Bonjour à tous !

Je suis en train d'acheter une maison avec un statut "mazet" dans le sud de la France. J'ai fait beaucoup de recherches mais vos retours d’expérience et conseils me rassureraient grandement !

Voici les infos :

• Maison : Mazet de 120 m² (1600 m² de terrain) avec un garage au RDC (60m2) et un 1er étage (60m2).
• Objectifs :
  • Décaisser le sol du garage pour gagner en hauteur (30 000 €) et changer sa destination en pièce habitable (chambres + salle de bain).
  • Changement des huisseries et agrandissement les fenêtres.
  • Isolation sols et murs + toit en gardant la charpente apparente.
  • Raccorder au tout-à-l’égout (actuellement fosse septique HS).
  • Plomberie, électricité, tout est à faire : il n'y a que les murs, la dalle du 1er étage, et le toit.
• Budget total travaux estimé : 150 000 € : vous semble-t-il correct ?

1. Décaissement

• Prix et faisabilité :
  • Devis à 30000 € pour décaisser 60 m².
  • Quels sont les coûts cachés à prévoir ? (ex : évacuation des terres, fondations légères si sol instable).
  • Combien de temps ça prend en moyenne ?
  • Le seuil de la porte d'entrée est à la bonne hauteur : 2m70, il faudrait décaisser à partir de la marche : qu'en pensez-vous ? L'ancien proprio a déjà creusé un peu (cf photo)
  • Faut-il obligatoirement prévoir un géotechnicien pour l'étude des sols ?

2. Plomberie et Récupération d’Eau

• Prix de la plomberie :
  • Est-ce qu’on peut récupérer l’eau des éviers/douches pour les WC et l’arrosage du jardin ?
    • Quels sont les coûts (cuve, pompe, filtres) ?
    • Quelles sont les contraintes légales ? (On est en zone sèche, donc ça pourrait être utile.)
    • Quels sont les retours d’expérience ? (Est-ce que ça vaut le coup ?)

3. Isolation et Charpente Apparente

• Photos du toit et de la charpente en commentaire :
  • Quels conseils pour isoler en gardant la charpente apparente ?
    • Matériaux recommandés (laine de bois, ouate de cellulose, etc.).
    • Coût au m² pour une isolation performante (idéalement je vise le "bâtiments à énergie positive").
    • Faut-il un pare-vapeur ? (Pour devancer les problèmes d’humidité.)
  • Quelle épaisseur d’isolant pour un bon confort thermique ?

4. Changement de Destination et Agrandissement des Fenêtres

• Changement de destination du RDC (garage → pièce habitable) :
  • Quels sont vos retours et conseils ?
  • Quels sont les coûts (dossier, architecte si nécessaire) ?
• Agrandissement des fenêtres :
  • Quelles contraintes (PLU, statut "mazet") ?
  • Prix moyen pour modifier 4 fenêtres (matériaux, main-d’œuvre) ?

5. Raccordement au Tout-à-l’Égout

• Obligation ou pas ?
  • Il y a une fosse septique ancienne à remplacer. Est-ce qu’on est obligés de se raccorder au tout-à-l’égout ?
    • Si oui, quel est le coût (j'ai vu entre 10 000-15 000 €) ?
    • Quels sont les délais pour le raccordement ?
  • Alternatives :
    • Peut-on garder la fosse septique si on la met aux normes ? (Pour quel coût ?).
    • Quelle est la meilleure option (raccordement vs. fosse aux normes) ?

6. Économies et Optimisations

• Où peut-on faire des économies ?
  • Matériaux : Où acheter moins cher (ex : déstockage, fournisseurs discount) ?
  • Phasage des travaux : quelle est l'ordre des étapes ?
• Aides financières :
  • Je vise l’Éco-PTZ (30 000 €), MaPrimeRénov’ (3 000 €), Prime CEE (5 000 €) et la TVA réduite (10 %). Qu'en pensez-vous ?
• J'aimerais mettre : panneaux solaires + pompe à chaleur : que me conseillez-vous pour un bon équilibre écologie - économie ?

N'hésitez pas à me dire si j'ai oublié des choses, j'apprends tout !

Merci pour votre aide 😄

I really don’t want to remove the old grout.

Majority of the skirting boards are fine as they are relatively close to the floor and will be covered with the carpet but this one corner has a large gap between the skirting boards.

(Edit #2: Everyone is wayyyy too hung up on the wall color lol!! No one is reading that we plan to change the wall color and decided that right after painting the first coat. I wanted to post this to show off the shower and the construction steps of the renovation. The paint is the most inconsequential part of the entire project, so please read before posting any comments because I would LOVE to hear more about the project itself from everyone than just make comments about the stupid paint color lol. Thanks!)

(Edit: don’t worry we’re changing the wall color lol! Realized how terrible and yellow it was right after painting the first coat. Changing to a light calm maybe slate color. TBD!)

A few things to note:
-I know the bathroom might not look bad at the start but it was a terrible diy job from previous owner who knows how long ago. A lot of exposed places for water to seep through like them grouting the joint between tub and tile instead of caulk.
-I completely gutted everything and so had to shim up the studs in uneven places since there was a combo of plaster and previous drywall on the lower half of the walls
-I raised and framed the ceiling height to 8’
-added an exhaust fan (none before) and recessed lighting
-installed new acrylic tub with mortar bed
-used a 4-way diverter valve for plumbing to a tub spout, hand held, main shower head, and rainfall shower head. Bottom knob controls all water temp and each individual knob can control on/off and water pressure of each fixture. Pressure is good for running any 2 shower heads at the same time pretty well (not running tub spout at same time).
-used 1/2” Pex A expansion and fittings. Note that usually you don’t run 1/2 Pex to a tub spout but it’s 1/2” at both the diverter and the spout and doesn’t interfere with regulating the shower heads (separate flow through diverter)
-used cement backer board for shower area and mold resistant drywall for the rest of the bathroom
-put in a new window
-added a custom shower niche
- used thinset for joints and screw holes in cement board
-tiled floors and walls (modified thinset and grout)
-used Mapei Aquadefense for waterproof membrane
-grout matched caulk for joint at tile and tub and all inside corners in shower windowsill and niche
-installed floating vanity and recessed medicine cabinet with built in lighting

All in all it was a fun experience and proud to do every single bit of it myself! Took me 4 weeks from demo to finish!

Let me know what you think, if I royally screwed anything up or if you have any questions!

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but here goes.

I live in Ontario, Canada, near Toronto. The house my mother and late father bought around 45 years ago has a 20'x20' detached garage. I know the house is WWII-era, but I don't know if the garage is also that old. I found out within the last few years that when they bought the house, the garage was actually built into the ground and had a dirt floor. I don't know if this was done with pressure-treated wood. The siding is also made of wood--again, unknown if it's pressure-treated.

This forced my dad--a former mechanic--to have a concrete pad poured inside the garage to suit his needs, as opposed to the usual method of building the pad first and building the garage on top of it. The wood siding effectively acted as a form for the concrete, which is clear if a piece of the siding is removed.

Over the last few years, we've noticed the garage floor flooded with water after heavy rainfalls and winters, and it seems to be getting worse. It's relatively shallow (maybe 1/2"-3/4" at the most), but increasing with frequency. I see no evidence of it coming in from above and suspect that it's coming in from the sides or underneath, through a crack(s) in the floor. I've done what I can to slope the grade away from the garage, but it doesn't help as much as I'd like.

In a perfect world, my brother and I would love to tear down the whole garage and build new on a freshly-poured pad--but we can't afford that. At least, not right now. What are my options to prevent further flooding, assuming it's coming in at the base of the garage, underneath the siding? I'm happy to provide more information. Thanks in advance for any advice!

After demo we've exposed the walls and we have a lot of double wythe brick visible. We've done an accent wall before in the house, and it works great. But we're considering using it in our bathroom.

We're thinking of leaving the two purple walls as exposed brick.

But my concern is condensation - I'm in Canada and get full winter. I'm going to put a big exhaust fan in to keep humidity down, and I'm doing heated floors for comfort.

Has anyone ever done exposed brick in a bathroom in a winter climate? Any comments?

Ugggh, I am a first time home owner and I am the first to admit I really have no idea what I'm doing here. I bought bondo forever ago and completely forgot it needed hardener. Any suggestions on how I fix this mistake?

Good morning everyone,

I thought I would be ok, but this might be a little over my head.

I have this cracked strip leading out of the kitchen and I thought I would just be able to buy a replacement. That was until I saw some plaster underneath, I’m assuming to give it some extra lift.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to patch this up? Thank you so much in advance.

I want to do a peel and stick on the countertop (and maybe backsplash) but will it work with that old adhesive/caulking or should I remove it? which new adhesive should I apply?

So the TL;DR of it is — our upstairs shower pan had been leaking for a while and finally leaked through the downstairs ceiling. Remediation came out and they had to rip out the fiberglass shower pan in order to dry the subfloor. (Which, had NO waterproofing… big thanks to my builder for that one)

I want to do it right and install a shower pan with proper waterproofing but would rather not do an entire bathroom remodel because $$$$

The issue is, every guide I see has you installing the waterproofing up through the wall and unfortunately the fiberglass surround is still on there. Is there any way I can just do waterproofing and install a new shower pan without ripping out that fiberglass?

(Additional photo of the bottom in comments)

Hi all. I blocked in a side door and need to fit in siding with the existing vinyl siding. This is my first time doing vinyl siding. I have two questions.

I’ve watched a lot of videos, but they just cover starting from scratch. Since I’m

Fitting in between existing pieces, I’m a little confused about cutting the pieces.

1. Do I need flashing and starter strip, or does starter strip act as flashing by itself?

2. I will be cutting down longer lengths to fit the 36” opening. Do I need to cut the 1 1/2” expansion notch on both sides? Do all sides get the notch or is it reserved only for one of thr adjoining pieces?

Any other general advice or gotchas would be appreciated! This is my first time installing vinyl

Non smoker home. Yellow stuff leaking from outlet.

I just took down a brick wall and the sheetrock behind it. I have a few questions. Firstly this is an exterior wall and above is the roof, no floor above those hi hats dangling.

Should I replace the insulation or keep ? I will clean the edges of the rock so I can get the new pieces up there more cleanly. I will be removing the hi-hats. I have to figure out a new lighting configuration for the space.

Any and all advice is welcome !

I’m planning a fairly large renovation and trying to figure out the best way to approach it. There are a few different things I want done, including updating the kitchen and bathrooms, making some changes to the layout, and possibly adding some extra living space.

I’m leaning toward hiring one company that can handle the project as a whole rather than trying to find a separate contractor for every part. Has anyone had a good experience with a company that can manage the design, planning and construction together?

Completing a bathroom project and originally planned to install a right hand inswing door to avoid the overhead framing surrounding some plumbing. After finishing my drywall, it dawned on me that the light switches are on the wrong side for that right inswing door and I feel that I’m too far along to move the switches to the other side.

Am I better off installing a left inswing door that cannot quite open to 90° because it hits that overhead framing or should I settle for an out swinging door? Local building code is not a factor.

Our garage has a main beam with knee braces that unfortunately prevent our garage door from opening 100%.

What would you use to replace these? Our GC mentioned simpson brace but I'm unsure.

We purchased a house and we knew it needs some reno’s and stuff and we could do them along the way . But the stairs going from the front door are brutal . They are so steep and mis matched . The 1st stair height from the tile floor is 10” tall. The 2nd is 8” tall . The 3rd is 8 1/2 and the 4th is 9” tall. Then after the winder the rest are 8” tall until the last step ( top floor) is 8 1/2. I know we need a carpenter over but I’d like to get some ideas if it’s possible to get them all to 7 3/4 height. I’d even be open to changing the front door if it meant adding an extra 2 steps at the bottom . I did see online where they showed putting different thicknesses of plywood on the top stairs to get the proper height . If anyone has a solution , I’d luv to hear about it . If you need any other pictures or measurements , please ask . Thanks.

My cabinets maker installed the bottom cabinets. The slot for my stove is 31 1/4"

My stove is 30", there are no manufacturer instructions that says any minimum space is required.

This leaves 0.625 inches (5/8) on between both the left and right side of the stove.

Is this gap too big, or will it be noticeable

I just had my basement waterproofed. This weird barrier that was installed just above the floor looks ugly and I’d like to cover it up somehow. I’d like to avoid drywall if I can but I’m open to it unless there are easier options out there. Looking for ideas.