Chalet / Apartment Build thread.
Discussion
Following on from the popular Chamonix studio apartment thread. I thought I'd share some pictures of our journey of doing up an old Savoyard chalet and adding an apartment. I'm sat here with a dodgy disc in my back so no skiing for me for a while, but writing this seemed like a good use of my time.
We purchased it as a group of 4 friends in 2005. It's located in the little known Beaufortain area of the Savoie Alps. 20 mins down the valley to Albetville.
We loved the area and knew it was great for paragliding and had great local ski resorts with very good off piste and touring options.
Budget was tight, but between us we were quite handy (me being the least handy on the DIY front). This area offered amazing value for money, so for the price of an apartment in Chamonix we bought a 4 bed chalet with loads of land!
Any way after much searching we found this near Beaufort.
Outside Front View
Outside Rear View
It was originally built in 1813. Then done up some time in the 60's or 70's. The attached barn / granary was added in the 90's
The previous owner had obviously run out of money, as it was very poorly finished. Heating was a insane mix of a LPG and solid wood fuel back burner powering the radiators, and 2 fireplaces inside.
Kitchen was only just describable as a kitchen, all the rooms were in a pretty shocking state. But the roof seemed good, the electrics were OK and the walls and windows were fine too. So really most of the work was cosmetic. We didn't need to do anything particularly difficult.
So our first trip we decorated and fitted a downstairs kitchen. And threw lots away and got some new furniture. It had 4 bedrooms at this stage, so needed loads of furniture. We also employed a local plumber to install a decent gas boiler.
Kitchen Before
Kitchen After
Living Room before
Living Room after.
Boiler Room Before
Boiler Room After.
We bought it in September 2005. By December 2005 it was habitable and rent-able (As a 2* type place to friends) So we were pretty happy with that. We spent lots of time there that winter and had some great skiing- there was a lot of snow in the winter of 2005/6.
I put some more details and photos of the rest of the renovation shortly.
Cheers.
We purchased it as a group of 4 friends in 2005. It's located in the little known Beaufortain area of the Savoie Alps. 20 mins down the valley to Albetville.
We loved the area and knew it was great for paragliding and had great local ski resorts with very good off piste and touring options.
Budget was tight, but between us we were quite handy (me being the least handy on the DIY front). This area offered amazing value for money, so for the price of an apartment in Chamonix we bought a 4 bed chalet with loads of land!
Any way after much searching we found this near Beaufort.
Outside Front View
Outside Rear View
It was originally built in 1813. Then done up some time in the 60's or 70's. The attached barn / granary was added in the 90's
The previous owner had obviously run out of money, as it was very poorly finished. Heating was a insane mix of a LPG and solid wood fuel back burner powering the radiators, and 2 fireplaces inside.
Kitchen was only just describable as a kitchen, all the rooms were in a pretty shocking state. But the roof seemed good, the electrics were OK and the walls and windows were fine too. So really most of the work was cosmetic. We didn't need to do anything particularly difficult.
So our first trip we decorated and fitted a downstairs kitchen. And threw lots away and got some new furniture. It had 4 bedrooms at this stage, so needed loads of furniture. We also employed a local plumber to install a decent gas boiler.
Kitchen Before
Kitchen After
Living Room before
Living Room after.
Boiler Room Before
Boiler Room After.
We bought it in September 2005. By December 2005 it was habitable and rent-able (As a 2* type place to friends) So we were pretty happy with that. We spent lots of time there that winter and had some great skiing- there was a lot of snow in the winter of 2005/6.
I put some more details and photos of the rest of the renovation shortly.
Cheers.
Edited by STURBO on Sunday 28th December 13:50
So over the next 3-5 years progress was a bit slow. 2 of the original gang of 4 sold up their shares, so that left me and my friend Neil a bit skint to do much. But by the end of 2010 we had ticked off a few more jobs. Every year we spent 1-2 weeks out there on a mission to improve it. 1-2 weeks a year isn't much really so progress was slow.
The next task was to tidy up the outside of the Chalet as this had never been finished and had a lot of unsightly exposed breeze block. We fixed insulation to the breeze block and then wood paneled over it. Takes ages to do it properly but looks great. We also insulated the roof void. Insulating both the roof and walls made a big difference in the winter too.
The heating in this place is interesting. It has a LPG tank in the garden and a LPG boiler that runs the Hot water and CH radiators. But the main heating comes from the Tulviki Stove. This is in essence a wood powered storage heater. It looks a bit of a beast and takes a bit of getting used to, but it chucks out a lot of heat and is very economical.
Tulviki Stove.
You light it once a day and run a roaring fire for 1-2 hours. During this stage the heat is transferred to the soapstone. This thing weight 1500kg, so it's got a massive thermal mass. Then you shut it down and it radiates heat for the next 20 odd hours. From one 2 hour burn (About 10-15kg of logs) it does a pretty good job of heating the whole place. The central heating radiators are really just on tick over.
It's got a nice more traditional fireplace in the kitchen too.
It needed a balcony on the front. This had some of the main supports already in place. This was fun building it and made the chalet look loads better.
Front of chalet With new Balcony.
We had met a local French guy who was keen for a bit of work. He built a patio on the back for us. This made the garden area much nicer and it's a great place to hang out.
Rear of Chalet.
The next task was to tidy up the outside of the Chalet as this had never been finished and had a lot of unsightly exposed breeze block. We fixed insulation to the breeze block and then wood paneled over it. Takes ages to do it properly but looks great. We also insulated the roof void. Insulating both the roof and walls made a big difference in the winter too.
The heating in this place is interesting. It has a LPG tank in the garden and a LPG boiler that runs the Hot water and CH radiators. But the main heating comes from the Tulviki Stove. This is in essence a wood powered storage heater. It looks a bit of a beast and takes a bit of getting used to, but it chucks out a lot of heat and is very economical.
Tulviki Stove.
You light it once a day and run a roaring fire for 1-2 hours. During this stage the heat is transferred to the soapstone. This thing weight 1500kg, so it's got a massive thermal mass. Then you shut it down and it radiates heat for the next 20 odd hours. From one 2 hour burn (About 10-15kg of logs) it does a pretty good job of heating the whole place. The central heating radiators are really just on tick over.
It's got a nice more traditional fireplace in the kitchen too.
It needed a balcony on the front. This had some of the main supports already in place. This was fun building it and made the chalet look loads better.
Front of chalet With new Balcony.
We had met a local French guy who was keen for a bit of work. He built a patio on the back for us. This made the garden area much nicer and it's a great place to hang out.
Rear of Chalet.
scottri said:
Looks great, how much land do you have?
It's got quite a lot, about 3-4 acres I think.Here's the rear field. This is let to a local farmer who grows grass on it. Occasionally has cows on it in summer. We've landed paragliders in it which is great fun.
Then it's got about the same again in size of woodland, but most of it is quite steep mountain side so it's hard to get wood from. Most years we cut one tree down and it does us for the next winter. But it's bloody hard work turning a tree into firewood even with chainsaws.
Here's a pic of some ski touring in the area near Areches_Beaufort resort.
OK, Here's all the pics of the main chalet.
We've now (This autumn) mostly completed the conversion of the top floor of the barn into a separate 2 bed Apartment. I'm now just organising the photos of the build of that, I'll upload them next.
If anyone want any info on this area ( Beaufortain, Savoie ) please ask, I know it well and it's a hidden gem both summer and winter.
We've now (This autumn) mostly completed the conversion of the top floor of the barn into a separate 2 bed Apartment. I'm now just organising the photos of the build of that, I'll upload them next.
If anyone want any info on this area ( Beaufortain, Savoie ) please ask, I know it well and it's a hidden gem both summer and winter.
So our next job was to turn the attached upper floor of the barn into a self contained apartment.
We've been waiting years to do this finally got the time and finances to sort this out last year.
The space is in the attached barn on the top floor. It is about 100sq metres, with maybe 70sq metres above head height.
Pic from outside. (It's the space on the first floor on the RHS)
And Pic from inside before we stated (Previous owner used it as a rubbish store)
And a different view looking the other way.
We've been waiting years to do this finally got the time and finances to sort this out last year.
The space is in the attached barn on the top floor. It is about 100sq metres, with maybe 70sq metres above head height.
Pic from outside. (It's the space on the first floor on the RHS)
And Pic from inside before we stated (Previous owner used it as a rubbish store)
And a different view looking the other way.
Edited by STURBO on Saturday 3rd January 22:11
It's looking really nice mate.
Is there any chance you could mention figures? What was the initial cost, investment, value now etc..? I ask as the Alps are somewhere we're looking to semi-retire to in the not to distant future and I'm starting too look at options. Austria is our first choice at the moment but we're open to other ideas if they make sense.
A PM would be cool if you'd rather keep things private - Also fully understand if you'd rather not discuss at all.
Is there any chance you could mention figures? What was the initial cost, investment, value now etc..? I ask as the Alps are somewhere we're looking to semi-retire to in the not to distant future and I'm starting too look at options. Austria is our first choice at the moment but we're open to other ideas if they make sense.
A PM would be cool if you'd rather keep things private - Also fully understand if you'd rather not discuss at all.
Asterix said:
It's looking really nice mate.
Is there any chance you could mention figures? What was the initial cost, investment, value now etc..? I ask as the Alps are somewhere we're looking to semi-retire to in the not to distant future and I'm starting too look at options. Austria is our first choice at the moment but we're open to other ideas if they make sense.
A PM would be cool if you'd rather keep things private - Also fully understand if you'd rather not discuss at all.
Hi Asterix,Is there any chance you could mention figures? What was the initial cost, investment, value now etc..? I ask as the Alps are somewhere we're looking to semi-retire to in the not to distant future and I'm starting too look at options. Austria is our first choice at the moment but we're open to other ideas if they make sense.
A PM would be cool if you'd rather keep things private - Also fully understand if you'd rather not discuss at all.
Alps prices vary massively according to location. Our spot is great for us, but it's a 15 minute drive to the ski resort. Also it's about 20 metres from a B road which is pretty unnoticeable in the house or garden but does affect the value. It's also not an area well known with foreign buyers so is cheaper than the surrounding better known areas such as Chamonix, Meribel, Les Arc etc.
We paid 190k Euros for it in 2005. Now with the apartment built it's probably worth about 350k Euros. We have probably put in 80k Euros. So it's gone up but not gone crazy over 10 years. Luckily for us we bought when Euro was 1.5 to the pound.
The same chalet 10mins up the hill within the Les Saises ski area would be touching a million euros. So location is a massive factor. No idea about buying in Austria, I don't really know anything about that area.
Cheers
Thought I'd update this since we've now mostly finished the Apartment build.
After approximately 1000hrs labour!
Floor Going In
Floor Down
Roof Insulation Going in
[pic]http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/o775/jakeherbert/Apartment/3RoofInsulated_zpse04cc402.jpg
[pic]Electrics
More Roof work
Roof Nearly finished
[pic]Building Internal Walls
Insulating Internal walls
Bathroom
Trench for waste
Waste Pipes
Shuttering for steps
Hot water tank
Kitchen Area
Steps Done
Furnished Living Area
Bathroom
Bedroom
Kitchen
Corridor
Living Area Showing Balcony
Balcony View
Balcony View 2
So we're really happy with the apartment now. It's fully ready for the ski season.
Still loads to do though. Next plan is to change the garage into an entrance area and 3rd bedroom for the apartment. We need to lower the garage ceiling to do that which entails replacing the garage door with 2 entrance doors. And then insulating and making that area good- boarding and tiling etc. Next summer the plan is to put steps from the apartment balcony and create a small garden area for the apartment outside. Then we need to turn our attention back to the Chalet and do some upgrades there, it could do with new windows and doors, and a lot more insulation.
After approximately 1000hrs labour!
Floor Going In
Floor Down
Roof Insulation Going in
[pic]http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/o775/jakeherbert/Apartment/3RoofInsulated_zpse04cc402.jpg
[pic]Electrics
More Roof work
Roof Nearly finished
[pic]Building Internal Walls
Insulating Internal walls
Bathroom
Trench for waste
Waste Pipes
Shuttering for steps
Hot water tank
Kitchen Area
Steps Done
Furnished Living Area
Bathroom
Bedroom
Kitchen
Corridor
Living Area Showing Balcony
Balcony View
Balcony View 2
So we're really happy with the apartment now. It's fully ready for the ski season.
Still loads to do though. Next plan is to change the garage into an entrance area and 3rd bedroom for the apartment. We need to lower the garage ceiling to do that which entails replacing the garage door with 2 entrance doors. And then insulating and making that area good- boarding and tiling etc. Next summer the plan is to put steps from the apartment balcony and create a small garden area for the apartment outside. Then we need to turn our attention back to the Chalet and do some upgrades there, it could do with new windows and doors, and a lot more insulation.
Edited by STURBO on Saturday 10th October 11:39
V8RX7 said:
Interesting thread.
Why would you have concrete stairs rather than wood ?
Well we did consider both options. In the end we figured that they'll get a lot of traffic and that wooden ones would be creaky and noisy. And they love a bit of concrete in France, it's what the builder preferred and was quicker / easier / cheaper.Why would you have concrete stairs rather than wood ?
It's going to be tiled and then some nice wooden bannisters fitted. So it'll look a bit nicer in the end and be really easy to clean with no maintenance required.
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