More fosse fuss

During our holiday in July it became evident that the submersible pump to the fosse wasn't working and constantly tripped out the house electrics We've had a catalogue of issues with shorting out of the electrics within the fosse manhole and has been subject to early blogs. All came to a head when eventually we couldn't re-set the main fuse because it had tripped out so many times that it took out the whole of the ground floor electrics. I decided to take a look in the manhole to see if I could dry out the electrics.

This is where it went went wrong and my day was going to get worse. The concrete manhole lid was cracked and unfortunately I let one piece of it drop into the manhole taking out the riser pipework on the way down. I now was left a problem of how to repair the damage. The first problem was how to lift out the pump as this depended lifting it out by its riser pipe. Unconventional as it may be this also depended on the strength of the connection between the bottom of the riser pipe and the pump casing. So I decided to lift it out by its electric cable whilst guiding its ascent by the riser pipe. Once out I worked out a repair and returned from Bricomarche with the bits and made good the break putting in a removable link so the pump could be separated from the riser pipe for ease of future maintenace. I then found that the connection between the riser pipe and pump had not been made correctly and been taped up to stop the parts separating. This soon came apart when I examined it and try as I may I could get the bits to screw together properly.

Fortunately, I was able to get hold of the Contractor that fitted the fosse and he attended that evening and installed the correct fitting and approved the repair I had carried out. He also installed a water proof electrical connection and even used the piece of rope I tied to the lifting handle on the pump to lower the pump back into position. Privately I think he was impressed with the modifications I had made to the installation !! At least now I can disconnect the pump form the riser pipe and lift the pump out with a rope instead of the cable and above all my insistence on using a waterproof electrical connection has resolved the problem with the electric tripping out.

So all is well and I bless my good fortune in breaking the pipe in the first place as otherwise I would still be writing about this in months to come.

Our first stay in the house

Its been far too long since I last wrote a blog about our renovation project in France and I have been thinking that I should put this right. The last blog talked about our viewing of the house in March and reported what had been done up to then. Since, the builders were asked to make the house habitable for us in readiness for our two week vacation in the middle of July. Basically we wanted all of the first floor fully plastered out and the bathroom complete, all the second fixes carrying out upstairs and a temporary kitchen installed. On top of that we asked for all of  the new doors and windows to be fitted. Also at the last moment we instructed a company to sand blast the oak beams and the stone quoins.

 
All of the work was completed only hours before our arrival. There air was full of dust with the builders just having finished cleaning out from the sand blasting. The temporary kitchen had been fitted complete with a sink with hot and cold running water, microwave, mini fridge and oven.
We arrived with a trailer and a car boot  laden with a double bed, tables, chairs and all manner of small kitchen appliances,crockery, kitchen utensils, bedding, towels,  tools, paints etc. It was really like setting up a new home. Having arrived at the house after 9pm we slept on the mattress not having time to set up the bed frame.

Although it was great to stay in the house it soon became apparent that this wasn't going to be holiday. Every thing you touched was covered in grit and building dust and only after few hours we both had dry and sore throats.There was no chance of keeping your clothes clean and after a few days our hands also became dry. The floorboards to the bedroom were covered in plaster dust as was everywhere else. Having said that the bathroom was complete and looked great, and the new doors and windows transformed the whole property.

Having had a meal - a salad that we had brought over with us and a glass of wine we threw down a few dust sheets and pieces of cardboard over the bedroom floor and retired to spend our first night sleep in the house.
We spent the next two weeks painting up the shutters, decorating the bathroom and the two smallest bedrooms and landing and carrying out a few odd jobs. As the two weeks wore on the comfort level increased and we found that after a few days the dust had settled and after a coat of paint on the walls things seemed far better, The temporary kitchen worked really well and we had an endless supply of hot water. The weather hadn't been great but it didn't matter as we were working in the house most of the two weeks.

Not much of a vacation but we left the house having achieved everything we set out to do and above all we actually stayed  in it albeit rather less comfortably than we would have liked. However, having talked to other Brits that have moved out to France they recall exactly the same experiences of living in partially completed properties.