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
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