Where to Buy Timber... Where to get Timber Sawn (plus a couple of general questions)

[MarkPDC]

Hello...  Very

new to France - I have purchased a house in the north (62130 area)... 

and 100% a DIY novice (what was I thinking) ....  The big jobs are being

done by professionals however the 'prettying up' stuff will be tackled

by yours truly...

I have a few questions so feel free to pick any one you can answer!

1.  Where I can purchase standard 2x4's in order to build the stud walls and frame the walls ready for plastering?

2. 

I need to level a bathroom floor.  It will require adding joists to the

exisiting ones, cut diagonally along their length.  Where would you go

to get this done?

...  here is the absolute hijack...  but while I am here - a couple more questions...

3. 

I have heard that there are 'finance' pacages available to those of us

who are renovating houses (this will be our main home although I commute

to work in London a couple of days a week).  Have any of you done

this.  Are there restrictions I need to be aware of?

4.  The

house is currently uninhabitable.  I have heard that I may not need to

pay the habitation tax for a period of time before it is renovated.  Do

you have any experience about this?

Thank a million for any help...

M

[Loiseau]

Hello Mark, and welcome to the forum,

It looks as if there's a Leroy Merlin on the St Pol side of Arras that might be useful for all sorts of material.

You could probably buy cheaper elsewhere, but LM staff are usually very patient and helpful to DIY-ers.

[andyh4]

Hi Mark and welcome

Look in Pages-jaunes.fr for "scierie" for your wood supplies. Often cheaper and better quality than the big DIY stores, although Leroy is pretty good in ,my experience.

For studding, metal rails and uprights are much more common and popular in France than wood - especially on areas where termites might be a problem. Further south than you are.

Pricewise probably not much different after you have bought a crimping tool and possibly the metal snips for cutting, but the metal rails are straight and true, which wood might not be.

TBH this system is a love or hate system and there are vociferous views in both camps, but it works for me. But then I am a DIYer with 10 thumbs on 2 left hands.

Google.fr for Rails et Montants will give lots of tips. IIRC there is something on the Leroy Merlin site on how to use them.

[Théière]

Seconded.

Also when there, grab as many of their guides as possible. Then you will quickly learn 4x2's don't exist, they are demi chevrons or chevrons 38mmx63mm or 63mm x 75mm and a lot of other stuff as well.

[Patf]

As above plus - we found that timber was much cheaper in France in the UK. More plentiful, at least in our dept. (Gers).

There were many hectares of dense oak woods.

Someone mentioned chestnut - that was available, but more expensive, rarer. And there's a disease attacking chestnut .

[MarkPDC]

Hello...  and a big THANK YOU to everyone who has replied so quickly to this thread.  It is a great help and the 'extra tips' such as the metal rails rather than wood is something we will definately look into.

Finding things like this out really does take the pressure off.

Much appreciated and looking forward to being a more useful forum contributer as time goes on!

Best wishes,

Mark :-)

[MarkPDC]

Hi Andy.  Would the scierie normally be willing to saw the wooden joists to the angle we want them etc.?  I may well have obtained the tools to do it by then (and maybe a mate who isn't as nervous as I am to use it for the first time!) but if not, to be able to ask for, for example, a 3 meter length tapering from 40mm to nil across it's length is the way to go...  is that possible do you think?  Are there high costs involved?

Cheers,  M

[andyh4]

I think it will depend on the wood yard, so extrapolating from what happens here to what happens in your area is a bit dangerous.

Ours cuts to length for nothing - though you "buy" the scrap off cut. A long cut like yours might be another proposition.

[Lehaut]

If you are going to use LM a lot, its worth looking at their discount card. After you have spent so much, you get 10% off your next purchases. We bought all our DG windows from them so you can make quite a saving.

They also have day where there is 15% of a range of stuff.

Also their returns policy is great, if you buy too many rails, fixtures etc, you just take the unused ones back and they re-credit your bank.

[Théière]

[quote user="MarkPDC"]Hi Andy.  Would the scierie normally be willing to saw the wooden joists to the angle we want them etc.?  I may well have obtained the tools to do it by then (and maybe a mate who isn't as nervous as I am to use it for the first time!) but if not, to be able to ask for, for example, a 3 meter length tapering from 40mm to nil across it's length is the way to go...  is that possible do you think?  Are there high costs involved?

Cheers,  M

[/quote]

Why do you need a 3 meter length tapering from 40mm to nothing? This sounds like a novice error, it wouldn't be something a builder would or could do. Use regular timber in a standard way to make frames and add addition bits where required to attach plasterboard?

[andyh4]

Just to add to Lehaut's post re the LM loyalty card, your first purchase will also give you a discount - so go prepared with a big list of things you need, get the card and make a killing.

[MarkPDC]

Hi,  Thanks for the question Théière.  We are attempting to level a sloping floor. A builder advised us that this is what he had done/would do.  i.e. add door-stop shaped timber to the existing joists and re-lay the floorboards on top, thus creating a level floor.  You are right - I am a novice!

[Théière]

Obviously without a photo it's tricky but what you might be able to do is get vollage (sp) boards and screw them either side of the joist to level the floor.  Advantage is speed, ease and the bottom edge of the vollage (sp) is great for screwing plaster board to for the ceiling of the room below. [I]

[Al Rogers]

My builder used this "wedge" technique to level my kitchen floor in the UK many years ago and it worked a treat. He said the easy option would have been to bolt new, level floor joists alongside the existing ones but recommended the technique you're proposing. He had 40-odd years' experience, so I took him at his word. I doubt a DIY store would cut them for you but any decent carpenter would do this. My guy did the job quickly on a table saw so it shouldn't be too expensive.

[Loiseau]

[quote user="Théière"]...is get vollage (sp) boards ... [I]

[/quote]

Volige

:-

[Loiseau]

[quote user="Théière"]...is get vollage (sp) boards ... [I]

[/quote]

Volige

:-

[Loiseau]

QUOTE THEIERE

...is get vollage (sp) boards ...

END QUOTE

Volige

:-)

[Théière]

[quote user="Al Rogers"]My builder used this "wedge" technique to level my kitchen floor in the UK many years ago and it worked a treat. He said the easy option would have been to bolt new, level floor joists alongside the existing ones but recommended the technique you're proposing. He had 40-odd years' experience, so I took him at his word. I doubt a DIY store would cut them for you but any decent carpenter would do this. My guy did the job quickly on a table saw so it shouldn't be too expensive.[/quote]

That's the bog difference isn't it, a builder with many Years experience and lots of tools which they know how to use. VS a novice with no previous or tools. At least with the vollige you only need a sprit level and a drill driver. Also as stated previously that allows for easy fixing of plaster board for the ceiling below if applicable. We pro's make everything look easy, its DIY ers that make it look hard. Lol

[MarkPDC]

Thanks again to all...  Great advice and volige seems a cracking idea too!

Excellent forum...