The First Fly in the Ointment

We've had a verbal price to replace the roof tiles - 35,000 euros!......

What we have worked out is that as the contractor has to guarantee his work for 10 years, he does not want to be responsible for the old woodwork so has costed to replace everything.

First mistake.  This woodwork is 150 year old oak and if its not rotten now, it's going to be like iron.  As you can see, it's not in that bad condition.  Also the roof is not leaking, so I'm afraid, he is out of the picture.

Got Miss Marple on the case (Simons nick name for me when I'm rooting out the facts.) and we found a lady advertising on the net in the Allier, who was selling new tiles, left over from her roofing work.  Unfortunately, she hasn't answered my email, so as there was a picture on the web page, I went back to it and wrote down the number of the supplier (which was on the plastic sheeting on the packing.)  It wasn't easy to see, so I wrote down all the possible combinations.  Next step was to find a French equivalent of BT enquiries, which I did and was able to put in the telephone number and 'hey presto'!  the suppliers name came up.  Put this name into google, luckily, they did have a website, so then clicked on the link.  Amazingly, they aren't that far from where La Maison Etoile is.  They're just south of Montlucon which is about 40 mins north.......so I emailed them and am waiting for their reply, on how much the tiles are and what would it cost for a 220 sq meter roof.

There are always more ways to skin a cat........

Got room for a bag lady?

Well - second stage, seperation has occured. More to the point - we have sold our house (subject to contract) and will be homeless in the not too distant future! It's very scary, cos there's no going back now...... Not that I really want to, but it's the seperation from the 'mother ship'. Amazing how important it is to know that you have a home.

Actually, I'm overlooking that we do, just not one which is livable!

You can see from this picture that from the front, there is much to do. There is also a small 'dependance' hidden behind the Fig Tree on the right hand side.

The architect thought this was a great building and thinks that they will get this one done first, so that we have a place to stay when we go over in future, to cut down on hotel bills. Its funny really, as this has no roof and the walls are falling down!

We're also planning to trade in my car for a 'Melon Seller' dont think my BM would endear us to the locals, where as a melon seller with the house name on the side as advertising might go down better and I have to say, I quite fancy one!