Laizy Days

Thanks for your comments. Based on your comments I shall certainly look into buying the at the Bricomarche as one has just opened in Autun. Do they all come complete with the taps or do you have to buy seperate as you do here. Neale

Hi Folks Could anyone let me know if this is possible? I would like to to buy my bathroom furniture ie:- wc, sink, bath, shower tray in the UK, and then use French taps and plugholes, so it all ties in with the French plumbing system. Would the french taps and plugholes fit in the holes made in the porcelain???. NB The reason I ask is because we still live in the UK and never have alot time to shop around in France, we spend all the time we can, doing the more mundane renovating task, and I have noticed some really good offers in the UK. Any comments most welcome Neale    

Hi Tia, We have recently purchased in France and we used VEF through there Burgundy office. Even though it was, what I thought at the beginning to be quite expensive circa 5k. From start to finish they have been absoluteley proffessional and I now feel I have had value for money. We where kept informed of everything that was going on, they dealt with the agents selling the property, notaire, the local marie for outline planning and change of use for the property, everthing was translated to English, they sorted out the bank account, mortage, electricity, water, they accompanied us at the signing of the comprimis, and then the final signing, translating everthing. The staff in the London office where extremely helpful always returned calls, Burgundy office I believe went beyond the call of duty. It made the purchase for us very simple and straight forward, and overall a good experience, far easier than the experience we are having with our UK home. Hope this helps Neale

Hi, We really appreciate you replying, I was starting to get a bit worried with no reply. We are not too far from you just outside Etang sur Arroux. Therefore a  recomendation for a roofer / builder in this area would be most welcome. There is quite a bit of other work also that would require a qualified proffesional person to undertake, central heating, electrical, etc. The more labourious jobs I will undertake myself. Hows best to contact you via email??? Where new to this. Kind regards Neale

Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice please?. The property (71 Burgundy) I have bought has an attic which I'm going to convert into bedrooms, possibly putting either dorma or velux windows in place, outline planning permission has been granted. Currently the tiles have nothing below them (roofing felt) they just sit directly roofing lats which are layed on the rafters. While I was at the property a couple of weeks ago there was very heavy rain & thunder storms and there was NO leaks "phew", however the ridge beam at one end is rotting and needs about two feet replacing. The questions are as follows:-  1, Do I have to take the whole of the roof off make repairs and put the appropiate breathable covering on and then put the tiles back in place.The roof is circa 300sqm 2, Could I get away with just removing ridge and make necessary repairs. And put covering on from inside 3, The lining under the rafters will probably be foam / polystyrene backed plaster board. The oak beams purlings etc will still be seen from inside the rooms. I'm still waiting for the final detailed plans from the architect and I shall be using local artisans. Any pointers from your experiences would be gratefully appreciated. Neale  

Thanks for that info most helpful. Just logged on yeterday, I can see this site is going to be used quie alot Cheers Neale

Thanks for the quick response, so much valuable information.  It will be a full render, excuse my ignorance the finishing coat (rubbing render) is that a ready mix type of product? Neale

Hi Having just become the owners of an old farm house in Burgundy one of the jobs I would like to tackle myself is re rendering the outside walls, there not too bad but they do need repairing to prevent further water ingress. So could anyone tell me what the correct  mix is for using Chaux (ie, 4 sand 1 chaux 1 cement ). And do you mix it in the normal way using a cement mixer. I'm lead to believe that this is fairly straight forward to apply and quite forgiving. Any tips would be most welcome.