caravan needed in next 6months

[Julia01]

Hi everyone, I know absolutely nothing about caravans but will be living in one for a year with  3 and 4year old boys!! Does anyone know anyone or have a caravan that will be for sale in about 6 months time, maybe youre using it at the moment? Its needs to be quite big, not sure about caravan sizes, must have 3 beds. Will be in the Mayenne area.  Also can anyone give their experiences of living in a caravan whilst renovating, i would be very interested to hear them, for example what do you do about water??!! Thanks

[Iceni]

[quote user="Julia01"]

.... for example what do you do about water??!! 

[/quote]

New water comes out of a tap or bottle, used water goes into a PortaPotti or the hedgerow.

John

not

[Julia01]

Ah yes but how does it get to the tap, so i run a pipe from my house or is that a really stupid quesion.  I cant buy bottled water to have a shower for example?

[Wozza]

We have been living in a mobile home for about a year now (with two kids, this may be better than a caravan, as has two separate bedrooms) - it has been great for us, as it has enabled us to live on site. Water is mains and is connected to the van with a standard MDPE pipe and compression fitting. Bottled gas is used for hot water, cooking and heating - one connection for the lot. We had a fosse septic installed before we sited the mobile home, so just connected all the wastes to the fosse.

If you arelooking for one in about six months, then you are timing it about right. Ours is for sale for delivery about then. PM me if you are interested and I will let you have more details. It is 30 foot by 10 foot.

Warren

[dandaz]

Hi

 

Our caravan cannot handle the pressure of water so I rigged up a hose pipe to a plastic water tank with a ball valve [like a toilet] ,the a pipe straight into the caravan inlet [so we lost the electric pump]...It works fine...

 

It might be useful to buy a washer and rig it up in a shed or something....Caravans are great if they have a awning...Good luck and the kids will love the adventure...

[Quillan]

For mobile homes you may try http://www.mobilhomedoccasion.com/wps/wcm/connect/Mobilhomedoccasion/Accueil/Les+annonces/ these are all ex holiday homes at various prices that are being replaced with new ones. Prices start from £700 and go up to £22,000. Use the drop down menu to select your region.

If you don't have a fosse or can't get a connection in to mains drainage for the toilet you can usually replace it with and electric flush chemical one from places like www.narbonneaccesoires.fr or you could go for a self composting 'dry' toilet.

[Julia01]

Thanks quillan, what is the cheapest toilet do you think as am on a very tight budget and will be buying a barn without a septic tank?

[Julia01]

Hey mick its a woman your talking to now..........wouldnt know anything about rigging things up....maybe i need to go on a crash course of some description!!!haha

[Quillan]

[quote user="Julia01"]Thanks quillan, what is the cheapest toilet do you think as am on a very tight budget and will be buying a barn without a septic tank?[/quote]

Couldn't use a bigger font could you, the old eyes are not so good these days.

Dig a hole by the side of the van about 1M x 1M x 1M and fill it with gravel/shingle (commonly called a soak away)and let the waste water from the sinks and shower go in to that NOT NOT LET THE WASTE FROM THE TOILET GO HERE else its a bit smelly, not hygenic and very illegal. Dig another hole well way from the barn and van, about the same size and put a fence round it to stop people and kids falling in. Buy a PortaPoti chemical toilet for around 90 Euros in a camping shop. Don't use 'Blue' in the toilet (Edit : its not good for the environment - I think there is a 'green' version now) then when its full empty it in to your hole with the fence round it and put about 6 inches of soil over the top. When that holes full dig another. In the mean time get the builder to install the fosse septic first or if on main sewerage get him to run the sewer pipe in first and get him to connect your van toilet to it on a temp basis. Good luck.

[Julia01]

Thanks that was really helpful and also explained really well. Think that appears the best option for me.  julia

[Quillan]

[quote user="Julia01"]Thanks that was really helpful and also explained really well. Think that appears the best option for me.  julia[/quote]

If your bored you can dig the holes yourself, it will probably take about week to dig both. Digging a cubic metre hole is no joke, digging two is worse. Again you might ask the builder to do this for you.

I forgot to say about the water. The builder, thats supposing your renovating and are going to be employing one, will install water first if not already on site as he will need it for mixing cement etc. Get him to put a pipe in for your moble home as well. Make sure it's in the ground and well down so it does not freeze in winter. Where it comes out of the ground it should have the shortest posible length above ground before it connects to the van and needs to be well wrapped with insulation again to stop it from freezing. When you are ready to sell the van just dig down a bit round the pipes and cut them off although it might pay to keep the van for visitors.

You will also need 'pads' of concrete to be placed for the van to sit on and for it's 'jacks' which level it and keep it stable. They don't have to be deep and are only about a foot square. If you buy from a source such as I gave you earlier they should (its France so you have to ask) be able to supply you with a sketch and measurements of where the pipes (get the waste pipe laid for later connection) and pads need to be placed. When its delivered, again if a proper company, they will place and jack it for you. Ask them how to adjust the jacks as you will probably have to adjust them after the first two or three months as it settles in. To get them to adjust it will only cost you money. Its not difficult and providing you don't mind crawling underneath you can do it your self, it's just a minor tweek. You could of course flutter the old eyelids, smile nicely, and ask your builder to do it for you, sometimes it pays to be a girl [:D] .

The wife said that when you interview the builders ask them to take their shirts off. Well if you are going to be spending time on a sun lounger waiting for them to finish your barn you might as well have something nice to look at [Www] .

[Julia01]

Gosh theres so much to think about when all i want to do is get a couple of builders in and renovate a barn, how hard can it be.......yeah right!!!! Thanks for that and also the very important tip on interviewing builders!!! Your wife a sensible woman.

[Quillan]

Well I think you are doing the right thing being on site for the renovation work. I have heard of a few people who have had the job stop because the builder was not sure about something 'couldn't get hold of the client' so they moved their men on to another job and waited till the client turned up shouting about why was the work not finished. French builders are also a breed unto their own so get ready for some hair pulling and a quick visit round the back of the van for a long hard scream. Being there will cut down on a lot of problems that others suffer from trying to do it remotely.

The one negative is that health and safety just does not appear to exist in France and it makes me wonder why you don't hear of more accidents on building sites. So if I were you I would keep a VERY close eye on your kids and if possible put a temprary fence up round your van with a child proof gate. If there is an accident, say a brick falls of on to one of your kids, it will be considered your fault because they are your kids and therefore your responsibility to ensure they don't go anywhere near where the work is being carried out

Other than that I wish you the best of luck and I hope it all works out for you which I am sure it will.

[dandaz]

Hi

 

With it been only 6 months I would`nt bother with trenches/concrete pads ,my caravan has been stood for three years and only this year I made the water tank thing ,the disposable waste I take when I do my shopping.......Or the wife does ..Pooo[6]

 

[Julia01]

Eeek what do you do with it when you take it shopping?!!!!!!

[Ysatis]

We have a standpipe, with an ordinary garden hose pipe clipped to the tap and attached to our static caravan, works very well.We leave the tap on when we are there, but if we go out for the day we turn it off as one day it had come off and water was everywhere.Since then, husband has given the screw an extra turn!!The water pressure is fine.We haven't got the fosse connected yet so just use the porta-potti and when it needs emptying we take it to the nearest public loo (which happens to be a small one in a quiet location), taking care not to choke it up. Only need to do this every three/four days and there's 6 of us.We are not there permantly, only a couple of weeks at a time. I would have the fosse connected if I was there full time. We haven't prepared the ground at all or put the 'van on blocks, the ground is so stoney I don't think it will sink, but the grass will need cutting every so often under the 'van.

[Julia01]

oh ok I understand now, thanks. Does anyone know does this apply to mobile homes aswell, suppose it does? Lots of people have said that if im staying for 12months plus i should really be in a mobile home not a caravan, has anyone got any experiences of mobile home living,. Do i just order it and hope its there when i arrive....or is that far too easy? thanks. ....All this and i havent even started thinking about the barn convertion yet!!!!!

[Julia01]

Also i wondered what people do for phones if they are living for long time in caravan/movbile home as obviously just using a mobile would work out very expensive or is that the only option?