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Choochoo

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Posts posted by Choochoo

    Slating a roof

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi there

    We had our roof reslated by a French roofer. After some rough calculations the saving on TVA on materials meant that the whole job cost only an extra 350 euros than if I did the job myself. It took them 8 days,did a superb job and cleaned up after themselves. Goodness knows how long it would have taken me to do it,thats if I could avoid falling off the roof !

    Best wishes with your work,rather you than me !

    John & Sue (50)

    To braze or not to braze ?

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    I am in the process of plumbing in our wood burning Rayburn and have been told that all Boiler connections, which I would normally solder , have to be Brazed to meet French regulations.

    Is this true ? and if it is has anyone got any advice or tips on carrying out the brazing.

    Thanks for all help

    John & Sue (50)

    Ventilating the Cavities !

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    I was advised on this Forum not to put vapour barrier behind the stud walls when I cover the old stone ones but to ventilate the cavity behind. Does anyone know an effective way to do this ?   Obviously I cant put ventilation grilles through from outside as the walls are so thick, much scratching of head at the moment.

    Thanks for any advice

     

    John & sue ( 50)

    French Pay as you go mobile

    in French Satellite TV, French Internet and Telephone

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    When we moved over to France we bought a PAYG sim card for Orange F to convert one of our mobiles to French. It all works fine but if you dont use all your credit within a certain time you lose it! . I know this used to happen in UK but that was a hundred years ago ! Does anyone know a way round this ? We only want it for occasional use, emergencies, car breakdown etc. Seems to me Orange F could do with a bit of healthy competition from one of the other mobile companies.

    Thanks for any advice.

    John & Sue (50)

    Selling UK house.

    in Finding/Owning French Property

    Posted

    Hi Everyone

     

    We are now living in France full time - retired, and we rent out our old house in the UK. We have decided to give it two years and then make up our minds. If we still like it here we will sell the UK house and stay, if we dont like it we will sell here and go !. My question is what is the tax implication if we sell our UK house and stay here. Presumably it will be subject to CGT ? If so do they take into account paying off the existing mortgage, thereby obviously reducing our net profit on the house? There are probably a lot of people in France doing the same as us and this will be of interest to many.

    Thanks to all

     

    John & Sue (50)

    Fosse Ancienne

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi everybody

    We have been using an old concrete fosse buried in the garden while we wait for our proper fosse septique to be installed. As you may have guessed we are having to wait a long time and the old fosse is now getting quite full !!

    Any idea who I call to get it emptied ? The local farmer did it before when it only contained animal wastes but I dont like that idea now it contains human waste as well.

    Any ideas ?

    Thanks

     

    John & Sue (50)

    Vapour barrier

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    Can anyone tell me if I need to put up some sort of vapour barrier material first when covering old stone walls.
    I intend to put up the usual wood or metal studding with insulation and plasterboard on top.
    Also what useful tips has anyone got for me when using metal studding,never used it before.

    Thanks to all


    John (50)

    I`ve been immatriculated !

    in Driving in France

    Posted

    Hi all

    Just completed the re-register process, no problems and cost about a total of 450 Euros. Just thought I would let people know and give them some confidence that its not as difficult as it seems.
    Great to be driving round with French plates, I hated living over here with English plates, didnt seem we were quite all here, if you see what I mean !

    Regards to all


    John (50)

    Pris a Terre

    in House Renovations

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    Back on again after our move over to 50. Still in a muddle but I am sure we will get sorted one day !
    We had the ancient electrics updated by a French electrician and he installed a Pris a terre and said it was a very necessary safety thing. We dont have them in UK so can any of you electrics people out there tell us what is its function and why it should make things safer.
    Thanks, and its great to finally be here !!


    John & Sue

    Best value with 7.5t truck ?

    in Travelling to/from France

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    We are finally hoping to move over during week of 7th June ........at last, after many holdups. Yippeeeeeeeeee !!
    Does anyone know the cheapest way to get a 7.5ton truck over to either Cherbourg or Caen ? Brittany Ferries want 225.00 each way plus VAT and TVA. But we do get free meals on board, Oh, now I think its great value, I dont think. This is on the same Ferry as the better half is taking the car( MPV) plus Dogs for half that price.
    Any suggestions would be appreciated.


    John

    Another Question for Will !

    in Travelling to/from France

    Posted

    Hi Will

    Sorry, but I am perplexed. Been trying to work out some way of getting our Daughter over to France with us for Christmas.
    I cant seem to find any flights or sailings !
    Would like to travel Portsmouth to Cherbourg or Caen, out on 23/24 Dec, back on 28th.
    Or could fly to Dinard.

    Can you help ?

    Thanks


    John

    Question for Will

    in Travelling to/from France

    Posted

    Hi Will

    You seem to qualify as our resident travel expert so would be grateful for an answer to the following.
    1. Is it right that its more expensive to book with BF from the french side, if so any way round this.
    2. Sue will be going over to UK once a month as a foot passenger for a weeks work, whats the cheapest way to book this ?
    3. We are Members of BF property owners club, does the discount we enjoy apply equally to bookings made with BF France ?
    4. Do you have a phone number for the bookings from France.

    Sorry about all the questions, hope you can help.

    Thanks

    John & Sue (50)

    Selling our excess produce

    in Earning a Living

    Posted

    Hi all,lovely sunny day here in Bournemouth.

    We will be retiring to France soon ( lucky you might say, except that a great age comes with it !! )
    We will have Bees, chickens, veg plot, also Sue loves growing plants and flowers.
    We will undoubtedly have excess produce which we cant use,can we sell it over the Farm gate or at the local market without registering as a micro enterprise, just declare any income on our tax return.
    We are not looking to do this as a business - been there,done that,time to retire and take it easy.
    Dont get us wrong were not trying to get out of paying our dues,the amount we make would probably not go over our personal allowances.
    Any advice would be appreciated.

    Thanks


    Sue & John

    Inviting the Neighbours

    in French Food and Wine

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    We were thinking of having a Barbie ( not the doll, silly )to get to know all our neighbours.
    Can anyone suggest types of snack foods etc. or would a normal english type meal do, you know salad bowl,chicken bits,sausages etc.
    Also what time of day seems best, bearing in mind they seem to eat main meal at midi.
    Should we invite the maire ?

    Thanks


    Sue and John

    property developer

    in Earning a Living

    Posted

    Hi all

    just to put my centime in, anything which stops property developers in their tracks is OK by me !
    IMHO if we had Tax rules in the UK like they have in France we would all probably be paying 50% less for our houses.
    As you can see i am not a fan of property developers. Anything which is such a basic human need as a house should not be available to people who want to make a quick buck at the expense of others. I used to work in a Garage which sold high value Prestige Sports Cars and over 60% of our client base was, yes youve guessed it, Property Developers. People always put Estate agents and Traffic wardens at the top of their dislike list but i am afraid PDs come at the top of mine.
    Sorry to ramble on, I will calm down now !

    John

    Topsoil

    in Gardening

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    Does anybody know if it is possible to buy Topsoil or similar by the lorry load ?
    Must be a way of getting a large amount rather than humping back 50 bags from the Hypermarche !

    Thanks to all


    John

    Accents

    in French Language

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    Somewhere I have seen a posting explaining how to create accents using the Qwerty keyboard. Do you think I can find it? No !!
    Can anybody direct me to it or repost the list.
    Thanks


    John

    Self Sufficiency

    in Gardening

    Posted

    Hi everyone

    Everybody on this site has been so helpful with our various enquiries,we are beginning to feel a bit guilty about not being able to give something back.
    I (John) have come to be a bit of an oracle on the Self Sufficiency front. I have appeared on TV three times now about my strange hobby in the back garden ! and indeed had Meridien TV do a broadcast from my back garden during the 25th anniversary of the "Good Life" programme. Well, everyone is supposed to have their five minutes of stardom !!
    I met my (now) second wife Sue five years ago, couldnt believe my luck to meet someone interested in this strange hobby of mine.We hope to run courses in the subject when our house is habitable, we move over in May (50)
    The upshot of all this rambling is, if we can be of any assistance to anybody wishing to become Self Sufficient,drop us an e mail and we will be glad to help.
    Best wishes to all


    John & Sue

    Golden Retrievers

    in Pets

    Posted

    Hi everybody

    We would love to get a Golden Retriever but as we move over to France in May thought we would wait till then.
    Does anybody know if I will be able to get one in France ?
    Or maybe it is best to buy a puppy in the UK and export it.
    Any thoughts would be welcomed.

    Thanks


    John & Sue

    Keeping chickens and bees

    in Gardening

    Posted

    Hi TonyF

    I have kept Bees for 15 years in the UK and 3 years in France.
    We dont live in France yet but go over frequently and do whatever needs to be done then.
    We had big troubles exporting them to France and there are logistics problems which I havent sorted out yet regarding sourcing of materials and replacement Queens.
    If you need any help let me know .

    Regards


    John

    Mutuelles

    in Health

    Posted

    Hi all

    I realise that after my E106 is out I graduate to the French system and pay 8% of earnings over a certain amount. So far so good. The French system covers up to 30% of the cost of treatment. Is it mandatory to obtain insurance cover for the remainder or can I just take a chance and hope I dont get a costly serious illness and pay the balance myself ??

    Thanks


    John
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