Araucaria

Wilko - should that "clunge" really be "clunch" ?

[quote user="cooperlola"]OMG, no wonder tax gets everybody's knickers in a twist.  What in god's name does this mean?: "Moreover, while under the exemption with progression previous method..."(from Parsnips's quote on p2.)  If these people would only learn to write English we might have a chance.[:-))][/quote] It's just a technical vocabulary for a technical subject. If you didn't use the words "exemption with progression method" you'd have to say something like: "the method by which, although the income is exempt from taxation in the country of residence, it is nevertheless taken into account in calculating the tax bands for the rest of the income that is actually being taxed in the country of residence". This method of dealing with foreign income isn't used in the UK, but I believe it is used in other countries and not just in France, so having a three-word phrase for it ("exemption with progression") isn't really unexpected. After all, what's "common rail fuel injection" in words of one syllable?

I lost the last bit of paint in a conventional tin when replacing the lid - I pushed obviously a bit too hard and succeeded in getting the lid all the way through the neck and splat on top of the last few centimeters of paint. Never done that before. In fact, in the past, I've stepped on the can to get the lid to go back in (and it has).

Maybe Ayjay also needs some advice about how much it might cost to make a €21k property habitable?

[quote user="JohnM"]Thinking of plumbing fittings, when did "standardisation" of pipe diameters, threads etc come in? I've got my eye on some rads which have been removed from a 50's (?) apartment and am assuming that I can "bodge" them into a modern system somehow. Am I right?[/quote] John I think you probably can, as I understand that radiator fittings are old-fashioned pipe threads, in imperial sizes, and these are the same now as they were in the 1950s.

[quote user="Gluestick"]Woolly: You must carefully consider the weight of any rad filled with water; far heavier than one might think. [/quote] I suppose it depends on the radiator, but flat panel radiators are designed to heat up quickly and don't contain much water. I couldn't find much by way of facts and figures, except this from a US website: For example, a typical fluted-steel panel radiator 24 inches high by 72 inches long by 4 inches thick contains about 2.1 gallons of water and has an empty weight of about 127 pounds. That's quite a big radiator, and the water in it (converting US gallons to litres) weighs about 8kg. By contrast, the empty radiator weighs nearly 60kg.

[quote user="parsnips"] Hi,  The reason for the hour difference UK/France (I have been told) is that the germans imposed it during the war,to avoid problems synchronising activities with Germany. Presumably in 1945 the french were already anticipating the creation of the EU, and decided not to change back.   [/quote] I'm fairly sure this is at least partly right: Sartre's "Iron in the Soul" is set in the three or four weeks after the fall of Paris (June 1940), and the soldiers interned at Baccarat comment that the Germans have just imposed their time on France, making it an hour later. One internee refuses to change his watch from French time. Sartre was himself captured (he was a military meteorologist) and interned in Nancy, not far from Baccarat, and this passage presumably refelects his personal experience. I don't know whether unoccupied France adopted German time then, or not until November 1942, and I also have no idea what happened after the liberation. Though I'd be surprised if they didn't change back then.

I have found that with HIFX the larger the transfer, the better the rate, and that you can play with the on-line system before shifting any money at all to find out what the thresholds might be for the better rates. From memory below £5,000 the rate isn't normally that good. On the other hand, they move the money very quickly: they say that it will be 1 to 4 working days before the money is in your account, and my experience to date has been either just one day (ie the next day after the money leaves your UK account) or two, and never longer. The reason I don't use HIFX regularly is that one service they don't offer is available from Travelex. This is a regular standing order to transfer a monthly amount of sterling into euros at the current exchange rate on the day of the month that you pick. HIFX will only do an advance purchase where you fix the rate in advance. Travelex on the other hand take longer to make the transfer: 4 to 7 working days in my experience.

[quote user="Chancer"]Thanks for the confirmation! What I meant was did he ask to see a diagnostic certificate for presence of lead and one for the energy performance rating, all rental properties are now supposed to have one, there is no-one to check but often these organisations busy themselves with finding new hoops for you to jump through and so that you have to pay them to verify that you have jumped through them. Sadly its only a question of time methinks [:(] [/quote] I see - a bit like buying/selling then - lead, asbestos, termites, septic tank, energy rating? Categorically they weren't interested. They did want us to give all our visitors a leaflet telling them how to be ecological: they should turn lights off when they don't need them, turn down the heating, drink tap water, buy local produce, have showers rather than baths, take a basket when they go shopping, and change gear at 2000 rpm (petrol) and 2500 (diesel). This seemed a bit like tokenism, but as they can hardly check whether we are giving out their leaflet we told them we would.

No direct experience, but I think you'll have to ask EDF for a quote for the cost of removing the electricity. My experience (of getting 3-phase installed) was that two separate delegations of managers came to inspect, before receiving the quote (which I think was €120), and then eventually the supply was reinstalled but they never sent the bill - or added it to my electricity bill. I'd guess you'd face a similar cost. Removing the phone line should be cheaper, as there will be a local box where the wires can be disconnected. And talk to the commune about the cost of discontinuing the water. They can probably just turn it off somewhere outside the house, and then remove the meter and cap the pipe. Or leave the meter if there isn't a standing charge. Good luck with the purchase.

[quote user="Chancer"]Quetion for Auraucaria. Did the departmental inspection require you have to have all the diagnostiques carried out for your gite(s)? [/quote] Chancer - as I have no idea what "all the diagnostiques" might be, I suppose the answer must be "no". Certainly didn't include anything like looking into the septic tank or checking the electrics (beyond seeing that the lights turned on an off, and that there were plug points in each room).

"en principe" this was particularly reassuring when we were helping the local farmer get his cows out of our garden and into his field. "What about the bull?" we said to the farmer. "En principe il me suit" he said (or possible "suive" - subjunctive?). Luckily the bull followed the cows.

Thanks Teapot. As it turns out, no-one locally has the HardieBacker stuff (one offered to order it, so long as I wanted a lorry-load), so I have ordered some Wedi board, in 4mm, which should do the trick. I have used this stuff before, but only in thicker sizes - for a trappe de visite under a bath with a tiled surround. Any suggestion for cementing/gluing/screwing (or perm any two from three?) this stuff to the agglo worktop?

On the tilers forum the received wisdom is not to tile on chipboard: rather they suggest using thin (6mm) sheets of cement board. This is something I've never used. I've found it on google - an example is this stuff, and the description certainly look right - but does anyone know what cement board is called here in France?

In the old farmhouse where we were living until 2009, the septic tank was a 500 litre concrete job (I don't think I'll bother rephrasing that) partially buried in the cellar. But septic tanks in the cellar are usually easy to find, as the grass doesn't grow down there. As it is pretty small, the septic tank itself just takes what goes down the WC: the sinks drain away into the septic tank's outfall pipe. I'm waiting to hear what SPANC have to say about that. They are coming next month. And round here, many of the farmers empty their own septic tanks, not very often it's true, and then spray it on the fields. I'm not sure that doesn't somehow defeat the object of having one. The grass grows nicely though.

It seems he can't spell his own Christian name, though.

Matty - someone else will know better than me, but the effect of the new law (if it is now in force - I'm not sure) is that the person selling you the house should give you a copy of the report from the official body responsible for inspecting drainage arrangements - it's called SPANC. You are lucky if there is shortly to be a collective sewerage scheme in your (prospective) village: having a septic tank of your own is not really a great deal of fun. In these schemes it's fairly common to run the sewer down the middle of them main street: is it downhill from your house to that, or uphill (or is it all fairly level)?  Because it'll cost you extra if the waste has to be pumped uphill to the sewer. Good luck with the new house anyway: I hope the sale goes through earlier rather than later.

[quote user="gardengirl "]Hardly any imported wines in supermarkets around us either. In the last couple of years they've started having the odd bottle of Australian, but that's about all. I can't say I've particularly looked for it, but haven't seen even that regularly. Chinese wine; I think I'll give it a miss for now - I'm more than happy with the local offerings.  [:)] Mind you, there's not much in the way of cognac either, just one or two brands I've never heard of. Unlike whisky of which there are shelves full - also mostly names I've never heard of. French people say, yes, but those are English names aren't they? Yes, but not known to me in UK. [/quote] My favourite is "Old Lady's Gin". Never seen it anywhere but here.

[quote user="Opifex"]If you want more ideas you could look at  http://www.tilersforums.co.uk/  [/quote] Thanks for the link. I'm grateful for all the helpful replies but I should say I'm not worried about hygeine issues connected with food preparation as it's a room with a washing machine and sink, not a kitchen.

Ours was classified by the Cantal's "Comité Départemental du Tourisme et Thermalisme": it cost us €35, but we did have to wait nearly five months before they came to look at it. The inspection took a little more than two hours - so they were reasonably thorough, doing things like checking the expiry date on the rubber pipes for the gas to the cooker. But it is now officially 2 (departmental) stars. Having it classified lets you know whether your gite conforms to the commonsense standards visitors possibly expect, and it wasn't much trouble. There is probably a similar departmental tourist organisation where you live who will do yours if you wish.

[quote user="Théière"][quote user="howittgites"]All the above about the base board is correct. But having worked with tiled tops, you main problem will be the grout. the only grout that should be used on worktops is a silicon based grout (sorry can't remember it technical name) This doesn't stain as other grouts including "waterproof" grouts do. Them main problems with tiled tops is not water penetration(although that is a problem) but grout discolouring. The down side is it is very expensive. nichthewood[/quote] There are epoxy grouts that must be used for commercial premises in the UK, very tricky to use but an easier to use alternative from Mapei does exist, Kerapoxy which cleans up with water. [/quote] Teapot: thanks again. I'll see if I can find this (e)poxy stuff in France. The grout I've used on the bathroom floor says it is waterproof, and possibly it is (it's concrete underneath, so it won't matter a lot if it isn't), but you are right about staining. If I can't find the Mapei product I wonder whether it might be an idea instead to use a grey grout - the tiles are not going to be white ones, and the inevitable staining will show less.

[quote user="Gluestick"]I would use the same composite board used to dry-line Wet Rooms. Perhaps laid on, say MDF to achieve necessary thickness. And do not forget to use waterproof grouting. As a point of interest, whenever I install laminated worktops, where water ingress is a given (e.g. cut-outs for sink tops), having cut out the hole, I seal the edges with copious application of thick Hammerite: I purposely save the dregs in the tin for this purpose. [/quote] Thanks for this Gluestick: by composite board do you mean the (usually green) waterproof plasterboard (placoplâtre hydrofuge)? I will make a point of painting the cut edges underneath the sink: I think I have the odd tin of Hammerite gradually going hard which would do very well.

I'm on the point of fitting out a utility room. It will contain a washing machine and a sink, as well as cupboards. Because of concrete thicknesses on the floor, there is a raised plinth - about 10cm high, and about 65cm out from the wall - below the area where the worktop will go. The washing machine can go on top of this, but using a flat worktop would make the sink inconveniently high. So where the sink is to go I wish to drop the level of the worktop. In addition, the worktop area is not exactly rectangular, and at one end it will be quite a bit wider than a standard laminate worktop - the walls are not quite square. So rather than use an off the shelf worktop, I want to tile the worktop area instead, something I've never tried before. I've only previously tiled walls/floors and carreaux de platre. What is normally used as a support for tiles that are likely to be frequently wet? Is it some form of waterproof chipboard? Or plywood? Or what? Any other tips would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance!

The advice I could never quite believe was that there were just two ways to prune roses: not enough, and not nearly enough So mine are all still rather straggly.

PPP One of things I didn't say is that I have no idea whether the withholding tax is right under US tax law, as opposed to being allowed under the treaty. However the fact that the US tax treaty with France says the pension won't be taxed in France makes me think that the US intends to get its pound of flesh from people like Bob, and the easiest way is a withholding tax.