Two kinds of farmhouse
Round Troyes and to the east, in the Champagne humide and the Pays d'Othe, many farms are timber-framed with clay and straw infill or brick. North, towards Arcis-sur-Aube and the Marne, houses are built of chalk blocks. South, in the Côte des Bar, villages are limestone.
Chalk and clay infill are soft and porous and need lime, not cement. Stone works in these houses as long as it doesn't stop a wall or a floor from drying.
Where stone works
Worktops are the obvious place. The kitchen is often in the old main room with the fireplace, and honed marble or granite suits it better than laminate and copes with hard water better than wood.
Rotten oak sills are common on farms left empty, and a stone sill with a drip groove sends rain away from the wall, see sills. Stone also suits a bathroom built as a new structure inside an old barn or stable, and steps, where feet wear softer stone.
Where we'd hold back
Old ground floors often sit on earth, sometimes with terracotta tomettes on sand or lime. Pour a concrete slab with a membrane and put marble on it, and the damp goes into the bottom of the walls. In a timber house that rots the sole plates. In a chalk house it brings salts and flaking. Talk to someone who knows lime buildings before changing a ground floor.
Don't clad chalk or clay walls with stone panels in cement adhesive. The wall can't dry any more.
Weight
A 3 cm slab is about 80 kg per m². A 2 m by 0.65 m worktop in 3 cm granite is about 105 kg. On a ground floor that's not an issue. On the first floor of a barn with old joists, have a carpenter or engineer look before you plan a stone bathroom.
Crooked walls
Farmhouse walls lean and bulge. Stone doesn't bend, so we measure after the units are in and cut to the real wall. Expect the back edge to follow the wall rather than run perfectly straight. The kitchen fitter levels the units, and the stone sits on that.
Matching the house
Bright polished white marble can look out of place with oak beams and lime walls. Honed or brushed finishes, beige or grey, sit better. We'd usually suggest honed marble, granite or Galala, a warm beige limestone. Outside, rainbow sandstone or travertine give an old-house feel, see terraces and our sandstone patio.
Planning rules
The old centre of Troyes is protected, and so is anything within 500 m of a listed monument in any village. Outside changes there usually need a declaration and the opinion of the Architecte des Bâtiments de France. New sills or a different door surround count. Worktops and bathrooms don't. Ask the mairie before ordering outside stonework.
Order of work
- Roof, gutters and drainage, so the walls start drying.
- Repairs to the frame or chalk walls, with lime.
- Plumbing and electrics, including sink and hob positions.
- Floors and screeds, with time to dry.
- Kitchen units, then we measure, then we fit.
- Sills and thresholds can go in earlier if the windows are being changed.
