The Inside Story About Renovating A French Property

With the outside walls rendered and supported, we eagerly awaited the carpenter and roofing company which came in March. With little to do without the protection of a new roof and in need of a slower period we sand blasted those internal walls which were going to be exposed rather than plasterboarded, continued to make some minor internal repairs and put in the drainage system for the house.

The photos of the new roof and wonderful carpentry pretty much speak for themselves. Work began in March and was completed within 8 weeks. This included putting in new wooden paneled ceilings and floorboards. We then put down 16m3 of concrete over 120m2 of floor (not a job to be taken lightly) and afterwards the wooden double glazed windows were fitted. Anyone who has put down a concrete floor will understand - say no more - the guy in the picture is not smiling but wincing. Nonetheless, the exterior was effectively finished and it only remained to paint the windows, put in a fosse septic and, drainage, landscape the land and run in the main telephone and electricity lines from the road to the house.

See how the renovation of our French property progressed over the summer and into autumn. A lot of work was undertaken, including putting up dryline walls, plumbing, electricity, rendering of inside walls to show their stones and relaying those wonderful girondine tiles.

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