Building & Renovation in France - useful French renovation words & phrases

Artisan - Craftsman
Burin - Chisel
Caillebotis - Square wooden decking
Cales - Wedges
Cerisier - Cherry tree
Chantier - Building site
Châtaignier - Horse chestnut
Chauffagistes - Heating engineers
Chaux - Lime render
Clé - Spanner
Cloison - Partition wall
Coffrage - Shuttering
Colle or ciment à carreaux - Tile glue (in powder form)
Commune - Town/village
Coude - A bend (then you choose the angle : 32° 45° 87° etc)
Couteau de peintre - Paint scraper
Crémaillère - Upright Shelving
Cuivre - Copper
Cuve - Vat
Décapeur thermique - Heat stripper
Décolleuse de papier peint - Wallpaper steamer/strip
Devis - Quote/estimate
ébéniste - Carpenter
Elagage - Tree surgery
Enduit de lissage - Very fine plaster
Entreprise - Business, company
Espagnolette - Window closing mechanism
Figuier - Fig tree
Fleur de chaux - Very fine white lime
Gaines - the plastic tubes in which the electric cables will sit
Lambris - Wooden wainscoting/paneling
Lames - Wooden strips
Lampe de chantier - Halogen site lamp
Lasure - Stain
Laurier-sauce - Bay tree
Lave-mains - Hand basin
Lavoir - Wash basin/house for doing laundry
Linteau - Lintel
Liteaux/Tasseaux - Battens
Maçon - Builder
Maire - Mayor
Marin - The local Languedoc name for the wind blowing inland off the Mediterranean
Massette - Heavy hammer, almost a mallet
Mortier - Mortar
Mousse - Expanding foam expansible
Ouate de cellulose - Recycled paper
Papier-Kraft - Kraft paper
Pare vapeur - Vapour barrier
Perforatrice - Jack hammer
Placoplâtre - Plasterboard
Plombiers - Plumber
Poêle - Stove
Porte-fenêtre - French window
Potager - Vegetable garden
Promesse de vente - Document which binds you to the purchase of a house (no gazumping)
Ragréage - Self-levelling screed
Raigneureuse - Double angle grinder to make the saignées
Ramoneur - Chimney sweep
Réducteur - A reducer (connects from a tuyau de 14 à un de 16 for example)
Rremise - Outbuilding
Réseau d’assainissement - Sewage network
Sacs de gravats - Bags for masonry rubble
Saignées - Channels for the electricity cables
Sans soudure - Without soldering
Scellement chimique - Sealant
Serre-joints - Clamps
Sous couche - Undercoat
Stère - one cubic metre
Suie - soot
Taloche - float
Tilleul - Linden / lime tree
Tirefonds - tie screws
Tournevis électrique - Electric screwdriver
Truelle - Trowel
Tuyau - Pipe

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