the Bastide gate leading into my town.
Fixing a house is no easy task, and you'd think the older the home, the more difficult. But, there are advantages to a really old house.
1. if it's still sturdy after 300 years and you've had it checked out, with a little common maintenance, you've got another 300 easy. You won't be there for that, but neither will any of the prefab Acme brick homes you grew up in in the US.
2. Apart from plumbing and electrics, there's nothing you can't do to repair it. You may think you're unskilled but everything built in your house was put in there by unskilled labor. The 17th century stonemason knew a few more things than you about mortar and rock, but his tools were simple, and luckily, he's left you instructions: when you repair his work, just use the layout of the rocks as a example. And the plasterer is only better than you because he's done it before. There's nothing tricky about plaster.
3. Your friends can rampage through the destruction phase with minimal guidance and not risk bringing the house down around you. Leave beams, stairs, wires, pipes and load-bearing walls alone. Everything else is fair game. Everything critical/important in an old house is build to last and your pal the lawyer does no have the strengh, experise or cunning to take it out. Friends are great, too, because they will work like dogs for 4 or 5 hours a day and be happy to do it. They're invested in your investment. They know that as long as you have it, they can come to France. It's win-win. They're cheaper than paying for itinerant labor, they speak your native tongue, and the locals will not be mad you didn't hire them to do the work when you do it with friends. Trust me, fixing up a place with cheap labor that aren't friends is the quickest way to alienate your new french neighbors.
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