Running a Gite in Brittany

Septic tanks emptied

There was an article in the local paper a week or so ago about septic tank inspections taking place in Les Champs Geraux. We knew some friends of ours in neighbouring Evran had been inspected to ensure their tanks were functioning properly and not polluting, so Caroline arranged for a firm to come and pump out our septic tanks and get them cleaned and checked beforehand.

Well this afternoon a large tanker covered in tubes arrived to remove our 'effulent'.

We have got four fosse septique around the back of the house. The new one installed last year and three existing tanks for our house and the existing gites.

It was a fairly simple process with the tanker driver dipping his suction tube into each fosse and then pressure washing the tanks and various pipes and inspection chambers for each tank. In total he sucked out about 9000 litres of 'waste'.

Once finished we had to refill to about halfway the two concrete tanks and fully fill the plastic tank with a garden hose. I believe that the plastic ones can 'float' out of the ground if they are not refilled and because they are not as strong could deform if left empty.

Oh the joys of living in the countryside.

|   5:16:15 PM   Septic tanks emptied   

Cloakroom and toilet painted

The downstairs cloakroom and toilet have been painted with the sink fitted and the splashback tiled. I've also fitted the ceiling lights and insulated above the two rooms as well as fitting the ducting for the VMC (ventalation/extractor system). All the necessary lighting cables have been fitted for the kitchen halogen lights and the suspended ceiling above the kitchen also insulated with it's own VMC fitted.

Quite a few 'behind the scenes' jobs complete and everything is really coming together downstairs now.

|   3:50:34 PM   Cloakroom and toilet painted   

Boiler installed

My plumber friend Ian fitted the electric hot water boiler (chauffe-eau electrique) this week and sorted out all the pipework to connect up the upstairs bathrooms and the downstairs toilet and cloakroom, so we now have the hot and cold water sorted. I've been filling the plasterboard in the toilet and cloakroom and Ian has tiled and fitted the downstairs toilet.

We did omit one minor detail - a pressure reducer - on the cold feed from the mains supply. The mains feed here in France is at a high pressure, I would esimate it at about 6 bar, and because both the hot and cold systems run off mains pressure we found that we could fill the sink faster than the waste would take the water away, even with the plug out. So a quick trip to the shops and we now have a pressure reducer set at 3 bar, which still gives a very decent shower.

We remembered in the other gite, but it must have slipped our minds in this gite!

|   3:29:44 PM   Boiler installed   

Gite flooring started

Now that all the painting upstairs in the gite has been finished Caroline has been laying the laminate flooring upstairs. With her experience from redecorating Cerise gite she is now the flooring queen. Again, she used the same 'click' flooring with an integrated acoustic underlay already glued to the underside of the board. She also put an additional green underlay underneath for extra sound proofing.

Won't be long before the skirting boards and architraves need fitting and painting.

|   3:15:22 PM   Gite flooring started   

Plasterboarding downstairs toilet

One job I have been putting off was the last bit of plasterboarding work under the staircase for the downstairs toilet and cloakroom. Odd shapes and angles, differing ceiling heights and various fitting around the curved and twisting staircase. It also needed a bit of planning to allow for provision of the electric water heater under the stairs.

With a fair amount of head scratching and a bit of trial and error we finally finished it off this week. We managed to squeeze the 150 litre hot water tank under the stairs and put in a door to close it off from the toilet. I did have to buy a standard sized door and frame and cut it down to size to make it fit, but it worked out well end the end. It does mean that the plumbing can be finished off and the last bit of sanitaryware installed next week.

|   3:06:51 PM   Plasterboarding downstairs toilet   

Cerise gite redecorated

Cerise was one of the first gites we renovated about three years ago. Upstairs we laid carpet and after three full seasons it was starting to look a little tatty; split sugary drinks, general wear and tear etc. so Caroline decided to replace the carpet with laminate flooring in the corridor and one of the bedrooms. The bedroom also needed redecorating to spruce it up a bit.

Caroline stripped the existing wallpaper and used toile de verre to re-paper the ceiling and walls. Toile de verre is a thin woven glass fibre 'wallpaper' that is fireproof, very tough and helps cover surface imperfections. The rolls were 1m wide and applied by rollering the adhesive onto the wall/ceiling then sticking the 'paper' to the surface. Once dried she painted over the covering and the results are superb. A big improvement over the old wallpaper.

Caroline has also laided light oak laminate flooring in the redecorated bedroom and corridor to replace the carpet. It's really freshened the place and and looks brand new again. I think her plan is to redecorate the other two bedrooms before the start of the season, time permitting.

Redecoration is going to be a constant ongoing winter project. With five gites to maintain I think we are going to have to redecorate each gite every winter then after 5 years start back at the begining again. A bit like painting the Forth bridge.

|   2:58:13 PM   Cerise gite redecorated   

Painting upstairs finished

My enthusiasm and drive is returning. The three rooms and the corridor upstairs in the gite have been painted. Classic white ceilings and cream/magnolia walls.

Compared to UK prices French paint is very expensive, about two or three times the price. No idea why, maybe someone else knows. Anyway the upshot is that we had about 150 litres of emulsion paint shipped over from England by Caroline's parents to paint both gites. Before painting the plasterboard, and after filling all the joints and screw holes, I bought some sous-couche plaque de platre from my favourite DIY store. It was only 8 euros (5 pounds) for 10 litres. It worked really well as a white undercoat on the board removing much of the grey board colour and helped prevent the paint being soaked up like a sponge. The smell and consistency of the sous-couche reminded me of PVA adhesive. People have advised me that bare walls should be 'washed' with diluted PVA before painting, so maybe this stuff does the job.

This feels like a major step forward and the place is alot less like a building site and more and more like a holiday cottage.

|   2:20:18 PM   Painting upstairs finished