Occasional tales from a French fixer-upper

[mangocrazy]

Upon closer inspection it seemed that wherever there was a joint in the T&G chipboard flooring, the tiles had come loose. I can only suspect there was movement of the substrate due to the change in heat/humidity between April and high summer in July leading to the bond between tile/adhesive/substrate fracturing.

One method to prevent that is to put down two layers of the substrate, offset to each other to stop the cracks in tiles. Ive even seen it done where one layer is at 45deg to the other... altho that involves a bit more math when measuring/cutting. The advantage is that the joints in the top layer of substrate is 45 deg to both the lower layer and the tiles... and the two layers of substrate are glued to each other. Nothing moves.

The chipboard T&G flooring here is 1.5in thick.. but if you do the two layer method they can each be 3/4in.

Yes, that's the Gold Standard, two layers of T&G with joints offset/at an angle and layers glued together. The T&G I used was 22mm (7/8") thick so was probably marginal in a single layer. Let's just say that I don't intend to tile any more floors with T&G as a substrate, unless it has a decent layer of screed on top. Even with multiple coats of SBR on top of the T&G, the bond between tiles and substrate is not as good as the bond between a cementitious substrate and tiles.

[mangocrazy]

Despite my misgivings and nervousness, Enedis turned up between the agreed times and changed the meter. By 10 am when no-one had showed up, I panicked and rang up the English-speaking EDF helpline. In total I was on the phone for best part of 30 minutes, stood in the road outside as there's no mobile signal inside the house. A very nice lady took all my details, contacted Enedis for me an assured me that someone was really, really going to turn up today,

True to form, 10 minutes later the doorbell rang and a very pleasant chap from Enedis was at the front door. He cut the power, did what he had to do and then resumed the power, with everything working as before. So my chunky old black comptoir has now been replaced with an all-singing all-dancing fluorescent green Linky meter. On closer inspection the old meter dates from 1965 (!) so it probably was due for replacement...

Herewith the old and the new. Le Vieux:

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Et le nouveau:

DSCF4893.JPG (319.56 KiB) Viewed 1723 times

I doubt that the new meter will last as long as the old one (60 years...)

[mangocrazy]

It's been a rum old day - brilliant blue skies during morning and afternoon until about half an hour ago when black clouds and thunder rolled in. We now have serious precipitation intermixed with hail; it's like a veil has been thrown over the world.

My main concern now is whether the planned 'burgers and chips on the promenade' will still go ahead. I imagine they'll be setting up round about now with a view to kicking off around 18:00 (i.e. in half an hour's time). My 'slot' is at 18:45...

[mangocrazy]

Gourmet burger and chips purchased and scoffed. To their immense credit, Ken and Alison didn't allow the freakish weather to knock them out of their stride, things just took a bit longer. My 18:45 order was filled at 19:00; top work under the circumstances.

I did ask them what they'd done to annoy the rain Gods though...

[mangocrazy]

I was intending to start riding the VFR back to the UK today, but lying on top of the bed covered in sweat at 6 o'clock this morning, I experienced a moment of clarity.

What idiot, at the age of 75, would commit to riding 600-odd miles in 35+ degree heat when he didn't really have to?

Not this idiot. I'm catching a plane back to the UK later today, and the VFR is staying in the (French) garage until I return later in the year.

[Rockburner]

I was intending to start riding the VFR back to the UK today, but lying on top of the bed covered in sweat at 6 o'clock this morning, I experienced a moment of clarity.

What idiot, at the age of 75, would commit to riding 600-odd miles in 35+ degree heat when he didn't really have to?

Not this idiot. I'm catching a plane back to the UK later today, and the VFR is staying in the (French) garage until I return later in the year.

A man's got to know his limitations...

[Count Steer]

This second home lark seems like a lot of hard work/travel/€

[mangocrazy]

This second home lark seems like a lot of hard work/travel/€

No-one ever said it would be easy or cheap!

In fairness, this latest trip was imposed on me by EDF/Enedis and their requirement to install the Linky meter. Normally I'm not present at the house any later than mid-June or before September as I know how punishing the heat can be in high summer for anyone not used to it. But the arrival of a heatwave coinciding with my visit was one of those imponderables that just sometimes happens and all you can do is endure it with the best grace possible.

Thankfully the house is of traditional Languedocian construction; i.e. massive stone walls at least half a metre thick, with all windows having shutters, so that mitigates some of the worst of the heat. Ironically the coolest room in the house is the one we only use to store building materials, cement mixer, bags of sand and cement etc.

Bit of a re-think needed there, perhaps...

[Cousin Jack]

I was intending to start riding the VFR back to the UK today, but lying on top of the bed covered in sweat at 6 o'clock this morning, I experienced a moment of clarity.

What idiot, at the age of 75, would commit to riding 600-odd miles in 35+ degree heat when he didn't really have to?

Not this idiot. I'm catching a plane back to the UK later today, and the VFR is staying in the (French) garage until I return later in the year.

Wimp!

At 79 I am off on a 4 - 5,000 mile jaunt next month, come rain or shine. There may well be days that I envy you the choice of alternative transport.

[mangocrazy]

Good for you, CJ. May you have temperate climes for your journey and may the only rain that falls on you be when you wish it.

I did think long and hard about it, but most of the mileage back home would be on autoroutes and i simply CBA in this heat. I'm sweating just typing this so 600+ miles of 35 degree heat is bonkers if I don't have to do it.

But yeah - wimp, wuss, c'est moi!

[Cousin Jack]

Yes, warm is nice, but too hot is just as bad as too cold. I have a cooling vest, a waistcoat thing you dip in water for a couple of minutes, let it drip for 30 seconds, give it a shake and put it on under your jacket. It works for several hours, releasing moisture slowly and cooling you down. And all you need to refresh it is some cleanish water, so a stream or lake will do at a push. When it is dry you can use it to keep warm as an extra layer too. Very useful piece of kit for touring or long distance travel.

[mangocrazy]

Yes, warm is nice, but too hot is just as bad as too cold. I have a cooling vest, a waistcoat thing you dip in water for a couple of minutes, let it drip for 30 seconds, give it a shake and put it on under your jacket. It works for several hours, releasing moisture slowly and cooling you down. And all you need to refresh it is some cleanish water, so a stream or lake will do at a push. When it is dry you can use it to keep warm as an extra layer too. Very useful piece of kit for touring or long distance travel.

That sounds just the kind of thing that would have been ideal today. I will investigate that further. Is there a brand name that I can search on?

[Cousin Jack]

Vest is packed up on the bike at the moment. I will have a look for the brand, probably next week.
Amazon is full of options for 'motorcycle cooling vests', thr freezer pack ones may cool more, but obviously you need a convenient freezer.

[mangocrazy]

Yes, I like the idea of one that only needs water. The continental hotels that I frequent (B&B and their ilk) don't have fridges in the rooms, let alone freezers.

[mangocrazy]

While I've been away from the French gaff (left end of October 2025) I've been in regular contact with my very helpful neighbour, who has been arranging for a French builder to do some work for me while I'm back in the UK. The work in question is demolition of interior non-load bearing walls and clearing away the rubble afterwards. It's a job I really didn't want to do myself as it's messy, unpleasant work and the removal of the rubble from the second floor would require a temporary road closure which I'd need to request from the Mairie. I''d also need to hire a rubble chute and a trailer to attach to the van to take the rubble to the dechetterie. Far too much hassle, and I'm happy to pay someone to do all that stuff.

Anyway the demolition work was done a week or so ago and today my neighbour emailed me some photos of how the area looks now. So I thought I'd share photos of the before and after. The layout previously encompassed two bedrooms, a bathroom and the space where an old style French brick and stone spiral staircase had been. Total floor area is approx. 5m x 5m, although that is a huge over-simplification. First of all, the 'before'...



This was what remained of the bathroom. The bath has gone to the skip and so has the tiled wall on the RH side.



This is the same wall but viewed from the other side (what used to be our bedroom). I asked the builder if he could save thetwo door frames in the picture. He did, but not in the way I was expecting...



This pic was taken from the same spot, but turned through 180 degrees, i.e. the other half of the bedroom. It was always a bit pokey with a double bed in, and enlarging the room was one of the reasons for the re-work. That, and the fact that to get to the bedroom you had to go through the bathroom. Not ideal.



This is the area that (well before I bought the place) used to be the old staircase. In its new life it will be part of the bathroom. It's also where all the services (hot and cold water, electricity) arrive to be distributed within the floor.



This is the view looking back from the second bedroom into the old stair space and into the rest of the house. I'll be pinching some space from this room to extend the bathroom.



And this is the rest of the second bedroom from the same spot as the previous pic, but facing the other way. The rubble sack contains all the bathroom wall tiles I'd removed, plus the bricks that previously surrounded the bath. It was part of the deal that the builder would dispose of all that as well.



And this is the view looking back into Bed 2 standing outside the old stair case area. The one thing I will be sad to see go is the piece of impromptu modern art on the near wall. It was purely a means to clean as much paint off a brush as I could, but it brightened the space.

And now we come to the 'after'. No commentary on these, it's all pretty self-explanatory.




















I had asked the builder to save the door frames if he could (to go with the doors I'd taken off) and he did that, but not quite in the way I'd expected - he left them standing! Anyway that shouldn't take long to sort out so no worries there. Other than that he's done exactly as I asked hhim, and it means that when I arrive with my builder mate in April we can crack straight on. Lovely stuff.

[mangocrazy]

For anyone struggling with the layout, this is a floor plan with dimensions. The floor this post deals with is the 'not square' one (E269), rather than the 'pseudo cheese wedge' one (E271). The property is two old village house knocked together so they're joined at the hip.

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