As you may perhaps already have found, you have to be licensed in France to practice a number of trades and professions. This is not to give the bureaucracy extra function, but to shield us, the customers. My favourites, which I found when attending a training course to acquire a gun permit, are mole catchers who are also entitled to wear a highly intelligent uniform. When you sign for your property you might possibly purchase a report from the licensed asbestos, termite and lead inspector or “professional”, even prior to you meet the licensed plumber or gas fitter. Their report will come with a copious number of pages which not only describe what they have discovered but will also advise you upon the implications. My clients usually ask me to explain these reports to them, and whilst I am not a licensed inspector I attempt to simplify some of the jargon for them. Absolutely nothing can be as a excellent as a translation of the whole report, by a licensed translator of course, but here are a couple of basics.

Dependant upon the département and its rules you might be supplied with a vendor-commissioned report or “expertise” upon the presence in the property of termites, you will purchase one on asbestos virtually generally, and if the property is old, you will in all probability acquire one on lead, especially inside paint.

Asbestos inside fibre cement merchandise such as drainage pipes, flues and corrugated sheeting is highly secure in situ supplied that it is not degrading. The report will clearly state no matter if or not it is secure or degrading. Depending upon their exposure to the elements, fibre cement goods should certainly have a pretty lengthy secure life, one should certainly anticipate at least 30 years and usually they last for significantly a lot more. Signs of degrading are reasonably obvious – such as crumbling and dust.

Fibre cement roof sheeting is water and weather proof in its own ideal and is generally utilised to cover agricultural and industrial buildings. There is also a product developed very to support canal roof tiles over dwellings. The contour is a ideal fit for the tiles, so they tend to slip much less and if they do, for example throughout high winds, water does not penetrate into the roof space.

Even if the fibre cement is in beneficial order there are two crucial points that you ought to maintain in mind, and bring to the attention of anybody who works on your property. The dust developed when sanding or sawing it must not be ingested, that is swallowed or inhaled. Secure working practice is to wear a proper mask (and I do not mean one of those low cost throwaway paper ones) and to wet the fibre cement where it is to be worked to minimize the creation of dust. Secondly waste fibre cement need to not be taken to a general waste disposal web-site but to one licensed to manage it. The Mairie will advise you as to the location of the nearest one, and frequently will even arrange for it to be taken there.

Termites are not discovered in all départements and consequently a survey for them is not compulsory during France. If discovered by the inspector in a property, he is obliged to report it to the Mairie. They really should be killed, the wood removed and new wood ought to be treated against further attack. Often termites do not like the cold and draughts, so they burrow up and into the ends of wood from the ground or walls. You may perhaps have noticed timber building uprights raised off the ground on metal posts and plates, now you know why. Logs stacked on the ground will act like magnets for termites, so wood stored out of doors will need to be raised off the ground with air beneath for example by stacking it on an old pallet.

Lead was in most gloss sort paint up to 1948 and was in some paints up to about 1977. It is still doable to obtain lead paint for use in special situations. Young children and animals have been identified to die from gnawing lead painted woodwork such as cots and stables. The risk currently is very like the asbestos, when it is burned or sanded the fumes & dust are toxic. An suitable mask must be worn and you are obliged to warn everyone working at the property that there is lead in the paint so they can take the proper precautions. The report must give you the depth of the lead in paint below the surface and an indication as to regardless of whether or not it is a risk. If the paint containing lead is well below layers of paint that don’t contain lead it is a significantly decreased risk, until of course you sand it down or burn it off.

So termites are not a trigger for joy, but do not panic about fibre cement containing asbestos or deeply hidden lead in paint, just treat it in a respectful way.

John Marshall has practised in the course of Europe and especially in France given that 1984. He is the suggested surveyor for Languedoc Property Finders who specialize in locating Languedoc Properties for purchasers.

John Marshall has lived on the borders of the Aude and Pyrénées Orientales given that 2002. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors registered with RICS France and is amongst other issues a member of their Building Surveying Faculty and Building Conservation Form. He is also a member of the Fédération nationale des professionals de la construction et l’immobilier.

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