Penny's activity

Thanks Andrew. I'll be in touch. Please mention it to any other Brits/EU citizens that don't go on the forum and may be affected.

Thanks Sprostoni but it won't affect you. Badger, I've PM'd you.

I don't think such a thing exists to be honest and certainly not in English. There a quite a few Italian magazines that specialise in house restorations - have a look in Bar Sagi in Comunanza. The only book I have ever seen that gives any technical detail is this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Restoring-Home-Italy-Elizabeth-Minchilli/dp/1579... One of the problems here is the rules and regulations change often and very from Comune to Comune so I think it would be very difficult to write unless it was very generic.

We had 24 doors and windows (including 2 large arched glass doors and 3 french windows) plus internal shutters made in rovere, which was the same price a chestnut, and it cost us €13,000. They were made locally and are excellent quality. This was a 40% discount on the original price he quoted us. I would also conside the integral fly screens which up the price a little but ar emuch neater than having to add them afterwards. Shop around and negotiate hard would be my advice.

But Heiko, remember an Italian was also convicted and by all accounts his parents are "very well connected" and could certainly afford one of Italy's leading defence lawyers.

We've started a business here and are happy to talk to you about it, Fiona. Send me a PM/email if you are interested.

I've ordered loads of stuff online. It usually gets delivered by courier. Not had any problems but I've never ordered from Euronics. For stationary I always use www.mondoffice.com/Make sure you use a credit card though and not a debit a card as credit catds insure your purchases and against fraud

Thanks Adriatica - thought I was going mad!Technically Marborite is a pointing material but Paul says there is no reason (other than cost) why you couldn't use it as a skim coat. He loves working with the plasters here because even the ordinary ones contain a lot more lime than in the UK so they are easy to work.There are special products for restoration and new builds that contain no cement at all. These are the products that Paul specialises in. He had a damp-proofing and plastering business in the UK and has experimented with lots of the products here so he knows his lime

 Anyway, what I wrote is that my plasterer (and damp-proofing specialist) husband says you can do it either way. The plastering materials here in Italy are completely different to those in the UK so what you did there may not be relevant. He said that usually builders here will put on a rough coat (usually cement based) on then machine apply the plaster. This is left to dry for a bit and then the windows are fitted in using a foam sealant. This is then cut back and made good by filling/plastering round the windows. Ram's point about damp is a good one. I know of lots of houses here that were renovated a few years ago and now the plaster is failing due to salts or damp. There is only one solution which is to hack off the plaster and redo it with the correct lime-based materials which needless to say cost more. Italian builders rarely resolve the damp problem correctly during the renovation and come up with all sorts of solutions including painting on a type of sealant to resolve it afetrwards - this does not work. It is merely masking the problem. It is better to get it right in the first place or else be prepared to have all your plaster hacked off in the future.

Why don't you try here www.agenziaterritorio.it/site.php It will give you the price by sqm for each comune. Otherwise you'll need to ask a Geometra for a valuation or get some estate agents round.