Interior stone walls

[Smudger]

Hi,

We are currently going through the planning process to convert a barn in the Dordogne to living accomodation. In order to keep the character within the buildiing I was intending on leaving as much of the stone walls exposed as possible, however the architect has said that all external walls (3 of the 4) will need to be dry lined. I dont want this and wondered whether anyone could help clarify the regulations here. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Théière]

I think you may not get your way as RT2012 may restrict what you can do.  Maybe the faux stone pieces if bonded to the insulated placo which would be far more efficient than just dry lining may give you back some of the character?  jointed with lime mortar rather than anything else it may look ok.

[WJT]

That is odd, I have never heard of this. We had a building renovated her in Dordogne and left some exposed stone walls and in fact in a different area took off some interior render and exposed the stone.

[Quillan]

[quote user="WJT"]That is odd, I have never heard of this. We had a building renovated her in Dordogne and left some exposed stone walls and in fact in a different area took off some interior render and exposed the stone.[/quote]

It depends on when (year and month) you did this and were you using an architect?

[WJT]

[quote user="Quillan"]

[quote user="WJT"]That is odd, I have never heard of this. We had a building renovated her in Dordogne and left some exposed stone walls and in fact in a different area took off some interior render and exposed the stone.[/quote]

It depends on when (year and month) you did this and were you using an architect?

[/quote]

Quillan, it was a few years back and we didn't use an architect. I wasn't aware that it was no longer allowed. Loads of properties here in Dordogne have internal exposed walls.

[Théière]

RT2012 came into force in 2013 as the name suggests [Www]  They couldn't make people do the work retrospectively.

[NickP]

Who is going to see the interior? After all guys this is France we're

talking about, which makes/alters rules constantly and the locals then

completely ignore them? Apart from structural  decisions do you really

need an architect to choose or dictate interior decoration, I don't think so.

[Quillan]

Nobody until you come to sell it. They will be able to tell when they do the energy survey. You could of course say it was done pre 2013 but then if you paid to have the work done then you won't be able to claim the cost against taxation because of the date unless you know a dodgy builder who will pre-date the bills.

[Smudger]

Thanks all.

[Théière]

Whatcha going to do, break the rules or insulate?

[mint]

[quote user="Théière"]Whatcha going to do, break the rules or insulate?

[/quote]

Teapot, you mean break the rules, spend a fortune on heating and possibly have a harder time later on finding a buyer or insulate, economise on energy and save yourself the task of sweeping up bits of grit and stuff  that fall off the walls on a daily basis.

[Coquelicot]

You could consider external insulation for certain walls. Just Google 'isolation exterieure'.

[Hereford]

Mint said:  "... task of sweeping up bits of grit and stuff  that fall off the walls on a daily basis"

We had the (admittedly internal) central wall inside the house left as stonework.   Easy to avoid grit etc falling off: spray with PVA with a garden sprayer. Even if it hits other walls either side it does not show when dry. Took well under half an hour to do the whole wall.  Nothing falls off on a daily basis.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="NickP"]Who is going to see the interior? After all guys this is France we're

talking about, which makes/alters rules constantly and the locals then

completely ignore them? Apart from structural  decisions do you really

need an architect to choose or dictate interior decoration, I don't think so.

[/quote]

It is related to RT2012 as has already been said and if a full permis de c is applied for, then a study will be done to tell you how you must renovate and the renovations are checked and signed off. If no permis needed (or, at least, not applied for [6]) then you can do what you like. And I am sure that a lot of French buyers at this time won't be bothered about whether something is renovated to RT2012... though that might have changed 10 years hence.

My view is that character stone walls are nice but high levels of insulation is better. [;-)]

[Quillan]

[quote user="Catalpa"]
My view is that character stone walls are nice but high levels of insulation is better. [;-)]
[/quote]

Thats exactly what I was thinking. If you are doing this to retire to then obviously your going to be on a limited (fixed) income and the last thing you want to do is end up spending a fortune heating the place. The insulation technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years and the price has dropped due to demand. Using the figures somebody gave a while back on the forum about how much extra cost these regs add to the build price it equates to around 20% extra but if it saves more than 20% of your heating costs which it is said it can easily do then it is logical to go down this route. I mean most of this is about insulation and how many times have we read on the forum and elswhere "insulation, insulation, insulation"? If you want 'character' walls then I am sure that if you are unlucky enough not to have an existing interior one you could build one even if it was fake.

I was also wondering what happens if you don't do it, apart from having a colder house in winter? I guess you will be told to go back and do it properly but are there any fines as well? As I said before I would have thought it easy enough to spot it hasn't been done when you sell and they do the efficiency survey and this could impact on any sale to the point possibly of stopping the sale from going through at worse or having to reduce the price to have the insulation installed.