James

Hi,  You want your boiler in France to be able to heat your Chauffe eau, as well as having it able to heat itself by electric as well?   What I believe the chauffe eau that you need is called  is "chauffe eau avec serpent", in which has an indirect coil inside so that a boiler can heat the water also.  The differences with ordinary chauffe eau's are thermoplonger, where the electric heating element is in direct contact with the water or Steatite where it is not. I always buy the steatite version.    Hope this is of use James.

Hi,  Thank you all for your replies. I am sure we will be able to find one now with all of the information given. Can almost taste that shephards pie now!  James.

Hi,  We are looking for a meat mincer and live near Villedieu-les-poeles. Has anyone seen any for sale? If so where? It would be great to do a meat pie again.      Many thanks James.

Hi Sue, with regards to paying the fine online we prefer not to pay online if at all possible due to having to give your card details. I did look at the process for paying online, and it looked very easy to do, and you can print of a receipt as well which is very good.    Thanks James.

Hi, Thanks for all of your replies.As you say it is correct.  I talked to them on their helpline and sure enough the fine is 90 euros as it was a built up area. Had I of been speeding outside a built up area I would of been fined 45 euro in the end. Ah well serves me right. It's my first fine etc since passing my test at age 21 in late 1999. Posting my fine tomorrow.  James.

Hi, I received my speeding fine today for doing (enregistree) at 58kph in a (limitee a) 50 kph limit. The fine is 135 euros reduced to 90 euros if paid within 15 days. Is this right? I thought if you were speeding by less than 20 kph that the fine is 68 euros reduced to 45 euros if paid within 15 days. Which is correct?      Thanks James.

We had an old re-registered volvo 740 and no one ever scraped or banged into it in France. We then after 18 months part exchanged it for a brand new car, and parked it at a vide grenier and someone had scraped it parking causing 420 euros worth of damage. The car was only 12 weeks old at this point. We felt sick as there was no note etc. We had to pay an excess of 300 euros and so now, when we go out shopping one of us stays in the car. I would never dream of damaging anyone else's property no matter how it was parked etc. James.

We have a room of 32 square metres with a 3.4 metre high ceiling with suspended wood floor. Facing N,W,E. It has 3 large windows of 1.85m x 1.66m each, that are new and double glazed wooden units. The walls are 600mm stone and are timber studs with insulated rockwool (Dense green backing) backed plasterboard of 40mm insulation and 10mm plasterboard. All of the walls are done in this. The ceiling is done in polystyrene backed plasterboard of the same thickness as this insulated board is 14 euros a sheet as opposed to 28 euros a sheet. Above the living room is a Bedroom, bathroom, landing and a large uninsulated storage area under the roof. We do have oil fired central heating and find it is the warmest room in the house. It has 3 cast iron radiators in the room of an output of about 5.6 kilowatts combined. We find just having 2 rads on with thermostatic rad valves on position 3-4 is enough to heat the room  well. The 2 rads have an output of up to 4kw. My Grandparents like it far warmer than most do.  We do have a 10Kw Supra woodburner and when that is going without the radiators on that gets too hot and we have to open the door to the hall. The suspended and ventilated wooden floor also has 100mm of fibreglass insulation. We do not find that it is cold at all. We have no mezzanine.  Insulation is the key, with good heating. James.

 Hi Allanb,    I think we will get our new insurance company to give them notice, like you say, and much easier.  We will next week get some quotes for house and car insurance.  Thanks James.

Thanks for all of your replies. We will send them a letter to sign for, requesting our cancellation of their insurance, for when our policies are up for renewal.  Many thanks James 

We wish to cancel our house and car insurance with a well known insurance company, and phoned them,  and they said we have to wait until our policies are up for renewal. We pay by direct debit and it seems they have to cancel the direct debit. Is this the case on both fronts?  What did you have to do to cancel your insurance?  Many thanks.

I would guess that, unless you are within 500M of an "historic building" and Batiments de France become involved, you are home free...   Hi Nick,     I hope so, the home free part. we shall see!!  or, we get the yes or no or alter this and it will be a yes. Thanks James.   

Hi,   Thank you all for your replies.  The extension and house will be under 140 square metres, and so I am going to try submitting my own drawings and plans.  The property and a few other buildings that we own is on 9,000 square metres so I dont see that would cause any problems as to ratio of house to land. As you say I think that its more for Towns and Villages. The edge of the new extention would be about 7 metres away from the boundary.   I will see the Mairies secretary next week and show her my plans and fill out the form. I think you are going to be right about a Permis de construire.      Many thanks James.

Hi,   I would like to build a new one and a half storey extension in block on the side of our rural house to comprise of entrance hall,wc and Kitchen and stairs up to a new landing, bedroom and bathroom. The outside ground square meterage of the new extension including the exterior walls will be approximately 29 sq metres down and the same up.  The exterior sq metres of the existing house including the stone walls is 39sqm. One room down and the same 39 sqm up.    Is there any limits on size, for the new extension you have to keep within in relation to the existing building?   What form would be needed from the Marie for permission for the extention?     Many thanks James.    

Hi Benjamin.    Thanks for your post. We will see the dealer and see what he says, as I would prefer Toyota to repair it or to recommend a place to get it fixed. Thats if the insurance company says we can use them. The dent is on the wheelarch where the plastic bumper meets the metal wheelarch and is dented by about 4mm deep and has chipped the paint off.  James.