AEB

I need to repair a set of what I would call French windows. Basically a left and right door that swing in and have a a handle on the right hand door that when turned sends a bolt into the top and bottom of the door frame to lock the pair of doors together and lock them shut. In order to give mine a watertight fit, the left hand door edge is nosed and the right hand door has a concave edge into which the nose fits. My problem is that the mouldings on the right hand door are damaged after the door was forced open and I need to take them off and replace them. Does anyone know what this type of wooden concave moulding is called in French (or even English)? The casement windows in my Roussillon farmhouse are of the same style so it must be fairly common. Once I know what I am asking for I also need to find a specialist timber merchants as near to Ceret or Perpignan as possible to see either if such material is available off the shelf or they have someone much more skilled than I am with a plunging router. Any recommendations? Many thanks

I would like to find out exactly where one of the boundaries on a cadastre is. It would seem the easiest way to do this is using a GPS device but that only measures latitude and longitude and I can't work out how to match the co-ordinates on the cadastre with latitude/longitude coordinates. Can anyone help?

If only I could......there are two tiny shutters that I can lift off their hinges from inside.  With the other shutters they are much bigger and heavier and there is a distance of 12 - 18 inches between the window and the outside shutter because the walls are so thick, so lifting them without falling out of the window is the issue. AEB

Some of the shutters at our holiday home (66 - nearest town Ceret) are in terminal decline.  As well as decades of wear and tear, birds have made holes in the shutters or are widening holes that were already in them for nesting and sheltering from the cold. I am looking recommendations of artisans/companies that will make wooden shutters to order at a reasonable cost.  I will also need help removing the old shutters and fitting the new ones .  Some of the windows are three/four storeys high and I cannot see myself being safe on a ladder that high up with a heavy shutter in my arms! Many thanks AEB  

Not sure but I can measure it next week when I am there.  It looks the same size as a standard UK loo waste pipe but I will need to check.

My house is built into the side of a hill - well a bit of the Pyrenees!  The house waste pipes come through the ceiling of a basement room drop to the floor, travel several feet underground, reappear through a garden wall, before dropping into the ground again and going off to the fosse septique.  It has always been my intention to replace them, at least in the places where they are not embedded into walls and floors, because they came up in my house report as having some asbestos content.  Unfortunately there is now a slight leak coming from the garden wall where the pipe emerges from it so the need to do something has become more urgent. To minimise disruption, I am trying to find a solutions that would allow me to replace the pipes where they are in the open but line them where they are underground.  I have found a UK web site that offered no dig pipe repair using cured in place pipe, although I have this horrible feeling that might cost more than digging up the old pipes, replacing them and then putting new concrete and stone terracing back on top of them. Does anyone have any suggestions for a less disruptive and less costly solution? Many thanks 

Thanks - this is very helpful and good news.

thanks  

Sorry if this has been covered before - I have found the perfect bath and taps in the UK for my French house.  Are the diameters of the water pipes the same in France for baths and basins as they are in the UK?  I.E. three quarters of an inch and half an inch (albeit in metric equivalents) respectively. Many thanks  

Does this mean that the new station is by the airport?  And do you know if there will be a new motorway exit, or will you still need to either go through the city or way past it to get off the motorway if you are coming from the south? best regards

How do I get a viewing card?

The best trip we have done is taking an early train on a Sunday morning to Bourg Madame.  It is a short walk over the border with Spain to Puicerda where there is a market on Sunday mornings.  A late lunch in Spain is had by all before strolling back to France and taking the train to the startpoint. Have fun AEB

We got a Wanadoo ADSL connection with their cheapest possible modem (1 euro) and threw it away.  Instead we used Linksys wireless equipment (bought from Auchan but Amazon is a good source too) to make broadband connection.  The Linksys help desk is excellent - in English or in French.  We got a router and a modem but they do an all in one set. No disrespect to Wandadoo but it isn't OK for their software to take over your whole computer if it is a laptop and you travel about, needing to link to different service providers depending where you are.  Good luck!

As the proud owner of new pet passports I will be holidaying with my cats for the first time later this year.  I need to find a vet near Prats De Mollo so my cats can get tick jabs just before we return to the UK. I have seen one on the road through Ceret.  Does anyone know if there is one that is nearer? I don't expect they will enjoy travelling very much, so the shorter the journey we have to make on the day before our return the better. Thanks

I am struggling with loading my CartoExploreur maps from IGN onto my Garmin eTrex device.  I have the MapSource Trip and Waypoint manager that came with the eTrex but I cannot fathom out what I do next.  IGN recommend the eTrex machine so I know it is possible - does anyone out there know how it is done? If there are some experts out there, I also have PhotoExploreur for the area and it would be great to load that up to. Many thanks

I know that radar detectors are illegal in France.  But what about GPS detectors?  These are the ones that have a downloaded database of where fixed cameras exist and use GPS to tell you that you are approaching one. Anyone know?

Thanks to all the advice I got from this forum I now have broadband in my remote French hideaway. Although I have no problem with web access, I am having difficulties both with mail (I want to keep my current mail arrangements and Outlook not move to a Wanadoo address) and also with using Skype.  I think the cause of these is the way L'Espace Wanadoo has taken over my machine.  I have tried uninstalling it and only installing the modem drivers (Sagem Fast 800 USB) but without success - a mixture of missing DLLs and no connection possible. I don't need any services from FT/Wanadoo other than the broadband connection.  I know how to pick up any mail sent to my Wanadoo address using Outlook etc. Has anyone else worked out how to kill L'Espace Wanadoo but still use the Wanadoo ADSL connection?  

very helpful - thanks a lot

France Telecom have just announced ADSL availability in our village (a holiday home).  My French is not up to the details of what is available (I know it should be and I apologise to those who would criticise). I understand the different speed options, it is what else we get with the different options that is totally opaque.  Is anyone able to help please? Reasonably fast web access, ability to receive a call when one of the kids is surfing (we do not need two phone lines) and my husband's desire to use VoIP to call his UK office (when he gets round to finding out how it is done!!!!!) are our only requirements.  We will use the comms connection but hook into our UK mail service provider so no interest in new wanadoo addresses etc. I get the impression that I need extense plus livebox and just have to chose the speed of extense - trading speed against price - but I can see there is more to it than this.  I am just not sure what! I have the phone number for the new France Telecom pan-France English speaking operator so I know I can order it when I know what I am to get! Many thanks  

I know that there is a discussion about this somewhere on the forum but I can't work out how to search it any more! I have a digibox receiving free to view stations in my house in France.  I know I can attach something to the digibox to get it to transmit a signal around the house which I can pick up on any standard portable radio. Does anyone have the URL of a recommended supplier? (preferably UK based) Thanks again

many thanks

I am struggling to find an internet site that will sell me a SFR pay as you go sim card without the phone to go with it - any help would be appreciated.  Thanks

Many thanks.  I have discovered from the recommended web sites that there are two options - photo-voltaic panels that generate electricity and solar panels that heat water and can provide some types of heating.  I shall be investigating both further. AEB 

Does anyone have experience of installing solar panels? I am interested in suppliers, information on whether (and how) they are usually installed to generate your own electricity or to obtain credit from the electricity supplier and whether the French government offers grants towards their installation. Thanks

Two questions from a new second home owner: - I have recently had a phone line installed by France Telecom, does anyone know how I get a copy of the local phone directory and yellow pages? I cannot find any info on their website - I bought a TV locally and having given my name & address expected a demand to pay for a TV licence. Nothing has arrived so I assume it works some other way. Can anyone help on this? Many thanks