Old House Renovation Surprise # 1

It was just a matter of time really.

Actually this one should not have been such a surprise – it was evident from the first picture we took of the façade. Can you spot it?

Well we missed it (I’m rather ashamed to say, given the number of Spot the Difference puzzles I did as a child with Granny). Instead, it was not until our neighbour on the right pointed out, first by a registered letter (hidden amidst the christmas cards, which was nice), and then in a more amicable meeting, that the cornice was leaking like a sponge and water was seeping through to the brickwork underneath, and into the neighbours’ house. Apparently it’s been doing it for years, as he had asked the old man who lived in the house before to fix it (though judging from the house’s state of neglect, the old man was beyond caring).

Take another look at right of the corniche (cornice, the white bit where the roof sticks out). Notice how there is a support missing on the right?

On closer investigation (thanks to some extreme photography) it does indeed look pretty, erm, wet. The modillon (wooden block under the cornice) seems to be hanging on a thread.

And that would of course explain the wetness in the room in that corner (the guest bathroom to-be). (See the hole in the wall, known as a "trou de boulin", which was intended for scaffolding. You can see the four of them in the photo of the facade above).

In a sense it's no big deal, as we’d figured we’d have to repair the corniche anyway and deal with all the damp problems. But shouldn't we also take some immediate measures to prevent chunks of rotten wood falling on to passers-by below? And to stem the tide of wetness into the neighbour’s (and our own) walls?

Time to consult the experts.