I’m a builder in the uk and can do most things. Our family has just bought a property near Limoges. I’m going to do most of the work myself but need advice on the electrical side and taking down part of an interval stone wall. I have done 100s in brick and block but can see stone being more difficult. I also need a new roof so would like to get a few quotes to fix it as would take a job off me having to do myself
The electrical standards are quite different and you’d be well advised to get a good book on the normes.
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Yes stone can start off with just a few loose ones and then, crash! Mostly they are packed with earth between rows of stones so pining through or strongboys can still help support. How big is the wall you are thinking of taking down?
As John said there are good guides available for electrics, it’s done more like the UK industrial wiring with radial circuits but specific rules on the number of and positioning of sockets. All double pole breakers. All single conductors run in conduits and regulated on the size and number of conductors in a set size of conduit.
Welcome Carl, I cannot offer any advice but wish you well with the project.
Most of us follow with interest, pics are good 
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Hi Carl,
It’s worth knowing that in France traditional stone vernacular building techniques vary enormously even within a short distance. For instance around here (Aveyron stretch , Lot Valley) one can find houses built from schist, limestone, sandstone and columbage, materials with very different properties, so pre-C20th houses can have differing proportions, roof pitches and roofing materials (tile or lauze).
At the risk of teaching Granny to suck eggs, I feel I should point out that the style of many old French stone built houses is one where it is only the exterior walls that are load bearing for the upper floors and roof. Interior walls are often no more than thin partitions. Therefore, if there is a thick interior stone wall, then the likelihood is that it was once the exterior wall and thus is substantially load bearing.
The technique for cutting an aperture in a stone wall changes with the considerable variance to be found in the wall’s original construction. Some areas have house walls built of nicely quarried stone blocks which although probably of different sizes, are most likely fairly rectangular. In such a case you could use a method similar to that used for a brick or concrete block wall in the UK.
Other properties (such as my own), have 22inch thick stone walls built out of whatever was to hand at the time in all sorts of shapes and sizes. In our walls there are pieces of limestone, sandstone, marble, and even re-used large granite pieces that came from an adjacent medieval house that was partially demolished a very long time ago. So before you make a start on your interior wall it would probably be a good idea to hack some of the plaster off so that you can see the material from which it was constructed.
From my own experience of cutting doorways through old stone walls I can say that two things will happen. Firstly, you end up with a hole much larger than is actually needed, and secondly, you will find that said walls are remarkably resistant to collapsing downwards from above. My technique is to cut the hole out about halfway through the thickness of the wall and then put some Accro props in the space one has cut out while the rest is removed.
I would stress that I’m just talking about cutting a doorway, and no doubt for a longer length some hefty transverse supports would be needed until such time as a suitable lintel is installed.
By the way — The job will probably take 3 times longer than you anticipate. Old French houses are like that.
Enjoy. 
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