FAQ - Useful renovation words

Ex Forum Admin · September 16, 2005

Acte de vente - Act of sale

Artisan - Craftsman

Burin - Chisel

Caillebotis - Square wooden decking

Cales - Wedges

Cerisier - Cherry tree

Chantier - Building site

Charpentier - Carpenter

Châtaignier - Horse chestnut

Chauffagistes - Heating engineers

Chaux - Lime render

Clé - Spanner

Cloison - Partition wall

Coffrage - Shuttering

Colle or ciment à carreaux - Tile glue (in powder form)

Commune - Town/village

Coude - A bend (then you choose the angle : 32° 45° 87° etc)

Couteau de peintre - Paint scraper

Crémaillère - Upright Shelving

Cuivre - Copper

Cuve - Vat

Décapeur thermique - Heat stripper

Décolleuse de papier peint - Wallpaper steamer/strip

Devis - Quote/estimate

Ébéniste - Cabinet maker

Élagage - Tree surgery

Enduit de lissage - Very fine plaster

Entreprise - Business, company

Espagnolette - Window closing mechanism

Figuier - Fig tree

Fleur de chaux - Very fine white lime

Gaines - the plastic tubes in which the electric cables will sit

Lambris - Wooden wainscoting/paneling

Lames - Wooden strips

Lampe de chantier - Halogen site lamp

Lasure - Stain

Laurier-sauce - Bay tree

Lave-mains - Hand basin

Lavoir - Wash basin/house for doing laundry

Linteau - Lintel

Liteaux/Tasseaux - Battens

Maçon - Builder

Maire - Mayor

Marin - The local Languedoc name for the wind blowing inland off the Mediterranean

Massette - Heavy hammer, almost a mallet

Mortier - Mortar

Mousse - Expanding foam expansible

Ouate de cellulose - Recycled paper

Papier-Kraft -Kraft paper

Pare vapeur - Vapour barrier

Perforatrice - Jack hammer

Placoplâtre - Plasterboard

Plombiers - Plumber

Poêle - Stove

Porte-fenêtre - French window

Potager - Vegetable garden

Promesse de vente - Document which binds you to the purchase of a house (no gazumping)

Ragréage - Self-levelling screed

Raigneureuse - Double angle grinder to make the saignées

Ramoneur - Chimney sweep

Réducteur - A reducer (connects from a tuyau de 14 à un de 16 for example)

Rremise - Outbuilding

Réseau d’assainissement - Sewage network

Sacs de gravats - Bags for masonry rubble

Saignées - Channels for the electricity cables

Sans soudure - Without soldering

Scellement chimique - Sealant

Serre-joints - Clamps

Sous couche - Undercoat

Stère - one cubic metre

Suie - soot

Taloche - float

Tilleul - Linden / lime tree

Tirefonds - tie screws

Tournevis électrique - Electric screwdriver

Truelle - Trowel

Tuyau - Pipe