BIG MAC

[quote user="Mister Fluffy"]How fair is that? [/quote] Pretty fair. If a legal debt is due, in my book moneys should not be unreasonably witheld does home owner care too much who he pays so long as he can prove that he has paid and th process is auditable. Our non paying builder if he is not legitimate is likely to dissappear like snow of a dyke after trousering the cash, if he is legitimate he will argue the toss and explain why he disagrees with the account either way the discourse is up and running. I quite like the subtle frank exchange of opinion of the pugilistic variety but couldn't possibly advocate it here! lol

Hi Karen, Not sure where in Normandy you are? Is Dept 53 Mayenne too far? I have a plan....... As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University

If you have a Lidls nearby they do a degreaser which is in an orange pump pack, failing that do you have any TFR (Traffic Film Remover) for a jet wash? be warned it's very strong so eye and hand protection needed, simply dilute into a pump pack spray leave for a bit and wash off, this assumes we are talking typical timber ceilings. If plasterboard or plaster of some variety mild solution of washing up liquid with a squirt of lemon juice.

[quote user="Mister Fluffy"]Be fair, she was a 'difficult' woman![/quote] Fighting talk in some manoirs lol Laughing at Chris's confession!

My thinking being that if works were not complete the threat of having a legal charge against property may get the owner (If not the possibly dodgy UK Builder) to contra charge the possibly dodgy UK builders outstanding account.

Hi Chris, On matters murderous presumably my burger namesake is the object of your intent? I feel sure that I am likely one of the bodgists referred to, more through economic neccessity than anything else. I am guilty of crimes against carpentry of the most grievous plasterboard kind, but when I do, I try to do it in sympathywith the building I am working with. Plasterboard is a good material for undercloaking roofs and hiding sarking and insulaton, however it would be a crying shame to box in purlins or crux frames so they get cleaned / treated and oiled in my book. Learning as I go and loving it,    

Purchased our fixer upper in September 2005 put a small extension on our UK mortgage but it only has 9 years to run and is affordable so long as I keep earning! We are on a budget and are very much in the business of keeping the place wind and weather tight gradually improving things as we go along. Hopefully we will be able to retire in about 15 years and let the UK house out and maybe get a job in France or open a small business (If I could only get a hang of the language hopefully ten years will do it lol) Only 43 now so theres hope and scope. Our two eldest girls are with child so we hope to be able to see little sun kissed kids charging about the place and maybe drinking in a slightly better way of life than that in the UK.

Thanks TJ

[quote user="Mister Fluffy"]At northern latitudes there may be an advantage to having less trees, there is certainly no benefit from having more in terms of CO2, or at least so I heard a week or so back on R4. There is now more forest in France than there was in the middle ages... [/quote]   I shall feel a little less guilty then....maybe :)

I don't know if this helps any, I recently found an old door completely rotten under some old rubbish in an out building. I am no carpenter but have built some doors for the outbuildings and needed hinges, I spent a lovely sunny afternoon with my daughter cleaning these seemingly worthless (to her) hinges up and explaining how they were hand forged possibly at the smiddy round the corner and explaining why the nail holes were punched....just the same as a horseshoe. We discussed the hammer marks and anvils we explored how the artisan may have produced these (by now) wonderful objects and how if possible it was our duty in this life to make sure that where we can we should preserve things like this. To the many trades people (Craftspersons) or very gifted amateurs out there I sincerely hope that there are enough little girls and their dads out there to appreciate your work in years to come.

Hi possibly due to clay shrinkage in the soils beneath caused by dry weather/shrinkable clays or moisture extrction by vegetation, another culprit may be leaking drains- washing out fines from the underlying soils.....or poor build quality to begin with. Decent paving laid to well compacted sub base will pretty much last a lifetime

Is it possible to register a legal charge against the property or even threaten to do so?

Hi Tj can you confirm that the plaster you  were working up to ie. what was on the walls already was imilar to my plaster of paris? I am worried about very high suction from the substrate.

Sorry guys it's just taking a while to assimilate the information, decent hardwood takes about twenty five to thirty years from sapling to get to something suitable for logging?  Does the growth of the trees compensate for the Co2 emmissions? I don't know maybe we wil be having reburn system and catalytic converters on our chimneys. I am not knocking the French way, far from it I am intrigued at the differing ways that we look at things. It's funny ever since buying my wood burner for France when I am in the UK I find it hard to drive by a fallen branch without thinking that's fuel that is!

I love the whole idiosyncratic way of things in France and how one by one my preconceptions get blown out of the water, it never ceases to make me laugh primarily at myself! In the UK we are being asked to turn our thermostats down to save the planet (read so that we are used to the idea when the Russians turn the oil and gas off) In France if it burns burn it?  yet the French seem to recycle a shedload more and have great civic pride. So much to learn and loving it!

Let's consider the reverse for a moment? Would anyone seriously start the selling process with their UK house at the lowest possible price? A lot of these French houses will come from split assets or inheritance, the French don't generally seem in a mad rush to push sales maybe it could be a case of agents promising the earth to get the property on their books, pretty much as Will says. I really don't worry too much about the purchase price of our house, we are so very lucky to have one and if our vendor (a delightful real salt of the earth chap and his lady wife) is anything to go by, we hope that we have helped ensure they will be comfortable should they ever choose to retire. We were amazed and delighted to be invited into the vendors new home and to meet their family over apperitifs etc. The family has other property for sale in our village and I would be sorely tempted but I don't think tht it would be good for the village for us to own an even larger unoccupied chunk and deprive local busnesses of potential trade, this is why when we are there we make a point of spending our money in the local shop. I would hate to see a similar situation as to Wales or Yorkshire where a large part of the population cannot afford to buy a property in their own birthplace and the inevitable sour grapes that follow, maybe price reductions aren't such a bad thing.    

Yamha Fazer owners club Unofficial...anarchic at times but a great site... http://www.foc-u.co.uk BIG MAC  

Possibly riding from Glencoe to Portsmouth in just over 8 hours last year. When I started out it was peeing down and very windy then I had a bit of sport with a Porsche Cayenne going through the borders or rather the other way about..surprisingly quick those things! Maybe riding point for four fazers going to Le-mans last year to turn round on the final run in and notice about fifty odd other bikes had joined us line astern, that made me smile. Or the sound of a kh250 getting its neck wrung on the Bearsden Bypass  

I have found this quite interesting particularly the Lutece 2000 bit. My walls currently look as though they have plaster of paris or some such? I wanted to stabilise and plaster them was thinking PVA'ing them with a weak solution and then going for it with the Lutece 2000 gear, is this a good idea? It used to be a standing joke on building sites to wee in the plasterers water bucket in the afternoon, everyone would be on theirway home and the poor old spread would still be waiting to trowel up! So wee definitely does hold it up dunno why right enough.........enzymes or ph values most likely?

I love this site 50% back on your woodburner...for laying waste to forests...scratching my head and laughing here! I have sooooo  much to learn!

Hi all, Backboilers can quite produce a fair bit of steam will need to consider the potential for putting the gable end of the building out! I reckon we would be neeing a fairly hefty pressure vessel also the boiler itself isn't in the first flush of youth. Timber - structural grade and cls equivalent, plywood, casings, mouldings, architrave and skirtings all seem pricey compared to what I pay in the U.K. Solar potential I reckon is good, we have a large south west facing roof and are sited on reasonably high ground if we use modern vacuum tube panels then I think it could be worthwhile. Greywater I reckon is worthwhile and green, the exact design I shall trawl the net (Not an intentional pun)for good Ideas.

I am curious how does one empty a pool in an area with combined storm and foul drains?

We have an old Quebb Master stove which has a back boiler I am thinking of installing this with a conventional vented system to provide hot water and heating in the winter (It's rated at 16kw) Does anyone know whetehr this may cause problems with statute or Insurance? We are also considering fitting solar panels to our South facing roof anyone tried and is there a recommended French way? I am happy to carry out the above installations myself (Being a plumbist in a previous life) question is will either contravene French Building Regs, do I nee to tap up Monsieur Le Mairie for a permis or anything like that? Another mega ambitious Idea we have is to take two pitched roofs that run to a valley (Buildings are back to back) and create either a single dual pitched roof spanning the lot or a mansard anyone tried this? Grey water recovery... is it ok to direct all rainwater down to our well (certified potable but I wouldn't lol) then have a lift pump arrangement to high level storage tanks to feed toilets and irrigation? We have mains drains close by a buildng that we want render habitable (We are sited down a quiet metallised lane) to get to the main trap in the street will involve digging up a section of roadway is normal form to speak to water co,  or the Mairie? Has anyone come up with a good way of sourcing structural grade timber, the Bricos seem very pricey compared to here? Do the French have regulations as we do in Britain re noise transmission through buildings, Insulation, glazing regs? Questions questions sorry but once started they just kept on a coming lol

OOOps what have I started? I can assure you that I am not a migrant from another forum I simply surfed the net for a few weeks and came up with the conclusion that this forum is where the 'real' people hang out. I haven't taken exception to anything said, indeed I would apologise if my OP was read in some way as being 'couldn't be bothered to learn French'. My remarks were borne of my frustration at despite making attempts, not being understood. More  critiscism of my own failings than the poor EDF bod rolling their eyes and think yet another Rosbif has gone ga ga. As stated in my other post I am on a steep learning curve and shamelessly asking for help, I am quite honestly touched at how friendly people have been generally and hope that this bodes well for the future. The perfectly valid remark that one should attempt to communicate with our hosts in their native tongue is of course absolutely right, albeit as a Scot I seem to recall the English having a hand in the anihilation of the Gaelic language! France is a lovely country, and I love the French anarchic way of looking at things, hopefully our tenure will in some small way bring something to our commune even if its just the cash register in the boulangerie ringing that little bit more often. Trainee Jacobite Me?  

And  all of a sudden all the good advice floods in...Thanks guys! It maybe that in the general furore of signing things over we have inherited some kind of payment plan. The last lump they took was 109 Euros (Does that sound like a standing charge?) The advice Re St Lo great stuff will give it a go. 53 don't do refunds, not too fussed so long as we get the electricity we are paying for in the long run. Cooperlola you are too kind but I reckon we can sort this, can't believe someone would go that far out of their way for little old us! Please note the OP was written having just opened a French Bank statement, the writer was a little err errrm 'narked! Thanks guy and girls one and all