Audemaison

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The property we had just purchased in the South of France had already proven to be more than we expected. There was a massive amount of work to do to the house and we realised that it was going to take us several years to complete. We also knew that unless we acted quickly, there wouldn’t be much of a French property to renovate.

When we returned to the house in November 2002, the electrician had fitted a consumer unit and a few circuits. In doing so, he had cut a deep trench through the (perfect) tiled floor in the entrance hall…. It’s always a good idea to be present when work is being done on your property – especially if you do not know the individual can be trusted to do what you want them to do!

While we were at the house, we began to lay a cement screed over the existing cement floor in the downstairs room. The floor level in this room is two feet below the level of the hallway and is uneven. To start to make this room comfortable, it is necessary to level the floor and raise it at least a foot in height. That means lots of bags of cement to mix!

We also started to work on the plaster in this room. After years of decay and water ingress, the plaster throughout the house is in a fairly poor state. In this room, it is completely unfinished French plaster (lime based and white in colour), which has hundreds of years of accumulated dirt, soot and smoke trapped within. We know we will never be able to get the walls flat (that’s a factor with a rough-built, rural stone house) but we can make the plasterwork sound and relatively even.

Also, check out our Beginners’ Guide on French Electrics attached to this post.

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Filed under: Aude, Property renovation by Audemaison
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September 2002

After several months looking at properties in the South of France, we have finally bought one. Located in a small village in the middle of Les Corbieres, this village house has an authentic rural rambling quality. The house was cheap to purchase. This means that it is not very well appointed internally (or externally for that matter). Indeed, the house has been uninhabited for the last 25 years, so you can imagine the extent of works required to modernise it.

Internally, at the front of the house, there are three double-fronted floors, each floor has two large rooms each. Additionally, at the rear of the property there are two floors of two huge rooms each. These rooms are in a very poor state and the roof is in a very dilapidated state.

Once we completed the formalities at the Notaire, we went to the property and did an initial assessment of what we needed to do. Clearly, this project is here for the long-haul!

We have included some details on how to purchase properties in France and what to consider when purchasing properties.

While at the property on this initial visit, we arranged for an electrician to install a new consumer unit (the starting point for a long saga with power supplies in France!) and found a builder to reroof the front half of the property and render the front elevation.

However, the earliest that the builder could start work was the next April. In France, we learned early to plan ahead where builders are concerned; they are rarely able to do work straight away and usually there is a wait for at least a year. As part of this blog, we will be giving an introduction to the way building work (and most work) is regulated in France.

The electrician managed to do the work fairly quickly, but in doing it, he condemned the existing wiring. We expected it, really. But it means that we have some work to do on a limited power supply.

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Filed under: Aude, Property purchase by Audemaison
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