Nearly Retired (I am now)
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Posts posted by Nearly Retired (I am now)
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On the penultimate day of our last stay in France the boss flushed the loo 6 times in quick succession and the final flush did not leave the pan properly - the water level took maybe half an hour to drop to normal. The basin trap did a lot of gurgling at the time too. Taking it carefully from then on and leaving long gaps between flushes the problem did not re-occur but it seemed that the water level in the pan was taking maybe just a moment longer to drop than normally.
At first I thought that we might have just overloaded the poor thing. We thought about a possible blockage, but a day or two before this we twice noted (after each flush) a smell from the high level internal air admittance valve.
We've had the house 4 years and an average of 2 people have occupied the building for maybe a total of 30 weeks. We are very careful about what goes down the loo and always give the fosse a bacteria bag or two at the start of each visit.
I guess it was installed in the mid-1980s and I have no idea when the fosse last received any TLC and I'm certain it's not a super up-to-date one - I can't see any grease trap or manhole. All that can be seen in the garden close to the house are two markers set maybe 3m or 4m apart in a direct stright line with the toilet location in the house. A couple of years ago I peeked under the downstream lid, removed a few weed roots and noted a clear liquid dribbling along. I presumed I had found the fosse! (or a pit?).
We had no time to investigate before we left this time and I guess we could manage to use it for a few days when we go back, but all is does not seem right and we may need someone to take a look.
Any ideas please from those in the know?
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Welcome Foxtrot,
If it's a holiday home you will need time and lots of it. Our house was, and is, by no means a wreck - just a slightly tired 200 year old stone house last renovated about 30 years ago. Everything more or less worked when we bought it, the electrics weren't up to date but reasonable, the roof was more or less sound and so on - I'm sure you get the drift.
After 4 years of holidays / breaks in France, say 22 - 26 weeks in all, we've just about sealed the building and barns from the weather - got new and/or repaired roofs, sorted out windows, doors and shutters. We've got a new shower room now so we can think about stripping out the old bathroom and spending a year on that project. Then we can start properly on the interior. The trouble is that the fosse is now playing up a bit and fixing it will be a priority. That will set the grand project back a while.
I said (promised even) that we'd get a smart swimming pool installed by 2006, but it'll most likely be by 2016.
We do most of the simpler stuff ourselves - it takes so long to get builders in to do work we've found that money isn't too much of a problem - we just can't get to spend it on them quick enough. It took nearly 2 years from the signed devis stage until the roofers finally turned up with about 4 days notice.
I reckon we've got maybe 10 years to go before we get it all nearly right !
Still it's an enjoyable project and beats lying on the beach.
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I am reminded of the window tax in England in 1700/1800 or whenever. People just used to brick-up their windows to not have to pay it. Don't give the French any ideas - most houses are dark enough already.
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Credit Agricole - Charente Maritime. €43.20 per year for a current account with a cheque book and a debit card. Internet service is free to set up and then 50c a time to use it. I've set up mine, but not used it yet.
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anniefromwales said: "Changes will come to light if/when you sell the house as the notaire will compare the description in the deeds when you bought it with the description of the house when you sell it."
They won't find out a lot from past records that I know about. The so-called deeds give cadastral numbers and a scaled plan. The typical estate agent details ( half a page on multi-photocopied A4 paper with 3/4 taken up by a nearly black featureless photo) tell you even less.
When it comes time to sell I suppose thought should be given to showing / not showing devis and receipts in an effort to lower the taxes then though.
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I'd overlooked the £100 minimum, Ernie Y. As it happens, I usually buy the tickets in bulk and paid £168 for 6 last weekend so that's OK - phew!
As an aside, I recall getting a really good deal with Hoverspeed in, I think, July 2003 when I paid £163............for one crossing.
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How to the authorities get to know what you've got? We started with one bathroom with a basin and shower in it, and one separate WC sans basin. In addition we now have a basin fitted in that WC and a new separate shower room with shower, basin and WC.
I didn't tell anyone - should I have done? Does the plumber report it to the tax authorities?
I confess that when we had a velux roof light installed I added a note on my sketch to accompany the Declaration saying it was needed for more light in a dark corner. Somehow I omitted to say that one day in the future that I just might partition off that part and make a shower room.
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I pretty much agree with you A R.
Nevertheless, I will continiue to use them, champion the cause and hope they stay in business. They may run an hour or so late a peak-times and cancel the odd boat from time to time - but they've done a lot to keep cross-channel fares down. Now, depending on when/how you buy your tickets you can get a peak-time crossing for £28 max. This is way, way below 2003 / 2004 big operator charges.
Throw in the November freebies of the last couple of years and it's brilliant.
I do worry about the long term though and always pay with a credit card, so I can get a refund if it all goes pear-shaped.
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I'd be more worried about the spray-on woodworm treatment.
First MDF dust was dodgy, now it's Oak - is there no end indeed. There is just so much tosh being peddled by scare mongers nowadays. And, please don't get me started on the asbestos hysteria!
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A few days ago I booked a crossing with Speedferries for September when I had a choice of 4 Dover - Boulogne crossings each day.
Today I got an email telling me that they have cut the number of return crossings to 3 each way by starting an hour later in the morning and merging the last two sailings of the day into one.
Studying the revised timetable I suspect they've allowed to go bit slower too. The revised timetable is from 22 September to 2 November. After that, who knows - 2 a day?
Times are getting tough all round.
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nich,
I support your stance that people should not being allowed to use airport car parks as dumping grounds. I'm quite happy to pay a moderate amount.
But, I do disagree about taxis though. In my (limited) experience, France, especially rural France, is not very taxi friendly - particularly price wise. I don't like asking friends to take and collect - it's a bit of a cheek really. It seems just about any other country in the world has taxies hanging around wherever you might need one - France doesn't seem to be one of those countries.
Do you hear of elderly French people giving up driving and relying on taxies like in the UK?
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I suppose I'll have to look it up myself.
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Out of interest - what does long-term parking at a French airport cost now? Have all the free ones gone?
I'm particularly interested in La Rochelle, Poitiers and Angouleme.
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For us in 17,
September 2006 €407
September 2007 €434
September 2008 €426
No, I don't understand either.
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After much research in UK and France my 1000w one came from Brico Depot in Boulogne. I drove off Speed 1, bought it, stuffed it in the back of the car and connected it up in Charente Maritime.
144cm x 54cm - €130 all in.
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This is a pure guess, but I'm sure it's not far off the mark.
If that's truly the case, that prices are falling faster there than anywhere else in France, then I reckon the ".....shire" bit explains it all.
The Dordogne house prices are probably firmly linked to the ability to pay and find funds of any potential buyers who, might just happpen to be British and make up about 95% or so of buyers.
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Alane,
UK 110mm pipe as a sleeve on 100mm French pipe
I sincerely trust the membership of this forum will permit my rather presumptious move by awarding you a top 20 place in the Best Building Tips category.
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It has been said: " The fact is that I am gas qualified and registered for installations in France, despite the opinion stated on this forum I do know what I am talking about
Most deaths are caused by carbon monoxide posioning, which usuaally is caused by incorrect ventilation on gas appliances such as boilers"
Mmm........let me think......... I respectfully suggest that most deaths are caused by .....mmmm...... old age, ill health, malnutrition, wars, suicides and a good few more before the effect of burning gas in a closed space gets a look in.
I accept that an awful lot of accidents and subsequent deaths happen in the home, and falling down the stairs is a particularly common one. The French aren't stupid and have solved that one too - as well as VMCs, most new builds are bungalows.
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You are correct - a complete no no. Well ,maybe not so bad if it's old cement that's now in concrete and hardened - it's the wet stuff you want to worry about.
Wrap your pipes well - and then wrap them again. Once to avoid contact with cement and once again to allow some "give" when they they expand and contract. You could try gaine split along its length and then well taped up over the join.
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It seems luxury camping is the new thing.
Would it work in France?
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WJT said:
"Is it worth putting a VMC in an old stone property for ventilation?
Having said that, it would be impossible to convince my husband that it is a good idea to leave the electrics on when the house is vacant because he is a real worrier with things like that but perhaps it would be good for when we are in the house."
We have the same concerns and have put vents into the glass leaving them open and the shutters shut when we go away. That seems to work OK.
I'm working (well - thinking a lot anyway) on a solar powered VMC system so we could have a fan whirring around with the electricity turned off. I'll have the scheme cracked in a year or two and I'll get back to you then.
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It's a lovely sounding bit of kit, but too expensive for 99% of us here.
It's got me thinking though. My dream is to go off grid one day using solar energy for hot water and panels on the roof charging up a bank of batteries, inverters all over the place, low voltage lighting and so on. To use such a DIY - ish system properly needs some education, sympathy and care and understanding - something a lot of people e.g. teenagers, visitors, in-laws just don't have. It would work OK when you were alone in the house or with a few trusted people but otherwise I can imagine conversations like "No you can't use your hair dryer while I'm watching the foootball" or "You should have had a shower this afternoon when the water was hot and not now at 10pm after we've done the washing up and the water has all gone cold". and "You're just going to have to wait until the wind blows until you can have more toast".
So, I really like the idea of an idiot proof system that needs no human input but just fires up and powers what's necessary only when necessary. I suppose a much smaller generator combined with a huge and complicated box of electronics could sort that out. It probably wouldn't come cheap though.
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Albert,
Ssh! Don't tell all those French gite owning people ....... I think you and I might have found something profitable for these cash strapped times:
"I lived in Stow on the Wold and in our little street of about 12 houses only 2 were occupied full time -- the rest were holiday homes and a couple of gites."
You could offer British families proper gite holidays but with a big saving on fuel and especially channel ferry costs. A lot of the renters would find that the locals speak a sort of English too.
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Mmmm...sun terrace.
If it were me, I'd go up a joist size. The extra cost will not be a lot and once you've properly waterproofed it and maybe added some slabs or a bit of shingle the thing will bounce around a bit. Then the drainage falls might not be so good either. I'd make it stiffer.
Unfinished New Build Houses in Vendee
in West (Bretagne, Pays de la Loire, Poitou-Charente)
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Is it just me that's breathing a sigh of relief that there's a brief respite in construction of these beige rendered rectangular bungalows?
I can't stand the things. No character, no style - just little boxes all the same ( you might even want to sing a song about them!).
There seem to be masses and masses of them all over SW France. One day the French will wake up and realise how they have ruined the look of the entire country. OK, maybe not many can afford to renovate and heat old stone houses - but please, why not make a few "L" shaped, add a bay window, put a dormer in the roof, make them a different colour, add a distinctive porch. Have a two storey part - the options are endless. How about something different from white UPVC double glazing and doors. Have the developers and buyers really got no imagination?
Rant over.