First topic message reminder :

I am gettng nowhere fast here in Bulgaria. We have to knock down the granny house and flatten out the land to rebuild but I just cannot get anyone here to help us. We need a JCB would be best to get one locally I will have to try the coporation company - Guess the price will double.

Someone gave us this link when we were looking to build our new garage, we did not contact them because in the end the other half decided to do it himself. (longest new build in Bulgaria) has taken us 3 years so far, but we do now have the roof on. I cant recommend them but it might be worth contacting them.

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Just to say our garage turned into a workshop as well and is now bigger than our house, so when the house falls down we can move into the garage

Fletch wrote:

Someone gave us this link when we were looking to build our new garage, we did not contact them because in the end the other half decided to do it himself. (longest new build in Bulgaria) has taken us 3 years so far, but we do now have the roof on. I cant recommend them but it might be worth contacting them.

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Just to say our garage turned into a workshop as well and is now bigger than our house, so when the house falls down we can move into the garage

Ftech do you know if this company is still in operation?

Oh Fetch you are so funny thanks for that made me laugh. I contacted Stilian today and he will be out to see us tomorrow so hopefully the architech friend will be with him.

oddball wrote:

.... I don't know where to start, do we start with clearing the land or getting the plans drawn up - .........

Providing you know the project will at some stage go ahead, then yes you can make a start by clearing the land in preparation and also getting some plans drawn-up.
At least that way once you find a builder then you may be able to get them to start straight-away before they vanish off onto another project.
Not too mention giving you something else to carry on with in-between all your other turmoil's and maybe cutting the cost down slightly.

Although the biggest bonus would be the 'I did that'

Phil-H wrote:

oddball wrote:

.... I don't know where to start, do we start with clearing the land or getting the plans drawn up - .........

Providing you know the project will at some stage go ahead, then yes you can make a start by clearing the land in preparation and also getting some plans drawn-up.
At least that way once you find a builder then you may be able to get them to start straight-away before they vanish off onto another project.
Not too mention giving you something else to carry on with in-between all your other turmoil's and maybe cutting the cost down slightly.

Although the biggest bonus would be the 'I did that'

Thanks PhilH I spoke with Stilian the director of the orphanage and he said he will come out tomorrow with his frined the archetect. Will get the plans and perission sorted in the meantie we can clear the land. Feel better now thanks guys

Sorry but I don't know anything about the orphanage you are involved with, but if any of the children are either able or old enough what's the chance of giving some of them a project and help you clear some of the land?'
Maybe using it as a reward system but limited to only maybe 2 or 3 at any one time.

I'm not saying that as a way of using free child labour but from a point of helping to give them a purpose and also teaching them something in the deal.

Good luck for tomorrow hope you get some joy. Did'nt say that we have the roof now going into our 4th year, but no windows or doors, so if the house falls down and we have to move in at least we will have air con Bite the bullet and take each day as it comes, thats the way it is here [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Oh ment to say dont let the other half get carried away with what you want, or you will end up like us, garage for 4 cars, workshop, bathroom, chimney for a wood burner. Only wanted a garage.

Fletch wrote:

Good luck for tomorrow hope you get some joy. Did'nt say that we have the roof now going into our 4th year, but no windows or doors, so if the house falls down and we have to move in at least we will have air con Bite the bullet and take each day as it comes, thats the way it is here [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Oh ment to say dont let the other half get carried away with what you want, or you will end up like us, garage for 4 cars, workshop, bathroom, chimney for a wood burner. Only wanted a garage.

Thanks Fetch eventually what I would like to happen is the goods form UK come here and we can control how they are distributed and rely on no one esle for storage but that will be a long way off yet. All he goods are here now but we cannot touch them as we need to contact the governors office for them to allocated the person with the keys to come with us to the warehouse so we cannot really sort out anything as this is taken up the key holders time They have to stay with us. Will speak with the governor tomorrow and see if they will let us have a key I need to sort out the Bon Marine items as not sure where they are going disabilitye for teenagers or orphanages Poinless sending the load to Glivinitiza only to get it back in again...

Todays plan is to build a large building we can divide it up accordingly and perhaps have an upstairs too. The building has to be raised off the ground as it appears our land hoards water.

Maybe ask how much to put some drainage in around the building, as if you have to raise it you dont really want steps, nothing worse when you have to carry stuff in and out. Also if you are thinking of a second floor maybe think about putting a pully thing in, I have no idea what they are called but see them on buildings, where you can attach rope or chains and pull stuff up that way from outside. They are the kind of things that you think about after you have built something, and then you say to yourself I wish I had thought of that so you would need to put a door by the pully upstairs. I am getting as bad as my other half now taking your store room and starting to add things for you :Busy:Have a good day and hope you get something sorted

On the subject of drainage.

A couple of drainage solutions, one of which I think is called something like 'The French Drain'

Basically it's simply a trench dug all around the property with a slight decline to allow water to run-off, the trench is then half back-filled with course rubble and topped off with gravel to allow the water to drain/flow through the gravel and rubble to escape, where then at it's lowest point it would just continue to run-off into/onto wherever. (maybe create your own little fish pond)
The depth of the trench will need to be at least below the depth of 'any' footings or possibly in your case maybe 2 feet deep.

Another solution dearer but probably a lot easier to install is again having a trench with a slight decline then a porous tube/pipe 'possibly' about 12"
(12 inches) diameter was laid which then allowed the water to penetrate and continue to run/flow down the tube and to escape at it's lowest point.
(It's a special reinforced plastic pipe with lots of holes and can come pre-covered in a cloth material to help stop the holes from becoming blocked)

The trench needs to form either a [size=200:2f64c3op]U or a [size=200:2f64c3op]O shape around the property to catch the water before it gets to the property.
I'm not really sure how close to the building/property you should be, so maybe allow at least 2 to 4 feet.

Edit:
Found this link which may help.
[url:2f64c3op]https:
//www.
google.
co.
uk/search?q=french+drain&
ie=utf-8&
oe=utf-8&
aq=t&
rls=org.
mozilla:
en-US:
official&
client=firefox-a&
channel=sb&
gfe_rd=cr&
ei=oWxOU-fgPKXY8geEtoDIDw[/url:2f64c3op]

PhilH we doug a trench last year as we were getting water in the celler we left it open and when we came back the cellar was dry so it seems to have worked. we filled it with rubble so hopefully the cellar will remain dry - We will do the same around the new build so any water can go to the land behind the newbuild. Thanks for that.

Actually after all these years I found the youtube videos quite enlightening 'considering youtube did not exist when I was at work' so everything came either by word-of-mouth or out of books, in fact it was only last year I passed on my main home help book which was massive in size but just about covered every topic from Repair or Build etc you could think of, it was 'The Readers Digest Home Repair' (or something very similar to that)

I will ask my friend for the full name etc and come back and post it, because for anyone doing their own build or repair it's well worth getting a copy.

If he still has it, only I just spoke to him on the phone and he sounded a bit vague.

Thanks PhilH that sounds good to have on the forum if you get the link please post it. I will have a look when I get to the internet cafe as I canot open youtube wiith the dongle.

In fact Guys since I have been here in BG and trying to work things out for ourselves we have found it very difficult even with as many friends as we have, we still cannot find help for what we need. So this has given me a thought for the forum and Admin and Mods are in agreement but of course the forum cannot take any responsibility for any part of the idea but Admin is happy to support it by allow the posts. So I need your participtions please. How you proceed and use the info is entirely down to the individual. But always be very caucious in allowing unknown people onto your property even with friends of frineds.

[size=150:2lbmgx2r]New idea forming:::
For those of you that have used builders, plumbers, elericians, plasters, gardners, pool attendants, bricklayers, metal workers, double glazing etc etc please can you send me a pm with the nae tel no and email address any the type of work they do. I will try to cover most professions. If you have a company yourself again do let me have the detials. Once a list has been compiled I will put it to Admin and the mods again for discussions.

I don't want to take the wind out of your sale Berni, but please everybody be very careful who you allow on/in your property. As you and many others will know I trusted a builder to do work on/in my property for a year and during that time he was plotting to sell it to a property dealer in Sofia
He did it by claiming he was the legal owner to the Notary and he succeeded in a transaction that was done by changing my POA documents which said I gave him permission to sell my property
On the building side he became quite useless and the last project I gave him to do was to build a outside kitchen/B-B-Q (see picture)
When I arrived at the villa I was appalled by the standard of work. I made him pull it all down and I built it myself and he became my labourer, but I now understand why his work was so bad as he had already sold it and got the money without me knowing

Hi Berni
Following on from the comments by Willowsend, which are spot on, In theory the idea is sound, as I run a similar service local to us, so may I suggest that if if you compile the list, then it includes the regions in which the services are.
As we are spread over various districts, some of the services my not be helpful to you due to distance, as some will not make the trip and if they do cost may increase due to travel.

Bill

bulgariabill wrote:

Hi Berni
Following on from the comments by Willowsend, which are spot on, In theory the idea is sound, as I run a similar service local to us, so may I suggest that if if you compile the list, then it includes the regions in which the services are.
As we are spread over various districts, some of the services my not be helpful to you due to distance, as some will not make the trip and if they do cost may increase due to travel.

Bill

Thanks Bill have taken that in to consideration also each link will have the district beside it i Example below:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Dobrich Area
send mail to Kaloyan, he might be of use, mention - Bill - so he knows how you got details