Jackie

Thanks for the info Keni but I have got the IMPRESSION UNIVERSELLE on the wall now so time will tell if it is any good. It is certainly quite thick and covers well. I will put the crepi on it tomorrow..................John

Thanks Richard. I went to E. Leclerc today and they suggested IMPRESSION UNIVERSELLE which I will try tomorrow. It seems to be a general purpose undercoat and is, I assume, oil based as brushes have to be washed out in white spirit. Many thanks again.................John 

Following on from my earlier post about interior crepi sticking to emulsioned ply, which it appears to do, I have another query which some kind soul maybe able to answer. The oils in the ply seem to be coming through the emulsion and the crepi and staining the surface a light yellow in places. Sadly the crepi is white, any other colour the stain would not be seen I think. Before anyone suggests it I cannot change the colour now as it has to match the rest of the room. I assume what I want is a stain blocker to paint on before applying anymore crepi. Can anyone recommend what I should look for on the Bricomarche, Castorama or E. Leclerc Brico, Bati, Jardi shelves. Would a crepi sous-couche do the job or do I need to ask for something special? Much obliged in advance for any response.  John not Jackie

Because Dave if I can use the plywood then I don't need to buy any plasterboard and I am not likely to want the ply for anything else. I say "If" as I would really appreciate someone coming back to me to comment on the technique that was suggested to me. Maybe you can tell that I have Scottish forebears!...........John 

I want to use up some old plywood in good condition to clad a room divider stud wall and I want to crepi it with interior grade white crepi texture paint. Someone suggested that I seal the plywood with pva and then give a couple of coats of vinyl emulsion before applying the crepi, is this a good idea? I have found a site on the net that indicates that pva (wood glue) is not recommended under emulsions and would crepi stick to this anyway?………….John not Jackie

Well thanks to everyone for the advice. The two emails have now been deleted.  Probably a coincidence but Norton now tells me that the Boot Record has been changed. Now I did have a problem with AOL 7 yesterday and had to reload from the CD. I then deleted previous versions. Following this I ran the Defragmenter Programme. This has happened a few times over the last few years and I am now on version AOL 7d, the earlier ones having been deleted. We also found a Bloodhound Exploit.24 virus in the Restore file a couple of days ago. The Restore file was disabled and purged. I wonder if any of this would cause Norton to report a change in the Boot record. This has never happened before and no virus has been detected in scans today. Norton is updated very other day..............John not Jackie 

We have had a couple of strange emails in the last 12 hours. Both seem to be the same, advertising 4x4 vehicles, but the the format is most unusual as are the source addresses. Has anyone else had these and are they clean? Example given below: VicePresidentofMarketing (First email)        NewRateSupportSpecialist (Second email)  Hunting for the best new car? The 2004 Rebates and 2005 Incentives are fading fast...We have them! Avoid the games, salesmen, and run around. An invitation is given to push a button to see more. Needless to say we have not done so................John not Jackie  

Thanks for the information folks. I see that the  BRITISH WOOD PRESERVING & DAMP-PROOFING ASSOCIATION suggest that professionals can still use it for treating fencing in the UK. I must have a look at an agricultural supplier to see if they still sell it to farmers here in France. Tried mothballs with little benefit. They may have moved the Loir to other parts of the house for a short time as did various medicated sprays but not a permanent solution. The suggestion of tumble dryer sheets is a new one for me so I will look at that further but my feeling is that I doubt they have a strong enough pong to be effective for long. Failing finding anything I will have to concoct an evil brew myself. Nothing I have tried has worked yet including ultrasonics..............John

Difficult to know where to put this question! Last year a retired expert on the subject suggested to me that a nasty niff of something oily and smelly like creosote might persuade Monsieur Glis glis (Loir) to go and live somewhere else other than between my walls. I see that there has been some EU directive restricting the use of creosote by DIYers as there are risks associated with skin contact. The result being that I have not seen it on the Brico shelves of late. The intention had been to drop some creosote soaked objects into the wall spaces to pong the little blighters out. Can anyone suggest where I might still get a small quantity or as an alternative, what oily smelly substance I could use instead. Don't want to use poison for various reasons and trapping, though effective, never catches them all.........Cheers..........John not Jackie

Maybe it is because we have seen this one on the NASS forum.................................J

[quote]bet you there`s one loose some where or a crack in one of the joint lines........... dave[/quote] That is very interesting, so why do you need me to have a loose tile. My dad is bigger than your dad so there!.................................J

A combination of wind and solar might be worth considering. Suggest you look at this site as the topic has come up many times......John not Jackie http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=317&highlight=alternative+energy  

[quote]bet a weeks pension that no matter what you use one will come loose within 2 years. dave[/quote] Nope, still stuck down! The premixed adhesive was for floor tiles so there.......................J

The trouble with wooden floors is they have a bit of give and you don't want movement that could cause the tiles to crack! I tiled a suspended wooden floor here and I first clad the floor with 15mm plywood, 12mm would have done but the local store was out of stock that day. This was screwed down, though ring nails would do, with a screw or nail every few inches. As I could not get marine ply I gave the floor a coat of resin paint before laying the tiles. The adhesive, sorry forgotten the name, was premixed and had some component which allowed it to be slightly flexible when set. All this was done on the advice of folk at Castorama which, if you don't know, is a bit like a B&Q Depot and may be owned by the same people. Bricomarche or E. Leclerc should have this sort of stuff as well. Two years later no cracked or loose tiles. Happy tiling..................John not Jackie

I would be tempted to ring Britline at CA and see if they charge to receive a Sterling cheque and what rate they would give bearing in mind the rate they quote today will not likely be the same rate as when the cheque is received, if that makes sense..............................John

[quote]A slight change of direction within this topic.....I have lived permanently in France now for 4 months. I have a Credit Agricole A/C, a UK bank account and a UK Building Soc. A/C. I have my pension pa...[/quote] " However, I find the exchange rates and the transfer charges difficult to compare for value." So do we. We are in the same boat except that Building Societies like C&G are going to close accounts for non-UK residents in April. Maybe you have maintained a UK address and if so this should not affect you. My Govt pension comes over monthly in Euros and I am not too happy about the rate but have no choice as to which bank Capita use. Other monies from UK bank accounts/Building Societies etc are, like you, brought over once or twice a year using HIFX. Tried sending a Sterling cheque to CA but the rate was not that good though OK for small urgent amounts I guess..................John not Jackie    

Ok and thanks. The in-line valve I mentioned was a feed to a sink and not the washing machine. We are still using the Brit machine we brought over with us and have yet to replace it with a French one. The hot and cold feeds are tied together with a Y connector and it seems to work OK on cold only though it does take longer to get through a cycle as you might expect, as the water has to be heated by its own immersion heater.......................John

Thanks to all for the replies. My concern about the valve was that the rubber washer inside the tap would not like the hot water but I will go ahead and time will tell. Thanks again folks..................John not Jackie

I am sure that this may have been covered before but search has revealed nothing.  I would be most obliged if anyone could remind me of the minimum permitted distance between a water tap and an electrical socket. The tap in question feeds a washing machine input hose and the 20 amp socket powers the same. Many thanks in anticipation……………….John PS Can anyone confirm that the solder in in-line brass stop valves you get at the Brico stores are good for both hot and cold water.

Hello, we have used HIFX a few times with no problems. See http://www.hifx.co.uk/pservices/services.asp#emigration Good luck to you...............John not Jackie

Taxation in France is based on world wide income so "not need" is not applicable. Sorry I meant to say "Not need but should" What about an off-shore bond where it just sits there and money is not taken out and it goes up and, sadly of late, down in value?............J  

All the tax returns that we have completed so far have had all income declared in Euros. I have always used the rate that we got on things like pension where my UK pension comes across monthly in Euros having been converted by Nat West. The Nat West rate is often lower than others but that is what we got so that is what we declare. I think that all UK Govt pensions can be paid across in Euros but you have to accept the rate of the bank they (Capita I think) use and that is Nat West in the case of ex-teachers we are told.  On income in Sterling, like Building Society interest, that stays in the UK I have used an average of the same conversion figures that I got with Nat West and so far no problems with the French taxman but then he has not asked for the Sterling figures so far.  With most UK building societies closing accounts for non-residents one might have to go off-shore for a savings account and therefore not need to declare interest as long as it stays off-shore but that is all due to change shortly I gather! It might be misleading and not in your favour to use figures provided by someone like XE.com.................John not Jackie

Bricomarche near us in Deux Sevres do 5 or 25Kg bags of Fine or Very Fine sand by SB Mercier, I think, and I have used this for thin internal render on breeze blocks. I used a wet mix of 3:1 and the blocks sprayed with water first. Sprayed it twice a day with a fine mist for the next few days. After a few weeks, and when dry, gave it a coat or two of white crepi. Seems to be ok.........John not Jackie 

Below 60% should restrict mould growth and below 50% should restrict dust mites. Below 30% is too dry and bad for the health. We have a weather station that gives a relative humidity figure for the house and we try to keep it at about 50%. When the poele à pétrole is on the humidity tends to rise as you might expect but when the log fire is burning the humidity tends to drop to about 46% again as you might expect. When we first moved in the house had been empty for several months and the air was saturated, damp cellar and walls etc, and so we bought a Zibro Clima dehumidifier which removed many litres for several days to get it back to normal. Electric heating and log fires would tend to lower relative humidity as warm air can support more water vapour and a log fire will suck in fresh air from outside. Parafin heaters produce a lot of water and so push the relative humidity up. Hope that this is of some help..................................John not Jackie

Thanks for that Graham. So if you have to go off-shore folks, it looks as though you might if you live in France and if not now then soon, what account do you recommend having telephone or internet and instant access with reasonable interest? The list on Money Supermarket is impressive but personal experience is worth a lot and someone out there must have had experience of this! I am prepared to keep a reasonable float of a few k in the account. Charges for having the account or for transfers to and from a UK bank are not really acceptable   .................................John not Jackie