France Property Renovation

First let me be clear – I am not a tax expert and any complicated financial transactions will need the advice of a qualified accountant. In this section I have outlined some of the main areas that you might like to consider about tax and VAT in France.

VAT

VAT is known as TVA in France, and has a standard rate of 19.6%

Currently, although it is under constant review, most renovation work, building work and material purchases (as part of a renovation through a registered builder) are subject to VAT at only 5.5% This makes a significant difference to the total cost of work.

The reduced TVA rate came about for a couple of reasons – both to defend jobs in the building profession in France, and to reduce the number of people working on the black economy. There is now a lot of resistance in France among the building profession to the suggestion that this special low VAT rate be cancelled. Read more

Although I have been renovating old buildings more or less continuously for the last four years, and have created this website about the best ways to renovate old buildings, I am also a modern architecture enthusiast.

In magazines and brochures you will have seen buildings that are old and traditional on the outside, yet have soaring spaces, steel staircases and halogen lighting on the inside. It is the contrast with the outside that sets your expectations and adds to the surprise when you enter such a property.

Yet the biggest challenge is how to incorporate the two. We have not gone resolutely modern in our barn conversion, but we have incorporated some modern touches.

For example:

- a wood and steel balcony mimics the ‘parallel lines’ theme of the ancient roof beams, while being very modern in appearance. You could do the same thing in stainless steel, which would look even better
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Materials

There are a few possibilities available when you are buying tools and materials for your renovation project. Most French towns have some kind of builders merchant where you can buy all the materials that you need. This is a good place to start – local delivery charges will be less or not apply at all, and if you go in and introduce yourself before you start your project, and explain that you intend to spend lots of money, you will possibly be able to negotiate a discount.

The staff in the shop will get to know you, which will make it easier to get free advice. But I have found that prices are not always very clearly marked.

(See our DIY shops in France section for a brief introduction to the DIY shopping experience in France.)

Keep an eye on the free brochures and magazines that come tumbling through your door.Most of the larger stores eg E Leclerc, Auchan, Gamm Vert etc which have large ‘building’ sections have occasional promotions.
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‘Kitchen renovation’ is a misleading term because usually a property renovation will involve installing a new kitchen, rather than simply trying to improve an existing one.

The primary concern with kitchens is their placement within the property. You need to decide this early on in the design process, so that your plumbing and electrics can be included as necessary.

You don’t need to follow the existing property layout unless it is the best one for you. When there is an existing kitchen in a house it is natural to begin by planning a new kitchen in the same room. But first you need to take a step back. If you were designing the layout of the property from new, is that really the room where you would want the kitchen to be?

You might like to check out these two useful guides (especially the first, since IKEA kitchens are perfect in renovation!)
Good Advice on how to fit an IKEA kitchen: Click Here

General Advice on best practice in kitchen design: Click Here

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When I describe how to construct internal walls, I take internal walls to be the same as non-load-bearing walls. Note that none of the methods for constructing a wall that are described below are suitable for supporting walls.

Metal framework for internal walls

The most common method of constructing internal walls in France is using plasterboard that is fixed to a metal structure. Glass wool is put in between the two layers of plasterboard to provide some sound insulation. The metal structures are easy to use, being put together rather like Meccano. They consist of metal ‘rails’ that are securely fixed to the floor and ceiling, and metal uprights (‘montants’) that are placed between rails, usually at 60 centimetre intervals. The uprights are then attached to the rails using self-tapping metal screws. This method of wall construction is easier, quicker and cheaper than constructing a wall structure in wood.

To create door openings a shorter piece of rail is fitted at ‘top of the door’ height between the two uprights. It is easy to cut appropriate lengths of upright and rails (with an angle grinder).
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I have already discussed some of the stages you should go through when planning the layout and design of your property at a ‘high level’.

At a ‘low level’ (more detailed) you will need to give some thought to interior design and style issues. If you have a vision of the ‘finished product’ the whole project will be easier.

I do recommend that anyone restoring a building should accumulate hundreds of magazines, pictures and books. Then you can search for pictures of exteriors or interiors that you like, and try to work out what it is you like about them. A couple of hundred euros spent on books and magazines is money well spent if the ideas can translate into adding thousands of pounds to the value of your house and, more importantly, if they can make it a nicer place to live.

The property renovation magazines that I buy are usually not immediately applicable to the work I am doing, but they come into their own when I am later planning a bathroom, a shutter colour or anything else for the property and I am looking for ideas.

Looking at interior design and decoration magazines may seem a bit ahead of yourself at this stage of the project, if you find you are looking at different designs of curtain before the room even exists. But the more of these ‘ideal’ interiors that you look at, the clearer the idea you will have of what you want.
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Wherever in France you have bought a property you will need some type of heating. You might not believe me if you have visited your dream property during the summer. Even Provence and Corsica have their cooler moments. There are several ways for adding heating at the time of renovation. The method chosen depends partly on whether you plan to live in the property full time, or just as a holiday home.

General Advice

Almost all types of heating need to be inspected and serviced at least once a year. This includes having flues and chimneys cleaned, for example.

Open Fires and Wood Burning Stoves

Open fires look nice. That is their main advantage, and it is their only advantage. The net effect on the temperature of a house with an open fire is, apparently, zero. A large part of the heat from the fire goes out of the chimney. Worse than that, it sucks the warm air out of the house with it, which is then replaced by cold air entering the property through all the nooks and crannies around doors and windows, from the attic, and so on. All the new air is coming in from outside. The net result is that as much heat leaves the property as enters from the fire. Still, to be fair, there is an area immediately in front of a roaring fire which feels warm, even if you pay the price with a freezing cold bedroom.
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Methods for laying quarry tiles and ceramic floor tiles

If you intend to glue tiles to an existing floor, the existing surface needs to be strong and stable before you start. Any existing weaknesses in the floor need to be remedied before you begin. When I am glueing floor tiles I use the big sacks of premade floor glue, that simply need mixing with water before they are used, but on the occasions where I have needed to tile straight on top of some existing tiles I have used premixed glue. This is more expensive to buy, but has additives already combined that make it more flexible and more ‘sticky’.

It is possible to stick one layer of tiles on top of another, if the existing tiles are solidly attached to the floor below, using this premixed glue. You do need to thoroughly clean the existing floor tiles first, then it is a good idea to ‘paint’ on a solution of ‘resine d’accrochage’ (like PVA, this will make the surface less slippery so the glue can adhere better) – available in bricolage shops. Read more

Old houses might have any of a wide range of floor types in place – including earth, old quarry tiles, wood and concrete.

Terre Battu

Flattened earth floors are quite common in old houses in France. These ‘terre battu’ (beaten earth) floors are not simply a consequence of never laying a proper floor, but were once (until about 200 years ago) quite sophisticated, with clay being spread on the existing floor and then beaten flat.

Some places in France even had a special dance that was performed on the floor to ensure it was well flattened down! These are not generally practical in a restored house (earth floors, I don’t have a problem with special dances), unless you are trying to restore the property faithfully ‘as original’ and intend to open your house as a museum.
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In this section I have assumed that you willproject manage the renovation yourself. Many people prefer to hand the entire renovation process to someone else. (See Project Managers section for a few thoughts on this).

Part of the process of obtaining your planning permission will probably have involved discussing the project plans with your architect (or architectural designer), and you will now have obtained approval for your project.

DO NOT START YOUR PROJECT UNTIL YOU HAVE PLANNING PERMISSION!

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