Now, because I can...

...Some village porn.

Every time I think it's too hard, or time-consuming, or forget why I'm doing it, I just look at a picture of my village and think of all the people ready to lend a hand and share a beer (both here in the States and in the village) and I'm ready to start again.

-L'H

The Value of an Inspection

Buying a house on your own is always a gamble. Buying a house that could be anywhere up to 600 years old without expert help is no better than a crap shoot. In fact it's probably closest to Russian Roulette. Any number of problems found in a modern house are merely amplified in an old home. And certain problems exist in an old home that don't exist in a modern one: Asbestos, dry rot, and lead pipes to name a few. Certainly any potential homebuyer who has studied a little bit can find things like dry rot, but it really takes an expert to spot serious problems.
So, to help us out, before we bought the house, we actually paid an English surveyor and engineer to both survey the house for damage and come up with a comprehensive plan to refurbish it. This cost us around 1,800 dollars. Below is an example of what the blueprints he gave us looked like:

Now at first glance, this might not seem like a good return for the investment, but for piece of mind, it was well worth it. He surveyed the walls, foundation, roof and wood joists. All came through solid, with only minor maintenance needed. He found real issues (asbestos in the fireplace for one, though it was neutralized, meaning it cannot get airborne), managed our expectations about how we could restore the building (Plumbing has to go on this wall, that staircase cannot be moved, this is a load-bearing wall), and continues to be a resource of knowledge (This can be removed, that cannot, don't fix that until spring, etc.).

We did this before we bought, and becasue he would get paid either way and had no loyalty to the Realtor or selling party, we got unbiased truth. We decided beforehand what level of problems we would tolerate and still buy, so when it came back well above that level, we went into the negociations to buy even more pleased with our results. That's all well and good, but perhaps the value would've been better seen if he had discovered a fatal flaw like a shifting foundation, bad termite infestation or sever wall degradation. Luckily for us that didn't exist here, but had it, we would've saved ourselves lots of money and years or heartache.

On a different note, if I am forced to sell or abandon the project because of rising costs vs. the Euro or other reasons, the survey plus detailed floorplans/details greatly increases the interest and value of the place. It gives the seller leverage.

First Look - First Floor

Unlike most old French houses, this one does not have a basement, or 'Cave'. What it does have is a large open-plan first floor. Some point in the last 60 years, the previous owners removed the front wall, added a steel I-beam for support and converted it to a garage. You can see this in the sliding doors to the right.

The doors need a good sanding and possibly some runners at the bottom, but they are thick and in good condition overall.

The rest of the first floor (separate of the front door and staircase that leads straight to the second floor) is built at a slight angle to allow drainage. There is already a toilet in here and a sewer line, so this will make converting this in to a single-occupancy guest house a lot more easy. And with a wide open space like this, I have many, many ideas.

You can see in the corner one of the flaws with the house. I am getting a bit of seepage from the back area where literally 100s of years of leaves, dust and debris have raised the soil 4 feet above the foundation line!

The engineer we hired to survey it (always a good idea) told me that with proper waterseal this will not be a problem. I intend to sandblast the stone and brick in here to remove any and all lead paint, and afterwards I will re-tick the mortar, then seal the whole thing with a stone and masonry sealing paint. Below is the niche created by the need to reinforce the immense cantou above. Ince the years of paint and flake have been blasted off of the surface, I intend to do something creative and fun with this area. I don't know what yet, but it will be cool.

The nook:

-L'H

Attic First Look

So, behind the giant cantou, the attic is what really attracted me to this place. It has old, hand wrought rafters, a high, vaulted ceiling and stone walls on either side. It also has a horsehair mattress, boxes upon boxes of slate, junk, trash and rocks. Also, the floor is terrible and will have to go, but even in this terrible state you can see the potential.

First, take a look at these rafters!


As you can see they are rough-hewn, and held together with peg and joist. I thoroughly key-tested the pegs and rafters and the wood is dry, strong and not spongy. A key test is imperative in an old house. Simply pull out your keys and push them against the wood. If they sink in anywhere with ease, you have woodworms, dry rot or worse yet: termites. Don't buy the place.









The only problem with the attic that cannot be easily remedied is the lack of natural light. In this picture you see both the lack of natrual light and the types of junk everywhere. Broken glass in boxes, broken picture frames, matresses, bedframes, old shingles, old timber, and for some reason, lots and lots of stones. I'll keep those for masonry repointing.