Gyn_Paul

Lyngsat is now listing a number of channels (Channel 5, 5USA, 5* etc) on Astra 1N  on its so-called 'UK transponders' - which I assume are the ones supposed to have a sharp cut-off in the channel, They are perfectly fine on a 60cm dish in Central France, so unless Astra proposes to do some tweaking, I think 1N should be 'business as usual' Mind you, it hasn't rained yet ! p

The profile of both types of frame is basically a 'U' section, with two ridges in the base (1/3rd and 2/3rds across) to make tracks for the door runners to slide on. The non-TB version is solid alu. The TB version has the middle third of the 'U' section replaced with high-density plastic. The external profile is is identical, but the internal is, of course, a little thicker. The doors are double-glazed, and identical (as far as I can see) for each version. But it only when you look at the area of glass (I have 4 x the 2m40 ones, and 2 x 1m80 ones) and compare it with the area of frame  that you realise how little it matters in the end. p

[quote user="ericd"]If the work is INSIDE your own property and you are not defacing the outer look of your property just go-ahead with the work needed.[/quote] ah but... the key is ...he's not changing the function of the building.

Do these buildings actually have walls or are they really roofs on legs? If they are already enclosed, and you are not planning to turn them into living space, then I can't see that you are changing their function - merely improving them slightly. If they were mine I'd just be getting on with it. p

Quillan, do you mean fixed panes, or do you mean  - in effect - sliding patio doors? If the latter, they do (or did up to Nov this year) 2m40's and 1m80's both 2m15 high in plain alu or thermal stop alu. They also do a 2m high version but I can't remember what the width of that one was. The framework comes in a pack 2m15 x 25cm x 25 cm (ish) with the assorted ironmongery and the handles, and the glass panels are either 1m20 x 2m15(ish) or 0m9 x 2m15 pairs. One man can just about load/unload them into a van, but you really do need 2 people to lift them into the frame. I have been accidentally given one thermal stop version and five ordinary. (The frames are exactly the same dimentions, and it was only when I was screwing No2 in place that I realised the 1st was a thermal stop version), and I have to say I see very little difference in the amount of condensation on the frame: unless you are planning to heat it and live in it all winter long, I don't think it's worth the extra. p

[quote user="Araucaria"][quote user="sid"]I've been tempted to "jailbreak" the Kindle to load my own screensavers but at these early days I decided that a warranty claim would be invalidated and it's better to hang on. Adding my own screensavers is only a bit of vanity really (like having a personalised number plate on the car... which I DID have in UK ! [:$]  ).[/quote] It's possible to "unjailbreak" it and put it back the way it was, with the original screensavers. And if my own experience is anything to go by, if you have the most typical Kindle problem, a broken screen, they don't ask you to send the old one back when they supply a new one under warranty. So they won't know what you've done to it's innards. But you are at least partly right about the vanity bit: mine now also shows pictures of my children and other family members. However the real spur was to get rid of Agatha Christie, a writer I really dislike, Jules Verne (overrated), and Ralph Ellison, no doubt a nice enough man but he really only wrote one novel. They have been replaced by Robertson Davies, Neal Stephenson, and Ursula Le Guin. [/quote] Go on then.... it's just too tempting. How do I do it? p

[quote user="Cat"]This would be the TF1 news report, I imagine [:)] [/quote] It may well be. Thanks for the link. If only I had an ADSL service fast enough to actually view it in chunks longer than 50 frames at a time.

[quote user="Mr Ice-ni"][quote user="Gyn_Paul"] It seems to me that removing the radar notification signs is confirmation that the fixed radars have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with making the roads safer; they are simply a revenue stream for the government. [/quote] And what is wrong with making the criminals pay? John [/quote] ....nothing at all - in fact part of me applauds the cynical honesty of it - it's just that in so many countries radar speed traps are portrayed as being a road safety measure when it's patently not the case. p 

I have used exactly that prior to 2 finish coats. It seems to bung up the pores as well as anything. You certainly need something cheap (or in your case, free!) as new plaster has an astonishing thirst! p

Does the 4th wall face the prevailing wind? This was the problem we had. We planned to put a polycarb canopy with side walls and an open front, onto the back of our house, until I was out there one evening gathering up scattered garden furniture and realised that the wind would just get under it and rip it off. I've now gone for the proper conservatory version with a glass front. So far (only the one gale as yet), all the component parts remain in the same departement. The poly carb sheets come in 3m or 4m lengths, by 97cms wide, which gives you 1m centre on centre to the middle of the alu glazing bars (which are, I might add, a damned-sight more expensive than the poly sheets and only seem to come in 4m lengths). Clear, Opal or Bronze. p

I came in the other lunchtime and turned on TF1's  13 Heures to catch the last 15 seconds of an item they were carrying which was something about fixed radar speed cameras and GPS's. Did anyone see it?  Was it just confirmation of the plan to remove the fixed radar notice boards + a reminder that radar detector devices are illegal, spiced up with a foot or so of library pictures,  or was it news of some new draconian measure making a GPS, which tells you were the fixed sites are, equally verboden (as in Switzerland) ? It seems to me that removing the radar notification signs is confirmation that the fixed radars have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with making the roads safer; they are simply a revenue stream for the government. p

If it's feasible to run it up to the eves then I would suggest doing so. A ground level-level one can get niffy no matter how good a carbon filter you use.

SD what did you mean by 'the Argus value' ?  Is it like Glass's Guide ?  I'm asking because I'd like to know roughly what the write-off value of a 14 year-old Volvo S70/T5/auto/essence is likely to be. I'm about to tackle its re-insurance, and there seems little point in fully-comp @ 440E if the write-off value is going to be about E250. I'm sure the smooth-talking chap from the insurance office is going to try to bamboozle me with figures, but it's a (comfortable but) tired old clunker used for local shopping, which I intend to run until something expensive (like a light cluster or a windscreen-wiper blade) goes and then I'll write it off. I'm going to see him tomorrow, so some ammo would be nice ! p

I don't know that it's necessarily the best deal, but Free (http://www.free.fr/adsl/telephone.html)'s offer includes free landline calls to practically the known universe, plus free to mobiles in France... "...Téléphonez sans compter Appels vers les fixes de 104 destinations et portables en france métropolitaine inclus..." p (Thanks Mod if you fixed that!)

[quote user="Théière"]You'll need quite a bit as it's not very dense. Suggest you cover it with some kind of garden tissue/geotextile fabric to prevent it blowing around with the prevailing wind.[/quote] ...........Pierre's loft has a prevailing wind ??? p

No, on a second home CGT* is liable for 15 years After the first five it decreases by 10% per annum until it's gone completely by year 15. Up to year 5 you can offset (certain) artisan's invoices for work done on the property against the CGT liability, but  - theoretically - it's a flat rate % discount thereafter. Although having said that, when I sold my previous maison secondaire  at year 10, the Notaire asked for all the invoices we had for the renovations and ultimately knocked  about 6,000 euros off the bill. As you can imagine, I didn't stop to question it but just did a cartoon *whoosh* with the cheque to the nearest bank ! p * The rates applicable when we sold a few years ago were 18% for non-residents, and 27% for residents

One could make an argument, Sid, that someone who has paid into the NHS all their working life and who is now retired in France should be just as entitled to the NHS services as anyone else not separated by a strip of water. The optician should accept something recognised by the government with your address on it like..... oh let me see....... the paper part of your driving licence, perhaps? That's an official document, after all. [6] And as for being fraudulent: is that any more fraudulent than accepting the winter fuel payment when you live in Spain? p

[quote user="NuBeginnings"]"The Mairie came round and chased him off his own land." That is ridiculous to be chased of your own land not sure I would have put up with that.[/quote] ...... and by a building, too !

Provided you're resident for tax purposes somewhere in the EU, then I haven't heard of anything.... yet. The real sting comes with the CGT when you sell a maison des vancances !  Of course that assumes you actually make a G to be T'd on. Not always a forgone conclusion these days. p

Judith, I've read back through your posts and can't find the answer to this question : have you ever managed to wireless connect back in the UK? I'm just wondering if it might be a wireless channels problem ?? Wireless routers seem to use different channels depending on which country they are set for..... (probably talking tosh ...too late at night !) p

[quote user="sweet 17"]That's nothing!  When I was with FT, they charged me 3 whole months for broadband, BEFORE they were able to provide me with a phone line![+o(] Did I get a refund for having no service?  Of course not, it's FT, and they don't allow you to forget it! [/quote] It does seem to be a strange part of the French psyche that some of the things they won't stand for, we Brits will just 'go with the flow' and other things which drive us to the edge of gibbering insanity, merely raise a Gallic shrug. The French will, for example, queue for twenty minutes, six-deep at the one-of-fifteen checkouts which is manned without batting an eyelid, but will blip and the rev the engine at you once they're in the car, because you deign to impede their Le Mans-style exit from the car park. We are more sensitive, I find, to the injustices of paying for something which we don't get (vis. your FT/broadband). Maybe it's that they've had a life of being ground down by the system. For example I am incandescent at having to pay 20 E/year to a department of the Mairie in a nearby town which oversees and regulates the installation of Fosses septiques. I had no problem with paying for the inspection when it was installed, nor would I object to paying for any subsequent inspections, but I do think they are having a laugh when I get a bill for 20E for every year the inspectors don't visit.  "what exactly am I paying for?" I asked.  "you are paying for us to be here." was the reply. "What, there in the office?". "Yes." (cue the Gallic shrug)   p

That one's easy to sort out... Judith, is one of the options on the 'MENU' page 'turn wireless on'  ? p

New windows, new (or substantially bigger) doorways, new garden/perimeter walls, sheds, verandas, sunken swimming pools (actually that one might well be a PdeC now) - all these sort of things need (or at least needed when I did my PdeC a few years ago) you to declare the work. Internal work on existing rooms does not require either a permis de construire or a declaration. Actually a Velux window in a house attic is a good example: you are not changing the function of the structure (it's still a roof) nor are you adding to the sqm of the living area of the building, but you are altering the appearance of the building, and you are changing the use of the room inside (no window = attic = storage area: with window = habitable room, hence change of tax liability). But as for the rest, as I said earlier, you are quite entitled to change the layout, and function of the habitable rooms of the house to your heart's content without need of anyone's permission. The H1 form requires you to declare the brut and net dimentions of the property and the function of the various rooms within it. The tax authorities use it to calculate (excuse me, that should read, 'use it as a jumping off point to invent..' ) your Taxe d'Habitation. But since the tax man doesn't know when you started on the work, let alone when you finished it, it's up to you to ask him to send you one. Now then, what's that Shakespeare quotation ? " more honoured in the breech than in the observance" ?   Yes, that was it. p

[quote user="nomoss"][quote user="Quillan"]I have installed one just as you want to do and it works fine. The CD shows the pipes and the drain 'bandaged' together because in very cold weather, assuming your going to use it for heating as well, the heat in the pipes stop the drain from freezing. All you need to do is insulate the drain. Personally I just used some 32mm (think that was the size) waste pipe through the wall, put the drain pipe through that then used 'squirty' foam whilst holding the drain pipe central. I then cut of the drain pipe about 10cm away from the wall as it's over  the garden and the water just drops on to the lawn.[/quote] There is no water in the drain when the system is in heating mode. The drain is for condensation formed on the inside coil in cooling mode, i.e. in the summer, so not much chance of it freezing [:)] [/quote] Quite right, the water drips out of the bottom of the compressor when in heating mode. Dribbles, more like and it's damned cold too, especially when it runs down your neck while you are tidying the cables into a loop. p

I think you misunderstand AndyH4's post. A declairation (or whatever the old Declairation d traveaux is now called) doesn't need plans attached, and is appropriate for anything changing the external appearance of habitable buildings (so a Velux in a roof, for example, would fall into that category). Applying for full Permi de construire, of course, would require proper plans (given your sqm).   Are these new bathrooms making use of existing windows for their light, are they en-suites, or are you planning to pierce the walls and add new ones? In all but the last case, you are free to muck about to your heart's content (unless you are in a monument historique of course), provided that when you've finished you request, fill in and return an H1 form, as you will be liable for an increase in your taxe d'habitation . Also, this outside building you have your eye on to convert one day. Is it attached to the house? Is it on the same parcel number on your plan cadastral? If yes to both of the above, it - de facto - carries a certificate of urbanism so you can convert it, subject to the land mass ratio (but reading between the lines of your original post it sounds like land area isn't an issue). Yes, you would need plans and a proper P de C, but unless it's outlandishly palacial it needn't be either daunting or hugely expensive. Just a case of finding the right architect. p