barneysfriends

Any advice please....the pump is humming when we switch it on, but not doing any pumping. We did have a burst pipe over the winter and the pump area was sprayed with escaping water. It all seemed to have dried out, but we are now thinking that it might have done some damage inside the pump. If we remove the pump, might we be able to repair or replace it ourselves? Or should we get an expert in to deal with it. any words of wisdom gratefully received....by the way, the pump is 5 years old

does anyone know where we can buy the old type of barn door fittings? The type that pivot in a metal cup? We have tried our local shops and have been told they are no longer available....someone must have some! Grateful for any advice....

Well......thanks for all the replies. Have enjoyed seeing the debate develop. Our friend seems determined to fetch his cheap boiler from UK, so will enjoy watching that too.....have only just noticed my speeling error in the subject of my original post. You were all too polite to point it out!

Friends have been offered a boiler/burner at a bargain price in the UK. Is it true that the domestic fuel oil in France is different to that in UK and therefore not a good idea? Isnt oil, oil, whatever country you are in?

I have read all the useful stuff about how to winterise - thanks to all - but when is best to winterise? Does it have to be a certain ambient temperature? Can you do it whenever you feel like it? 

our pool is 18months old and we think the sand in the filter needs replacing or renewing, or topping up, or whatever you have to do. My question is, how often should it need doing? And with a relatively new pool should it need doing so soon? Of course we could ask the folks who built it, and will, but need a bit of knowledge in hand before going in the shop in case we just get the gallic shrug!

we are creating a new door opening between thro rooms in our house. Its not a load bearing wall, with only roof space above. The wall is 44cm thick....made of stone, rubble, mud etc. We have come to a standstill as are not sure if we should create the new sides on the opening using breeze block type things, or moulded concrete. Our instinct is to go for the blocks as it seems easier....is it? Or is it only easier cos it's not the best thing to do? Any advice gratefully received!

I find the cleaner they sell in my local shop a bit thin and wishy washy, and when I had run out of it one time, used the thick javel domestic stuff. It did a good job and the thickness made it easy to use but I am now worried that I may have done some damage. Does anyone else use it?

Thanks for all the replies and advice. Its sorted now....we had a fosse emergency on Saturday and managed to find someone to come take a look (French). The fosse was so full it had forced the plastic lid off the liner! And then backed up into the 'Lent' (grease trap?) and escaped into the barn......so we spent 3 hours with the fosse vidange guy yesterday. And all day today with metres of dyno rod pipes and we finally struck oil! All done now and the plumbing is silent once more......our plimber did fit a valve to help air flow, but it didnt do any good...well, it wouldnt, would it?

Thank you for thus. Its very helpful. We went to the Tribunal d'Instance office, just to see if they had an information desk. The lady there was great and very informative. We can apply for a free consultation with an avocat, for their advice on taking our case further and which route to use. I expect they offer this to reduce receiving forms that are not appropriate for the case. The aplication process takes 2 weeks, she said, so we are going to give that a try.....watch this space!

we do....

No....its an insurance prob. 'Artisan', a brit, who did some work in our house and whilst here, damaged some wooden floors. To repair is below his excess on his liability insurance and he doesnt want to pay. As a consession, we agreed for an independent expert to look at the floor. He suggested its best left alone, but that we should be paid  'forfait' for the damage. 'Artisan' still wont pay. We want to try to make him pay!

has anyone had any experience of making a small claim through the 'Tribunal D'Instance'? I think I have it sussed, but my french isnt that good and there may be some tips on getting it right. As far as I understand, I fill in the the form, with a covering letter, and documents to support my claim. And simply send it off to my local tribunal (Melle)....sounds too easy!

on a recent trip (just a short one...3 months!) to Sicily we saw a number of camper vans, french, german, swiss, austrian, with resident cat/cats. Does anyone have any experience of camper vanning with their cat? Ours wont even get in our van, and we are worried that if we did take him with us for a weekend by the sea, he would scarper as soon as we opened the van door! He's generally a very lazy, home based cat who likes to be where we are, so we hope he may enjoy it....  

the PH levels are fine...well, the test kit says they are! The chlorine is a little high. I swam yesterday with only a little rash reaction, but I made sure to shower off after swimming. Wondered if the previous reaction was due to sitting in the sun with pool chemicals cooking on the skin! not very clever....

has anyone had this? We opened our pool last week, as per instructions from the installer. First swim was yesterday and I have developed a hive like rash, similar to nettle sting. Wondered if it's the chlorine.....?

Thanks for all the ideas and helpful advice....certainly food for thought.......it never used to do it, so that's why we are puzzled. Also we have a downstairs loo which isnt giving any problems, just the upstairs plumbing playing up. We have been away for 3 months and so upstairs bathroom wasn't used in that time. Maybe something has crawled up the pipes and is nesting...those horrible millipede things, I expect!

friends are buying a house that has a fosse toute eau thingy, but the local inspector has been unable to find evidence of a 'soakaway', or any other form of drainage. The seller claims that the fosse was installed 3 years ago, but has no paperwork to prove it.....job was done as a 'favour' by a pal. Any ideas about what sort of drainage there might be that isnt obvious? Should my friends back off in case it 'backs up'? 

Thankfully, no......

Why does my bath water bubble up in the loo, noisily, when I pull the plug out? The plumbing has always been a bit noisy, but the water agitation is a new phenomenon.....

The plot thickens....he is now denying liability, so our insurers will send an expert to examine the floors and determine an opinion about how they were likely to have been damaged, with a view to taking legal action. I re-iterate....BEWARE...artisans may be insured, or say they are, but if it goes wrong and your artisan has no professional integrity, you may end up out of pocket.

Its for 1100 Euros, to repair damage to wooden floors which happened whilst overhead wiring was being done. He has not denied liability...indeed we have a number of letters from him, his debt collecting agency, and his Artisan Association, all telling us to make a claim against AREAS, in order to get the matter sorted quickly. We did, initially, withold part of his payment, hoping to encourage him to help in getting the claim paid. Our insurance agent told us to pay him. We wish we hadn't now! It would have been simpler for all involved if he had paid up in the first place, or offered us a discount on our bill. That would have been the honourable way to deal with it and we would have been content. Out of pocket, but content. As it is, almost a year has passed, AREAS continue to stall, we still have large dents in our floors, and we now are obliged to take legal action. We hope his premiums rocket!

UPDATE....it appears that our 'artisan' has an excess on his policy, so must pay for our damage himself. This must be common practice. Has anyone experience of this? Is it likely we will ever get our repairs done?

we have loads of old red tiles which have been removed from the roof. We want to use them, broken into small bits, to make a gravelled patio area. We have seen this done in one of our local parks and it looks rather attractive. Has anyone done this, and if so, any tips on how to break them up? We have tried a compactor type of machine, but this pushes them into the ground, rather than breaking them. We have tried the sledgehammer approach. Exhausting and not very efficient!Its odd that tiles which are brittle enough to snap if you accidentally step on them on the roof are so hard to breakk up when you want to! Is there a machine we could buy or hire to do the job?

well, it has crossed our minds! But surely not...a registered artisan? Siret numbered? We now have our own insurers legal department looking into it...keeping fingers crossed!