Getting on with the renovations

We have made some progress with the internal renovations.




Getting to grips with the French wiring systems was challenging as the wire is much tougher and connecting to and fitting the sockets is quite different to any UK wiring we had undertaken before. However, the existing wiring supported only 5 working sockets and initially 5 (later on 3) working light fittings - something HAD to be done. We rewired the house completely, ripped out the old wiring and connected it all to a nice new fuseboard according to french wiring regulations, with 30mA RCD (Residual Current Devices) protecting the two phases to supply the house (the third phase will feed the old forge, when we convert it to living area).







Reassuringly, all the circuits worked perfectly first time. This enabled us to connect the water boiler, which Steven had fitted in the utility room, when he created the bathroom.




Work continued in the kitchen ...

Clearing out, plastering and general renovations with the Motley Crew

Internal renovations started, which involved patching up some of the old plaster, which had departed company from the walls; in other places we left the stonework exposed.

In the hallway, the small rusty firegrate was removed and some of the plasterwork fell away to reveal a large stone fireplace which added great character to the hallway.



Danni sanded down the wooden "shopfront" windows from what was formerly a bike bits-and-pieces shop. A lot of the nails were removed from the beams in the "shop", although some required the use of the angle-grinder.



Meanwhile, Simon H discovered the joys of making a hole through a 30" thick stone wall to allow us to fit the waste pipe in the bathroom to the sewer outside!

Tour de France

We took a day off to visit Tour de France 2008 in Montlucon - here is what we got up to:

Take a video tour around the village

Courtesy of our neighbours, you can now take a virtual drive around the village and surrounding areas and find out about some of the strange things the locals get up to. Choose one of the videos below:

Look ma, no roof!

The builders had started work before our arrival in France, but where a little behind schedule. As you can see from the photos, they had stripped off the old front roof and had begun replacing the structure with new wood in preparation for re-tiling.

Officially Owning the Property

We received notification that we became the official owners of the property on Tuesday 17th June. We immediately made arrangements for the electricity to be connected and an engineer called at the house today and reconnected the supply. We have increased the supply to 12kW to cope with the needs of a more modern house (which we hope ours will be once it's finished). The water supply has also been connected, so we have all the necessary to start work.

Our builder, Jacky, has also started work on the house. He is repairing part of the roof and putting in concrete floors down in the kitchen and new bathroom.

We too have been busy in the UK - B&Q have had a 10% day, so we've purchased some of the things we need to take with us, including a flat-pack kitchen and some tiles, amongst other things. It's a good job Steven is driving over in his van this summer! We have more things to buy yet, so dad will be accompanying me back to B&Q on a Wednesday to make full use of his 10% Diamond Card.

Another Visit to Creuse

Whit week was spent in the north of Creuse negotiating with builders, carpenters and the Mairie. The Notaire advised us that he is now ready for us to sign the acte de vente. We stayed in a Gite in the village with a British couple, Jeanette and Ken, who made us feel very welcome.

We met the Mairie and talked about what improvements we hope to make to the building. We need to apply for permission to make some of the changes, so we were furnished with the necessary blank forms and told to complete them and provide more plans and photographs and to send 5 copies of everything!

During the past 3 weeks the back garden has turned into something resembling a rainforest. The rain over the past week has done nothing to help things. A quick dose of weedkiller should do the trick!

Here are a photos of the surrounding area: