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Post by Tilly Star on Aug 7, 2013 23:46:34 GMT 2
I love looking at all these, wears me out thinking about taking something like this on though!
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Post by Baz Faz on Aug 8, 2013 9:16:52 GMT 2
The first house I bought in France was a ruin plus a barn. We were living in England so we employed a Canadian woman who did house restoration in the area to get the place habitable. We had seen other projects of hers so we knew she had good taste. What we hadn't realised is she thought all her clients were millionaires. We looked appalled at the itemised bill. Why are the doorhandles so monumentally expensive? Because she had driven to Rybacki to buy them. That was an 80 kilometre round trip to buy just doorhandles. And so it went. We did end up with a beautiful house and a lovely maison d'amis - separate guest house.
One day a man called round who had lived in our place when he was a boy. He was astounded. It had just been a 2 room cottage. What was our dining room had been the kitchen. What was our sitting room had been where everybody - the whole family - slept. My study down below was where the sheep had been penned at night. There had been no bathroom, just a long-drop in the garden.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 9, 2013 16:19:41 GMT 2
Sprite, go do it. It's dead simple, honest. Trust me, I'm a doctor. No frustrations at all.
Slow, above the chimney is a window - that wasn't there before, and above that is also new due to the new roof. It is a concern about where the sparks may end up and until I do have a solution for that then we'll wait. It isn't a priority for a year or two anyway so I've time to do some research. Routing the chimney between the big window above and the smaller toilet window using a metal tube is something we'll more than likely do and have a wood burning stove inside. At the moment we are suffering from a smelly shit tank which is bringing the fumes into the house somewhere. I may have to install a relief pipe before the house so that the fumes escape before they get to us.
Tilly, you can also do it, especially with your connections. It'd be just the thing to keep you occupied (as if you needed any more things to do).
Baz, did you keep photos of the renovation process? No need to post them, just wondering.
The top third of the facade is done, then middle third is half complete and I'll get round to a photo in a week or so. The very bottom metre in height of the facade will be a stone covering (as is the back wall of the house where the back patio is) though which wont be done until the courtyard is, so it'll look a bit unfinished in effect.
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Post by Baz Faz on Aug 9, 2013 16:24:22 GMT 2
Mark, there were some photos taken (1990, 1991) but my ex will have them.
Our current house has a metal tube to take the smoke up the chimney from our wood burner. It may even be the law in France. I clean it twice during the heating season. Mrs Faz takes a photo of me doing it as on a digital camera there will be a date and this is evidence should ever it be needed.
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Post by slowcoach on Aug 9, 2013 19:17:12 GMT 2
OK, I forgot (I had once noticed) that the roof has been raised. The smell is a bit of a puzzle, the water traps should stop gas coming up out of the loos and basins. We don't have a vent, no one in the village does, and precisely what happens to the stuff is a bit of a mystery, I have a nasty suspicion that it goes to a tank downstream that automatically sluices it into the regata when that floods, and then Bye Bye Spain, Hello Portugal. A number of the houses are vacant for months at a time, long enough to evaporate the water out of the loo traps which I would have thought would be a bit unpleasant but we have not asked. When we moved in the house stank for a good many other reasons mostly the sodden walls and we may not have noticed. I am a bit paranoid about starting fires but I suppose keeping warm in winter when it is cold, damp, and miserable outside is not such an issue. I can't remember the no-fire period but it is roughly from the end of the rains until they start again, which is hardly a surprise.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 22, 2013 22:56:10 GMT 2
Update - the facade is finished apart from the bottom metre or so that will have a stone covering, as stated. The 'courtyard' is being cleared and a front wall will be built with a door in it - no more unpadlocking the 'temporary' chain fence, a pain in the backside. The yard will for now be concreted with a view in the future to being tiled/bricked. A photo will be posted in due time but not now, for the following reason, my father died yesterday - I am now having a quick stopover at a hotel in Madrid and will catch a flight tomorrow with my daughters to Amman which will arrive in the early hours of Saturday. Unfortunately they are not quite capable enough to do it themselves with the stopover in Cairo otherwise I'd have flown direct to the UK after putting them on the plane. I will have part of a night there and in the early hours of Sunday morning will fly to the UK for a week to start getting things sorted. Fortunately my brother and his family are already there so he'll have a head start on it all. I'll pop in when I can though at least to have a break from normal life.
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Post by Baz Faz on Aug 22, 2013 23:13:17 GMT 2
Sorry to hear about your dad, Mark. All the best with everything you have to go through.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 24, 2013 16:46:39 GMT 2
Thanks Baz. Quick 18 hour stopover in Amman, moved into temporary apartment, saw four apartments with a view to renting long term, sorted out daughters for the first day back at school on Monday and general other day to day stuff. Will leave in the early hours back to the airport to fly to the UK with Alitalia via Rome and back a week later via Paris with Air France.
The only saving grace is that after checking out numerous flights (via Go Voyages as well baz) I realised the prices were quite high as it is such short term. So I did what I always promised myself I would do when this happened and contacted various airlines to ask them about "bereavement flights". Alitalia/Air France came back to me and offered a return Business class seat for the same price as the economy as that is all they had left. So at least a bit of comfort.
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Post by slowcoach on Aug 24, 2013 21:26:59 GMT 2
Mark,
Sorry to read this. It is sad, take care.
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Post by theklia on Aug 24, 2013 22:19:22 GMT 2
my condolences Mark
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Post by welle on Aug 24, 2013 22:57:22 GMT 2
My condolences as well, Mark.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 25, 2013 1:55:00 GMT 2
Thanks all. It's appreciated. Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, and at last I'm travelling as Hedon does - in Business Class. The food in the business lounge at the new terminal in Amman is pretty good, plenty of choice and a good mixture of hot and cold dishes. I only wish I had an appetite to appreciate it.
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Post by sophie on Aug 25, 2013 3:42:39 GMT 2
Sympathies, Mark.
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Post by Scrubb on Aug 25, 2013 6:14:14 GMT 2
As BAz said, very sorry to hear it, Mark, and I wish you strength to get through what is ahead.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 25, 2013 11:22:34 GMT 2
So, stuck in transit at Rome airport for six hours gives me time to slip in a photo of the facade. One just after lunch and the second just before sunset. The red surround mirrors the colour of a lot of the earth in the locality. We took a sample of the earth to the supplier of the cement to get the colour matched. The red areas are actually in relief and are raised from the white part of the facade by a centimetre or so. Much debate was made with the builder as regards the spacings of the relief parts as, because it is an old house, the window and french type door spacings are not regular. As you can see in the bottom left, the window there is close to the edge of the house and is only 60cm wide due to the irregularity of the building anyway. We could have done our own thing and not followed the seemingly random building and made it all precise, but we didn't want a symmetrical look to it, we wanted to retain a certain amount of its character. The bottom of the facade will have stone cladding when we get round (next year?) to doing something with the courtyard apart from just concreting it to form a base for the tiles/bricks. The security grills on the second floor will be removed when we come to live there properly (god knows when) but for now will remain due to the house being empty for extended periods.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 25, 2013 11:50:03 GMT 2
Never got round to mentioning that a few days ago I walked round the side of the house by the pool and saw a dead rat. That was bad enough but it just so happened that the front half of the rat was being consumed by a metre or so long snake. As the snake spotted me it regurgitated the rat and slipped off into a hole in the untouched side wall of the house. The snake can't get access into the house and probably slipped away into the earth, especially as I blocked the hole up with plaster. The courtyard should look something like this representation. There will be a stone path from the track via an entrance door in a wall, go to the side of the house and across the front, the main bulk of the yard will be herringboned pattern grey and red (as the facade) brick, a 'frame' of black marble and the compass type arrows (hopefully authentic to the true compass points) will be white and black marble. Not shown will be the cut outs for the two trees (you can see one in the facade photos) plus backing on the the wall separating the yard from the track will be a couple of stone benches for relaxing on.
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Post by slowcoach on Aug 25, 2013 13:46:30 GMT 2
We don't seem to have rats but then there are a lot of snakes, so I guess that maybe you can have one or the other.
It may have been a Montpellier Snake. It is only a bit venomous but it is quite sizable growing to more than 2 metres.
Most of the snakes are smaller or a lot smaller but they do get about and it is best not to leave exterior doors open unless you have the charm to lure them back out again.
They rest in the dry stone walls which includes the older houses/ruins that are not rendered.
If you have any tall undergrowth carry a stick but you would know that.
On the whole they are not as dangerous as the wild boar or the rams and cows for that matter.
I remember Fiumicino Airport, it used to be quite sleepy and more than slightly a work in progress. As I recall, it slipped into the environs very smoothly with great ambitions and style blended to achieve a high state of dysfunction.
The departure was on the higher floor but with an absence of gates one descended, walked to the aeroplane, and climbed back up.
All in all it was rather pleasant, low key, and civilised. I expect they have fixed that by now, but perhaps not. It is still Italy after all.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 25, 2013 23:19:03 GMT 2
slow, I've had a look at photos of Spanish snakes and believe the one I saw was also a Montpellier. In a 'deposito' across from us was one time a water snake as well, probably half a metre or so in length. Not impressed with Fiumicino Airport at all. Old, tired, run down, confused and the business class lounge was appalling. Very busy, one coffee machine and no food.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 3, 2013 16:48:38 GMT 2
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 1, 2013 17:15:58 GMT 2
oh, Mark, I feel like such an idiot! I didn't see your post about your dad's passing until a few minutes ago. I was wondering how he was doing in his nursing home. Please accept my belated condoleances.
On a lighter note, you forgot the towers at each angle of the "courtyard" - as well as the guard's hanging walkway on top of the wall ;D
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Post by OnlyMark on Nov 1, 2013 17:45:53 GMT 2
Thanks Annie. That's why I've been hopping back and forth to the UK and why I now have his old house to renovate in readiness to sell it, as well as this one. I'll only have a couple of weeks in Jordan and then go back again to the UK on the 16th(?) for ten days to hopefully break that back of what needs to be done there. Then I'll fly from there to Spain to 'winterise' this one, then back to Jordan.
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Post by OnlyMark on Nov 1, 2013 17:59:48 GMT 2
Quixote - if you slip back up the page to reply 165 you'll see a bit of a drawing of more or less what we'll do to the courtyard. The house (casa) is at the top and the 'dirty yard' and outhouses to the left. The two cut outs for the trees will remain and there will be two stone/concrete/brick benches on the inside of the front wall and to face the house. It'll be a stone path to the left and in front of the doorways to the ground floor rooms, there'll be a brick pattern grey and red centre with a black marble border and a white and black marble compass in the very centre. Hopefully the colours will be a lot better than the drawing above.
Eventually as well there will be a canopy of some sort shading the ground floor rooms over the stone path and over a table and chairs for each room. This will be where guests can sit outside and the intention is they can relax there to eat their breakfasts or have a quiet moment to escape from any bedlam inside the house. The two ground floor rooms each have their own en-suite and we'll set up coffee/tea making stuff in them as well. In essence they are rooms that guests can use and spend quite time in if they want or they have the option to be in the main part of the house if they wish. We have no problem for guests to not have to feel that they must spend time in our company.
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Post by OnlyMark on Nov 1, 2013 18:07:16 GMT 2
Oh yeah, forgot - we debated long and hard to come to a compromise as to what to do with the space of the courtyard. Every builder, relation, friend came up with something and all very attractive but we still had to make a decision one way or another about what we wanted it to do. If Mrs M had her way the whole place would be filled with pot plants or a garden of some sort. If I had my way I'd have a few scrap cars on it to do up in my spare time. Obviously a compromise was needed.
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Post by Baz Faz on Nov 1, 2013 18:50:17 GMT 2
A garden is better. Pot plants need watering when you're not there.
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Post by OnlyMark on Nov 1, 2013 19:41:58 GMT 2
Agree Baz. We'll have a few but I think what we will do with them is ask the man who owns land around us and who we bought the house off to water them. He comes virtually every day to monitor is olive trees and do stuff anyway. We will have a garden though at some time,. It will be the strip of land at the back of the house than runs away from us and to the fields, where the old cave/water channel was underneath. Apparently the main agricultural project, so I'm informed, is to re-forest the hill. There are some quite old almond tree that need removing and research is being made by she who wields the power in to the best trees for our environment. She then has an idea to run a project for the local schools (to get free labour) to re-plant a load of whatever tree is suitable up there.
When we do fit out a garden I shall seek your advice - they may entail a visit by both of you to pick your brains. Obviously it is a none binding agreement and visitors are welcome at any time for any reason.
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Post by OnlyMark on Mar 25, 2014 22:36:34 GMT 2
Update - the building season is nearly upon us. I'll have a month from April to May to get them started and then I'll be there from June until October. The money is a bit tight though as Mrs M has now got to pay tax on her earnings and between us we don't have a lot of excess. The first plan though is to cover the facade of the house facing the pool area, build a garage/workshop the other side of the pool for me and make a bit of progress on building the arches around the pool. More or less all the external stuff has to be finished before we'll tile and finish off the pool. Unfortunately this means probably we wont have one again this summer. I'm hoping that come summer 2015, when Mrs M starts her year sabbatical, well be able to do it then. There is such a lot of stuff to do before that though including fitting out the outhouses that will have the pool pump and associated overflow tank in, plus a toilet in the small outhouse that runs between the pump one and the battery one.
My biggest bugbear at the moment is the solar water heating that never seems to function correctly for any length of time. The main problem is the squirrels chewing through the electric cables on the panels. I need to sort that out as soon as I get there this time.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 25, 2014 22:54:44 GMT 2
does "she who wields the power" know of www.pfaf.org ? she might find some interesting info there maybe?
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Post by OnlyMark on Mar 25, 2014 23:19:13 GMT 2
No she doesn't Annie. She's away in Beirut at the moment but I shall make sure to show her when she gets back. Looks interesting.
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Post by sophie on Mar 25, 2014 23:19:44 GMT 2
Squirrels=rats with cosmetic surgery .. Or..rats with a very good pr firm..
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Post by slowcoach on Mar 26, 2014 3:31:01 GMT 2
Here are the Fern Family (PFAF). It should start at their segment beginning at 15:55.
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