and perhaps simply use the 200l balon only. Then some wood fires to heat downstairs, and some electric wall heaters as supplements.. Is this efficient? I have never been quite sure how much energy is used when using say 20l of hot to do the dishes from a 200l tank? We have just opened a 'Blue Ciel' standard hours account.. And have an old blue spinny meter, and use the house for 2 weeks in every 5 approx. Being ii I don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but this is perhaps quite relevant ..

I hear the Grundig is good, but the Humax is meant to have no fan, so no background noise (the Grundig is meant to be a little noisey - a big turn off for me, worth paying a few pounds more IMO)..

Sound advice.. Thanks. Do you know if this type of company are 'approved' - a quick Google revealed a few concerns over the testing proceedures.. Is there likely to be any impartial advice 'on the ground' (ie. in France) in the form of a 'quote' from a company (thus effectively gaining an identification of the type involved)?

Thanks.. I did read that, but it sounded more like a material laid into the fabric of the building rather than panels put on to a wall.. But maybe I got this wrong..

We have a room which appears to have 3 or 3 asbestos panels attached to the walls - roughly from ground height to shoulder height. They are around 6-10mm thick.. They were noted in the dignostiques before we bought the place.. (will this specify the 'type'?) I don't have access to the diagnostiques here, but are these likely to be the highly dangerous type? They seem 'grey' in colour (though not sure as I'm in the UK) and could possibly be removed by chipping them out beyond the edge and lifting them away (our decheterie will take them).. Am I being highly wreckless even considering it? Would it cost much to have a specialist company do it or would a builder take it on? It's all a little scary, and my girlfriend's Dad isn't happy (and he's a builder in Scandinavia..) Many thanks..

Many thanks.. I guess my next concern is what to do about the asbestos panels on the walls? They were mentioned in the buyer's report..?

Hmm...  Much as I suspected. The walls are soft stone & mortar with the inevitable render to front and chalk 'plaster' to inside.. The walls must be 50cm thick - no issues with fitting vents? Many thanks as ever..

Hi.. We've just re-awakened a village house in Herault which has been effectively closed up for 9 years. We moved in after several days of heavy rain and many of the ground floor walls were pretty damp, if not wet. No big surprise, and even a bonus as we could strip much of the wallpaper effortlessly! However, one area by a front window remains pretty damp after 2 weeks of airing the house, and in this area the interior wall has been boarded to shoulder height with asbestos panels implying that it has been an ongoing problem. The tomettes on the floor there also seem to be 'soft' under foot (ie. coming away from the mortar). Poor things, they had been covered in lino for years. Some of the render outside at around shoulder height is also coming away in a small patch (it has been re-done along the whole front to shoulder height).. I presume this is a rising damp thing? Or could this just require more time to 'dry out' and then lift the asbestos panels away and render the internal walls? Would a membrane simply direct the water to other areas? It's my first experience with this - my last place was a barn where I'd re-pointed the interior walls, and these would perhaps only go a little dark after heavy rain and simply dry out within a day or so.. Many thanks..

Hi.. Has anyone had any experience in adapting old original "crémone" knobs/mechanisms to work with modern windows? I'm not really looking for the 'upright' bolts to actually move or lock into the upper & lower window frame, merely to perhaps mount these for appearance. I'm wanting to somehow make the 'knob' work with a square 'spindle' required to turn the modern internal meachanism.. I hope this makes sense! Any ideas? Many thanks..

Thanks for all the input.. So, does this mean I can use the BUTANE gas bottle which has PE 15 bar written on it? It will be kept indoors if that matters.. But is this the right "supply pressure"? If it helps, I used it happily on a twin camping gas cooker.. Many thanks...

OK.. I've looked at the hose kit and it is labeled "Detenteur 28 mbar" In the cooker manual there is a section for liquid gas 'flow g/h' with flow specs for each burner ring for either G30 or G31. At the bottom is listed "supply pressure". For G30 Nominal 28-30 Minimum 20 Max 35 For G31 Nominal 37 Minimum 25 Maximum 45 An asterix points me to some details: *At 15c and 1013 mbar-dry gas Propane G31 H.s = 50,37 MJ/kg Butane G30 H.s = 49,47 MJ/kg Methane G20 H.s = 37,78 MJ/m3  I have 2 gas bottles I blue TOTALGAZ Butane 13kg CA 26,8 l PE 15 bar 1 green PRIMAGAZ Propane 13kg CAP 30,6 l PE 30 bar Am I missing something very obvious here? Is the hose good for both, and how do I work out which is the correct bottle. The TOTALGAZ is half full, so it would be handy, but only if it's the right one to use! Many thanks..