As planned we returned to Arne towards the end of January for a two week visit. After the pictures we had received from Jean Claude we were expecting great things and we were in no way disappointed. The pictures at the top of this post clearly demonstrate the great change that has been wrought to the roof. And what’s more given the good weather that has persisted in Arné over the past week it’s more than likely that the uncovered portion has now also been completed.
This leaves about a quarter of the roof still to be stripped out and replaced, but this is much the most difficult part of the job to be done. There are real problems with how to span such a large area, how to deal with the different levels between the house roof and that of the barn with which it interlocks and all of this affects, and is affected by, the issue of getting the heights for the ground and first floor right so that they ‘work’. Jean Claude is absolutely confident that he can sort all of this out and we have decided that we shall ‘go with the flow’ of the solutions that he works out – we’ll make the internal arrangements fit in with however the structure that emerges allows.
We also now have electricity on site. This was organised just as we were leaving last time and it was good to be able to disconnect from our very helpful neighbours and use our own supply. But it might not have been! For some reason EDF had a contact address for me in the next village and so letters that were sent to me demanding that I pay for the connexion costs did not reach me. It was only when we arrived back in Arné that I found out that EDF were proposing to cut off the supply over non-payment of their bill. The local EDF office only opens on Wednesdays between 9:00 and 11:45, so we went along at 11:00 to try to sort out the problems. To no avail though. We had been warned that EDF take an entirely capricious approach to business and are regularly uncontactable and this was the case. The gates were firmly locked and there was no one to be seen so we failed in this attempt. By this stage the letters from EDF were threatening a specific date on which to cut the supply. So I wrote a letter enclosing a cheque to cover the bill together with proper details of my address and sent it off hoping that this would stop the whole process. On the day appointed for disconnexion no one from EDF appeared and they haven’t done so since. But neither have I had any form of acknowledgement of my letter from EDF, I just have to hope that all is now well and that in due course we’ll be properly billed for future costs.
Progress has also occurred on the septic tank front. I have had a devis – a quote – from another local builder which is acceptable. Under instruction from him I went to the Mairie and completed the paperwork necessary to obtain permission to dig up the road that runs between our house and our field. This will allow for the outflow from the septic tank to go into a filter bed. The idea is that at the same time as the road is dug up for this purpose we’ll also get the electricity supply put under the road as well as a connexion to the nearest telecoms post. If we are fortunate all of this might just happen prior to our return on a more permanent basis in mid-April.
Finally we spent our time working around Jean Claude – we cleared away the rubbish he generated whilst taking the roof to pieces as well as clearing out areas of the house that need to be prepared for the re-arrangements of the internal space we plan. An awful lot of rotten wood came out of the house and we had a bonfire going permanently for almost all of the fortnight we were there. The result is that great changes have happened on the inside such that it will be possible to pour the concrete pretty soon to form ground the floor in about half of the house.
So, we are feeling much more confident that we shall indeed be able to go out to France in early April and stay there on a permanent basis. This is based on the expectation that we can create enough habitable space in the house prior to winter. Watch this space to see if this is entirely misplaced confidence!
This leaves about a quarter of the roof still to be stripped out and replaced, but this is much the most difficult part of the job to be done. There are real problems with how to span such a large area, how to deal with the different levels between the house roof and that of the barn with which it interlocks and all of this affects, and is affected by, the issue of getting the heights for the ground and first floor right so that they ‘work’. Jean Claude is absolutely confident that he can sort all of this out and we have decided that we shall ‘go with the flow’ of the solutions that he works out – we’ll make the internal arrangements fit in with however the structure that emerges allows.
We also now have electricity on site. This was organised just as we were leaving last time and it was good to be able to disconnect from our very helpful neighbours and use our own supply. But it might not have been! For some reason EDF had a contact address for me in the next village and so letters that were sent to me demanding that I pay for the connexion costs did not reach me. It was only when we arrived back in Arné that I found out that EDF were proposing to cut off the supply over non-payment of their bill. The local EDF office only opens on Wednesdays between 9:00 and 11:45, so we went along at 11:00 to try to sort out the problems. To no avail though. We had been warned that EDF take an entirely capricious approach to business and are regularly uncontactable and this was the case. The gates were firmly locked and there was no one to be seen so we failed in this attempt. By this stage the letters from EDF were threatening a specific date on which to cut the supply. So I wrote a letter enclosing a cheque to cover the bill together with proper details of my address and sent it off hoping that this would stop the whole process. On the day appointed for disconnexion no one from EDF appeared and they haven’t done so since. But neither have I had any form of acknowledgement of my letter from EDF, I just have to hope that all is now well and that in due course we’ll be properly billed for future costs.
Progress has also occurred on the septic tank front. I have had a devis – a quote – from another local builder which is acceptable. Under instruction from him I went to the Mairie and completed the paperwork necessary to obtain permission to dig up the road that runs between our house and our field. This will allow for the outflow from the septic tank to go into a filter bed. The idea is that at the same time as the road is dug up for this purpose we’ll also get the electricity supply put under the road as well as a connexion to the nearest telecoms post. If we are fortunate all of this might just happen prior to our return on a more permanent basis in mid-April.
Finally we spent our time working around Jean Claude – we cleared away the rubbish he generated whilst taking the roof to pieces as well as clearing out areas of the house that need to be prepared for the re-arrangements of the internal space we plan. An awful lot of rotten wood came out of the house and we had a bonfire going permanently for almost all of the fortnight we were there. The result is that great changes have happened on the inside such that it will be possible to pour the concrete pretty soon to form ground the floor in about half of the house.
So, we are feeling much more confident that we shall indeed be able to go out to France in early April and stay there on a permanent basis. This is based on the expectation that we can create enough habitable space in the house prior to winter. Watch this space to see if this is entirely misplaced confidence!
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