I guess at some stage all renovators hit the wall (s'cuse the pun) like marathon runners.
You reach a point where all the obvious Hollywood jobs have gone and you spend ages on the bits that no-one is ever going to see but unless you do them properly and get them right it would ruin or nullify what you have already achieved.
There is also a point where you reach the end of your knowledge and have used up all your learning and advice and yet you have some important decisions to make that you have possibly been putting off due to your lack of knowledge.
We have still been doing stuff that needed to be done but had been shying away from some of the major things that needed to be addressed like electricity and plumbing. We had reached the stage this leave where we had to step back and have a long look at where we were before we could map out the way forward to where we want to be. In order to do that we needed some professional help and fresh eyes to help us make sense of what we wanted to do and what was possible and what we had to do next.
We had to make a decision once and for all about the fosse septic, the plumbing/heating and how to achieve what we wanted, and we also had to decide the number of lights and plugs we wanted and where we wanted them.
We also had to find out what we "had to have" in terms of plugs and lights and power supplies etc.
All this was done in the atmosphere of EDF threatening to cut off our temporary supply (as we had had it for 4 years). I contacted our translator to see what options we had and he was informed by EDF that we had till the end of May to get a full installation in. That was blatantly impossible for us so I asked him to check that the local electrician could rig us up with a partial installation that would pass consueil. (To those elecs out there who said that it was most irregular I know you were right but the noises I was receiving back were looking good)
You reach a point where all the obvious Hollywood jobs have gone and you spend ages on the bits that no-one is ever going to see but unless you do them properly and get them right it would ruin or nullify what you have already achieved.
There is also a point where you reach the end of your knowledge and have used up all your learning and advice and yet you have some important decisions to make that you have possibly been putting off due to your lack of knowledge.
We have still been doing stuff that needed to be done but had been shying away from some of the major things that needed to be addressed like electricity and plumbing. We had reached the stage this leave where we had to step back and have a long look at where we were before we could map out the way forward to where we want to be. In order to do that we needed some professional help and fresh eyes to help us make sense of what we wanted to do and what was possible and what we had to do next.
We had to make a decision once and for all about the fosse septic, the plumbing/heating and how to achieve what we wanted, and we also had to decide the number of lights and plugs we wanted and where we wanted them.
We also had to find out what we "had to have" in terms of plugs and lights and power supplies etc.
All this was done in the atmosphere of EDF threatening to cut off our temporary supply (as we had had it for 4 years). I contacted our translator to see what options we had and he was informed by EDF that we had till the end of May to get a full installation in. That was blatantly impossible for us so I asked him to check that the local electrician could rig us up with a partial installation that would pass consueil. (To those elecs out there who said that it was most irregular I know you were right but the noises I was receiving back were looking good)
I spent a week when I first arrived home preparing and area to receive the main board and a light and a couple of plug points and found out when the electrician came a week later that it was all in the wrong place because EDF were going to move the poles.
Grr fume grr fume. A week later the local leccy came and fitted a main board in a place where I would rather not have had it and temp light fitting (no dcl) I had now been relieved of 2,000 euros including translation fees for something that consueil were never going to agree to in the first place. This was confirmed when they turned it down and two days later EDF called and said that we could keep out temp arrangement for another year. 2,000 up the chute for sod all. To rub salt into the wound the main board they fitted only has three rows and two other people have since told me it is probably too small for purpose. To make me even more f@#king p!ssed off was when in Brico Depot I noticed the same board for 300 euros but I had been charged 900 for it.
Snarl fume snarl fume
Snarl fume snarl fume
Ah well at least I now know that the local leccy is not up to the task and that we could probably have sorted out the mess ourselves without the help of a translator as MrsB is becoming a bit of a dab hand with the lingo and while my grammar and tense is a bit suspect I am improving all the time. We are now going it alone.
So electric supply problem solved for now but I will return to the subject of electricity in the house later.
Luck would have it my builder guru was chatting with me over a beer or two about a fosse that a long established chap local to the area had juts installed and it had a compact filter rather than the bloody great sand thing that we had been first planned to have.
He arranged for this guy to come and see us and he took one look at our original plans, from when we bought the place looked at the land the lane and the garden across the lane that was to have the sand filter (7.5 X 7.5) and said "You don't need this but the bloke form this firm who did the plans does not like to be challenged or to change anything" Our best bet was to get in another company to do the soils test and draw up plans acceptable to us and the authorities. It was 360 euros well spent as the man turned up and after some questions about rooms and size and then uncovering an underground concrete drain we didn’t know was there, said he would be happy to recommend and draw up plans that utilised a fosse with a compact filter. All we had to do was choose between Coconut matting Rock wool or Zeolite.
After some research on here and other places we have chosen the Zeolite one and now await the plans to be drawn and a new devis form our Fosse man and we will be the proud owners of a fosse without having to sacrifice up to a third of our garden across the lane. Whoop Whhoop.
Luck would have it my builder guru was chatting with me over a beer or two about a fosse that a long established chap local to the area had juts installed and it had a compact filter rather than the bloody great sand thing that we had been first planned to have.
He arranged for this guy to come and see us and he took one look at our original plans, from when we bought the place looked at the land the lane and the garden across the lane that was to have the sand filter (7.5 X 7.5) and said "You don't need this but the bloke form this firm who did the plans does not like to be challenged or to change anything" Our best bet was to get in another company to do the soils test and draw up plans acceptable to us and the authorities. It was 360 euros well spent as the man turned up and after some questions about rooms and size and then uncovering an underground concrete drain we didn’t know was there, said he would be happy to recommend and draw up plans that utilised a fosse with a compact filter. All we had to do was choose between Coconut matting Rock wool or Zeolite.
After some research on here and other places we have chosen the Zeolite one and now await the plans to be drawn and a new devis form our Fosse man and we will be the proud owners of a fosse without having to sacrifice up to a third of our garden across the lane. Whoop Whhoop.
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