Beware the peril that IS "woodburning stove". Arrggghhhh!
Ever wanted to meet your new neighbours (only introduced to the previous day) at 3.00am on a Sunday night in your jimmy jammies?
Ever wanted to be able to chat up the local fire brigade?
Ever wanted to live in a house with no central heating in mid March when the outside temperature is -5 and the wind is blowing THROUGH the walls?
No, nor did I until I moved to France to a partially renovated house - new roof, new electrics, new plumbing, nice new wood burning stove inserted into lovely old feature fireplace. All the hardest bits done - only central heating, a couple of loos and a shower surround to fit, and maybe walls upstairs and a staircase might be useful.
Camping in "kitchen", been here only 5 days, roaring fire, smoke filling room. What on earth? Open window to get rid of smoke (big mistake!). What's that red glow over top of mantle piece? Cripes! Lovely feature chimney breast is on FIRE! No phone installed (yet) - what to do? Get the neighbour (about 65 years old) out of bed pdq!
Moving on. I've never seen ANYONE get dressed so quickly! M and Mme hurry to our house in slippers, confirm the chimney is on fire and call the fire brigade using Mr MDW's UK mobile. The said pompiers don't know where our house is so neighbour offers to meet them at the local church in his car! Pompiers arrive 10 minutes later from 15 km away, just as whole thing BURSTS into flames!!!
An hour later, our lovely feature chimney breast and woodburning stove demolished (having collapsed onto the new microwave and fridge). Pompiers and neighbour busy cleaning kitchen floor with mops and carting out rubble! Pompier reminds me that I am, thankfully, insured and must remember to claim for a new microwave and fridge!
Conclusion? Elderly, rural French can move like demons when they need to, they are GENEROUS to a fault, the pompiers deserved a far greater donation than the E10 I had on my purse at the time, NEVER trust a wood burning stove where you can't actually see where the flue goes or have not installed yourself!!!
Result? Newly plastered walls and ceiling, new chimney lining, new woodburning enamel cooker/heater in place of previous "feature" chimney breast (of a well know British brand purchased here in France), new fridge freezer and new microwave! Thanks to the previous owner not insulating the gap between the metal flue and the feature chimney breast properly!
Cosy fires...not! Beat this one!
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
What a nightmare!
Just goes to show that you can't rely on anyone really. Check everything for yourself.
When it comes to woodburning stoves it is best to have an insulated liner from top to bottom.
With any chimney in France, don't forget that your insurance policy probably imposes on you the obligation of having the chimney swept every year. Otherwise the insurance company might try to avoid any fire damage claims.
Alan
Just goes to show that you can't rely on anyone really. Check everything for yourself.
When it comes to woodburning stoves it is best to have an insulated liner from top to bottom.
With any chimney in France, don't forget that your insurance policy probably imposes on you the obligation of having the chimney swept every year. Otherwise the insurance company might try to avoid any fire damage claims.
Alan
Oh dear very traumatic and a bit drastic to get to know your neighbours better. As always stories like this mean I go and check my own stoves so thank you for the posting and Alan too because I did not know about the annual chimney sweep. I have had experience with the pompiers (remioving hornets nests) and they have always been very courteous and obligingHope you are warm and cosy soon
Helene
thanks for sharing that!!
It just goes to show after the fire safety thread that you can't be too careful. It's the kind of thing you expect to happen to someone else but never you....
I was curious about the donation to the pompiers - are they voluntary?
We kinda fancied a wood burning stove but reckoned we'll keep that one for ourselves when we don't have to rent the cottage out, too much hassle arranging wood, worrying about damage etc but they do look so nice and I guess are a great selling point.
It just goes to show after the fire safety thread that you can't be too careful. It's the kind of thing you expect to happen to someone else but never you....
I was curious about the donation to the pompiers - are they voluntary?
We kinda fancied a wood burning stove but reckoned we'll keep that one for ourselves when we don't have to rent the cottage out, too much hassle arranging wood, worrying about damage etc but they do look so nice and I guess are a great selling point.
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MadDogWoman
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:39 pm
Yes but they come round every year "selling" calendars in return for a donation. I've been told that really the minimum they expect is E10 so I feel a bit stingy really considering all that they did for me but it was all I had at the time.soodyer wrote: I was curious about the donation to the pompiers - are they voluntary?
BTW I now have a fully insulated chimney lining AND oil fired central heating!
Thankfully the chimney had been swept but that was not the problem it was the proximity of red hot uninsulated flue lining to the ancient beams supporting the interior of the chimney breast These beams had always been there but would have been a lot further away from the heat source when it was an open fire.
Ah-hah -- so this is the story you were referencing in your other post! Oh my goodness -- what an ordeal! Thank goodness you're all right.
We have a wood-burning stove in our kitchen in Semur... I will have to add yearly chimney sweeping to our to-do list. Does anyone know approximately how much that would cost? And, I know I am terribly lazy for not going to my online dictionary, but what is the title I should look under the phone book for?
These are the kind of terms I was never taught in french class! Chimney sweep, spackle, drill bit, grout, house centipede...
We have a wood-burning stove in our kitchen in Semur... I will have to add yearly chimney sweeping to our to-do list. Does anyone know approximately how much that would cost? And, I know I am terribly lazy for not going to my online dictionary, but what is the title I should look under the phone book for?
These are the kind of terms I was never taught in french class! Chimney sweep, spackle, drill bit, grout, house centipede...
Brooke
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musicmonkey
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Hm, spackle is almost certainly an American term... it's the putty stuff that you use to fill small holes in your wall, such as from hanging a painting or a coat hook that you later want to take down.
And of course, when you're in France you can't ask someone, "comment dit-on 'spackle'?" ...that just doesn't fly, so you have to describe it, only I don't know how to say "putty" either, so then I end up describing it as, "You need it when you put a painting on your wall and then remove it and need to repair the wall afterward." Very convoluted, but it gets the job done.
And of course, when you're in France you can't ask someone, "comment dit-on 'spackle'?" ...that just doesn't fly, so you have to describe it, only I don't know how to say "putty" either, so then I end up describing it as, "You need it when you put a painting on your wall and then remove it and need to repair the wall afterward." Very convoluted, but it gets the job done.
Brooke
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MadDogWoman
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:39 pm
Lordy Lordy! I guess me being here on my own for 3 months with only French workmen for companyvrooje wrote:Hm, spackle is almost certainly an American term... it's the putty stuff that you use to fill small holes in your wall, such as from hanging a painting or a coat hook that you later want to take down.
made me have to learn some of these lovely DIY/building terms! Check out "ramoneur" or "ramonage" for chimney sweeping! If all else fails ask your neighbour! Putty? I use that for glazing my windows and plaster on the walls for filling holes (from a huge sack the plasterer kindly left behind for me)! 
Okay, hopefully I can remember that the next time I go to the hardware store! 
I ended up last time with a substance that seemed very much like plaster, and it did a great job. I don't remember what it was called, though!
I wish there were a dictionary of just these types of terms... things one would never learn in school, that are unlikely to appear in a normal french-english dictionary, but that one would need to know when living in France!
I guess that's a pretty specific niche of the population, though.
I ended up last time with a substance that seemed very much like plaster, and it did a great job. I don't remember what it was called, though!I wish there were a dictionary of just these types of terms... things one would never learn in school, that are unlikely to appear in a normal french-english dictionary, but that one would need to know when living in France!
I guess that's a pretty specific niche of the population, though.
Brooke
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Brooke,
You could always try the Oxford-Duden Pictorial French and English Dictionary - ISBN 0-19-864538-4.
It is compiled on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words. For instance a picture would contain all the implements a joiner uses and the picture is referenced by numbers to the French and English name for each item, on the same page.
Alan
You could always try the Oxford-Duden Pictorial French and English Dictionary - ISBN 0-19-864538-4.
It is compiled on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words. For instance a picture would contain all the implements a joiner uses and the picture is referenced by numbers to the French and English name for each item, on the same page.
Alan