flower

Thanks again everyone, the smell appears to have gone for good. We really appreciate all the advice. Where would we be without this forum![:)]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Jondeau, the suggestion about the water being syphoned from the traps kind of made sense and I think that might have helped us solve the problem (fingers crossed). We have a downstairs toilet still to be installed and in the meantime the 100mm waste pipe has just been capped off. I have put on a U-bend and filled it with water and the smell instantly disappeared. That was yesterday morning and so far so good. Do you think it sounds feasible that it was that causing the smell? Just worried I'm being teased and it'll be back with a vengeance tomorrow!! [:D] Thanks very much again.

No chance - we don't have any gas in this village. Thanks anyway.

Hi all, I hope someone out there might be able to identify a problem we have. We have a really strong gassy odour in 2 rooms of our house. We have recently had a new fosse installed and do not know if it is related. It is quite hard to pinpoint exactly where the smell comes from but it appears to sometimes come from the series of waste pipes that we have. All the plumbing is new and sealed so there are no obvious leaks and what we find strange is the type of smell. It really is very gassy, not like the odour of when there is no smell trap/u-bend. There are no smells in the bathrooms, only the rooms where the waste pipes pass. The fosse itself has been correctly vented outside so we are completely baffled as to what to do, but we really need to do something in a hurry as the smell is almost unbearable.[+o(] Any advice would be really appreciated. Thankyou. Flower

Gemini Man, thank you for getting back to the question in hand. Appreciate your comments. Having looked again, I may have perhaps overdone the 'slope' issue. With hindsight, it's not that bad, more of a gradual rise than a slope. I agree with the side-ejection issue though and having done other research this is my preferred route at present. I've seen a Husqvarna LTH151 which looks good and has some good feedback. Does anyone know this model? Only has 15hp and a 97cm cut, but I may have been looking for too much power and cut initially. Unforunately, the budget has a say in this matter. Will go to Bricomarche tomorrow and Bricolage again at the weekend to look at side-ejectors as I was only looking at rear-ejectors at first. Have been told that both of the above stores sell 'own' brand mowers which are actually made by Electrolux, who I'm also told own Husqvarna...can anyone confirm this? I guess if it's true it's a case of badging for differing markets. Maybe though they're all essentially the same mower which means the own brand stuff is probably good value as long as they use all the same parts!!! Thanks.

Hi to all, I have just purchased a place with about 4000m2 of garden, well, actually, it's more like 'land' as it used to be full of cows and isn't exactly snooker table smooth and has slight slope. But apart from that it's lovely....anyway, I digress. I'm looking to buy a ride-on mower but cannot decide on what I really need. I realise people will say bigger is better (hp & cutting deck) but I'd be grateful for opinions on what is realistically required. Will a 15.5hp machine do, or do I need more power?  I guess I'd like as big a cutting deck as possible but am a bit confused as to how much power I really need. The budget needs to cover many things with the mower being just one of them. If I could spend euros 2000 as opposed to euros 3000 then that would be good....even less is better but I realise that may be optimistic. I was looking at a rear collecting mower and so if anyone has any suggestions as to what they would go for then I'd love to hear about it. I've seen a model in Mr Bricolage for euros 2,799 with a 20hp briggs & stratton engine and a 105cm deck, but wonder if I really need that much hp? Thanks.

Thank you to all for your comments. I suspected as much but thought I'd better ask as someone always knows. Regarding the issue of warranty, I was looking at Husqvarna mowers which have a worldwide warranty, but that's not really an issue now. Many thanks to all. Now, who's coming to cut my grass while I go shopping (in France) for a mower....?

Hi there, I'm looking to import a 'sit-on' lawnmower from the USA as they are so much cheaper than in France (up to half price). I have a price for delivery (again pretty good). However, I'm sure there will be import duties payable. Is it simply a case of adding 19.6% TVA to the euro equivalent purchase price (in this case c. euros 1,600) or are there other taxes and duties to be paid? I'm keen to clarify before it ends up not being financially viable. Any help would be most appreciated - my grass is getting long.... Thanks.

Thankyou all for the replies - you've all been great. Darkmetal, that was a super description of how it all works. Do you know what a powerfloat is in french? We are almost ready to start the floor and were hoping to lay the concrete floor, and then at a later stage do a screed which we can use the powerfloat on, basically so as not to damage the finished floor whilst all the other work is going on. Do you think it is okay to do this on a screed of around 5cm? And lastly, how much will the machine grind off (just need to confirm floor heights to be able to order doors that are made to measure). Thank you again in advance [:D]

Thank you all for the recent replies, sorry for the delay in responding - had a few 'technical difficulties' (yet again!!). Will try our local builders merchants this week and if not will try the guy in Lussac as he is really close to us. Thank you again, you're all wonderful. [:D]

Hi all, I've been looking at the various threads concerning the best wall insulation products with interest for our barn conversion. Initially we liked the idea of the foil layers as we were planning to put wooden batons on first, then the insulation followed by further studs then plasterboard. Being typical old stone walls we thought this would be good for creating an air gap between the stone and the insulation to allow the walls to 'breathe'. It seems most people are of the opinion that the foil layers still do not come up to scratch compared to Rockwall and so we are having second thoughts. We were hoping to have the equivalent of the 200mm and as space isn't a huge concern we could go with the Rockwall, however I'm still concerned that any damp that penetrates through the walls will soak into the insulation. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Secondly, for internal partition walls, I would appreciate any suggestions for what is best for the acoustic values. We will have some timber stud walls and some block walls. For the block walls, if we dot and dab plasterboard, would we need insulation too? Presumably for the timber stud walls we can use Rockwall but don't really know what thickness would be required here. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thank you.[kiss] Lorraine

After a bit more research, I think I've answered my own question about the under floor heating heating - I believe this is okay to do. Does anyone know what the grinding machine is called in France or where we could hire one in or around dept 87. Alternatively can anyone recommend a company who does screeding who may even be able to do this effect. I know I can look through Pages Jaune, but I'd rather have a recommendation. Many thanks.

Hi all, We've been toying with what to do on the floor of the barn we've just started renovating and this sounds absolutely perfect for us so we'll have a good look into this method. I don't know much about concreting - could we lay the concrete floor, then put in underfloor heating and then lay a concrete screed with this polished surface? Thanks for any advice [:)]

Thanks Dick, I think you're right actually, as that sounds like what we have in our current house. If I can get a photo of it I might be able to explain the job better.   Thanks again.    

Hi Dick, To be honest I don't know , do they do a different job or is it just the look at them? - they don't have to be ornate or fancy. I just want to find the simplest method to do the job. The reason we need something is because we are taking away the middle section of two main beams which help support the A frame. They are supported elsewhere on the top of the stone walls and we have been advised that the tie bars will just be a precaution as they ahould already be supported well enough. If we can use the steel rods where would we find these? I can't find what they're called in french.[8-)] Many thanks.

Thank you, I was just unsure as to whether this is usually a job for a blacksmith or whether anyone else does it. I'm a bit niave on the subject I'm afraid. If other info will be much appreciated. Thank you. [:)]

Thanks for the replies so far. It will be a very contemporary interior predominantly and for the hallway, kitchen and dining area we are not sure whether to have wood flooring or tiles. I think I prefer the look of wood but feel that tiles will be harder wearing over a longer period of time. We have tiles in our house now and they're indestructible! However if we choose tiles will this impact on the type of floor we lay? Obviously concrete is fine but not sure about movement on a floating / chipboard floor or such like. I know you can use flexible adhesive but don't know how well this works in practice. Thanks Chris, it will be timber stud work and plasterboard inside. It won't be a long term project - it will be completed this year, but it will be our long term home. Any more ideas and info greatly appreciated. Thank you. [:)]

Hi all, We are renovating our barn and are having some difficulty in deciding what is the best option for the ground floor. Thermal values are important to us so we have been toying with various ideas. Polysterene sheets between concrete layers is one, underfloor heating another, though part of the ground floor will be carpeted so it wouldn't be suitable for those areas. A wooden floating floor perhaps. There seem to be lots of options and different builders suggest different options so what we'd really like to ask is can anyone give us their personal experiences of what they have used and whether they feel it works or not. (We will have a damp proof membrane too). Many thanks in advance for your info.    

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We need to put in tie bars to help support the A frames of our roof. We have been told that a blacksmith in Chateauponsac used to do them but he is no longer there. Does anyone know of anyone else who can do this please? We live in the north of 87. Many thanks

Hi, I've used Castorama own brand woodstain for our beams. This is the info on the tin 'Lasure satinée', colour 'chene rustique' (dark brown) for interior and exterior. It's a really quick drying one. In this warm whether it'll be dry within half an hour. I know it says satin but I would say it drys to a matt finish and I remember someone else saying the same about satin paints now I come to think of it. It's really cheap compared to most of the other brands and by far the best of all that we tried (and we did get through a few before we found this one!). If you want to send me your e-mail address I'll send you a photo of our beams if you like (mmm - interesting photo!). Kind regards. Flower

Thanks everyone for the replies. Currently there is a wood burner with fans above the mezzanine but I think the space is too big to cope with just that. (can't remember the size as the barn belongs to a friend).Oil fired central heating is something that they are considering so it's good to hear your comments on that. Radiator piping I believe was already installed whilst renovating just in case. Thanks Michael for the info on wet heating systems. Underfloor heating is too late for them as all other renovations are complete but I'd be interested to hear more as we are looking to do our own conversion next year. Many thanks again. Flower  

Hi all, Just wondered if anyone could share their thoughts on what has worked for them with regards to heating a newly renovated open plan barn. I am asking on behalf of some friends who have renovated their barn but have found their current heating to be inadequate during the really cold spells. We are going to arrange for some heating engineers to visit the property (the owners are currently living in the UK), but it would be really useful to hear from anyone who has done a barn conversion themselves (particularly if it is open plan), to see what has or hasn't worked well. Thanks in advance. Flower

Hi, I asked the same question a few months back, but I couldn't find anything in the Limousin area - the nearest one I found was http://www.valorme.com/. I never did end up going because with young kids and work etc, I was looking for something closer to home in the Haute-Vienne. This one did have some good feedback though. Good Luck!

Recently came across this site and thought it might be of use to some of you (or maybe someone has already suggested it previously). It is quite a busy site but once you've found your way around it, it's really helpful. For example you can click on a verb, then choose which tense you'd like to look at and you will be presented with an easy to follow table which can be printed off if you wish. It also contains quite a lot of everyday useful vocabulary. I've attached the link directly to the French section but there's loads of other intersting stuff on there too. Enjoy! http://www.happychild.org.uk/freeway/french/index.htm

Hi Julia and thanks for info.  If it is a log house as opposed to just a timber frame, then it might not be quite what we're after but would be interesting to hear how the work is progressing. Thanks again