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Ìýshould have put a useful link in before howevere to get you started here is one... basically a snow prediction site which gives deatils of runs open and amounts of the white stuff... not very useful right now...didnt even get the usuaul summer coating on the corno grande this year...click on the resorts on the map and it takes you to more details including hotels...ÌýÌýÌýi like the site because despite our comments regarding where it lists them all ... the map also reminded me that there is also quite a popular resort at campo felice... know nothing about it apart from its popular with romans and i belive has very good cross country runs...anyway have a look at them all i guess and be nice to know what you choose and a few months down the road a report on whats what and how it went..a comparison with the year before would help all of us...

Ìýin the classical uk sense means a membrane running around the top of the foundations at a certain level above ground level... from memory its sort of two brick heights.... this stops water risng through the walls and into the house because the level below the membrane generally has an air gap or a plastic sheet under the whole building protecting it from rising damp.. unless these mebranes allow moisture to escape outside of the building through the below membrane foundation / brickwork it makes little sense because you are virtually containing water under the building and adding moisture content into or below the walls... Ìýin the uk a normal underfloor membrane will be allowed to finish outside the walls... here it can be done ...but only between in new builds the skleton columns or in old building it would have to be in conjuction with strenghtening of the existing walls to take into accout the crack you are makingi would think i wooden structure on a concrete base would best be built on blocks with supports mounted on bolted steel feet... allowing air to flow under the building and basically negating all need for a traditional type of membrane... your geometra will most probably have given you the right type of cement thickness, the type of guage of steel and if any areas need to be supported by deeper supporting columns below ground although weight wise that would be suprising... Ìýi would then if worried about the look cad the area bewteen woodeb building and concrete base allowing plenty of air brick or ventilation spaces...its basically a mobile home without wheels ...and they would raely have membranes underneath because they are off the ground... so i would look at those steel brackets you can get here which hold large columns of wood... and fix your wooden home to that sort of thing using wooden columns and steel brackets...water will not travel up through the steel into the wood...indeed hence into your home... air below will allow the structure to breath and cladding around the base will keep out cold air... anyway they are my thoughts on how i would approach it...of course a geomtra will have to tell you how many steel plates ... .

Ìýdamp proof in the sense of UK type mebanes between foundations and above ground habitable areas do not exist in 90 % of Italy because it is against standard seismic regulations to have a contious gap beteeen the structural part of the building that holds it in place in the ground and the main structure above ground... Ìýso its simple...there are alternatives...presume badgers links aim at these but to my mind the most favorable in old buildings is the excavation of the ground floor area and the type of igloo/egegg box shape inserts whhich allow continous air flow via a rasied floor and vents to the outside of the building... Ìýhowvere walls will still have a problem as regards being directley attached to the ground...solved by sveral solutions depending on the site...Ìýfrench drains to take and ground water away from foundations... very cheap and easy to do, second skins as in walls that are retaining and non structural holding back hillsides away from habitable areas and leaving an air gap between main house and retaining wall... generally in blocks or reenforced concrete... Ìýagain not that expensive but loads of work to dig out the channel... and the wall is then lined with waterproof materials .. best a resin mix of some sort than either tar paper of plastic lasts forever...leave cantinas and work areas on the ground floor as such and leave the single galzed badly fitting doors etc in place... best ever solution if you have little money and very effective as you then have virtually no work to do... have plenty of useful space and no damp in the first floor living areas... Ìýdamp rises i think about 1 meter 20 ...am sure its around that but someone will correct me if im wrong... Ìýhowever by leaving old fashioned not well sealed fitments in the area damp is less likely due to internal areas having plenty of air flow and no high diference in ambient temps..steel mesh caging internally with a sand cement mixture is generally used when there are structural problems regarding the building and even if used the finishing coat providing you wish to pay for a finishd build is plaster ... what most ½ûÂþÌìÌà builders will do is offer this solution in any case because its the quickest and cheapest method... otherwise removing plaster back to stonework and repointing comes at a cost several times that and most people already think restoration costs are high... most geometras , architescts and builders will love you for increasing window sizes... Ìýbecause this is very quick work...knocking out walls and the Ìýrebuilding of openings and new lintels offers very high profit on materails and labour... Ìýand has no advantage in terms of heat retention ,insulation or whatever in regards to living in the house...Ìýwindows... anyone fitting new windows will have the opportunity of getting double action units which both hang from the side (standard) and from the bottom... Ìýa simple twist of the handle allows windows to be opened in either sense.. the bottom hinged option used to allow a trickle of air in from the top of the window;.. these as far as i am aware have been around for years... Ìýalthough they cost more and to my mind best limited to one in a living area and in all bathrooms and kitchens... if cost is a problem...ÌýÌýi think most problems arise for people because the rules are different and solutions not the same... generally for reasonably sound reasons... Italy has decidedd on seismic rules that reuire building to be pinned securely to the ground... italian rural buildings were and still are designed with non habitable areas as the first floor... Ìýand if you change this then you are adding problems if you do not take measures to ensure that this method of creating an air gap is not replaced externally by keeping damp and mositure at a distance from the building... people when they buy houses to my mind see uninhabited ground floors as cheap areas to rebuild and think they have got a bargain on a 200 m sq building with 100 m sq not used properly... Ìý just by adding electrics,windows and doors and replastering... Ìýmost ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs know it will be chaeaper and more comfortable to start a new build than to convert areas never intended for human habitation... in a sense they are only right because they already most probably own the new land to build on there are methods as i suggested above to remedy this... Ìýand they are just a few...

Ìýbeing close neighbours... ie ascoli is a whole lot closer than pescara and the drive up there is much nicer we tend to get a fair bit of Marche wine here... i love the Piceno red wines... although as well i sometimes like to get away from either Teramo or Ascoli to drink something other than either aÌýmontepulciano or a blended montepulciano as sometimes i like a lighter red...Ìýgood article ...i enjoyed reading it

Ìýi would have mentioned the bar... the bar being my favorite institution here in Italy... but thought better of it... Ìýi can spend hours there ... reading newspapers... sampling their produce... i think you might have nailed this question on the head ...buy a house next to a bar and you can save on just about everything... Ìýand be part of life here

Ìýnot many ½ûÂþÌìÌà properties seem to have decent porches... it makes sense to me to be able to junk wet and or muddy clothes out of the wind and rain... so have basically done that on our house...on the back door not the front... existing buildings allowed me to create a place thet keeps the wind from blowing in the back...as our doors seem to be open all year round anyway for dogs... and inside a couple of more doors so if or when it gets really freezing the dogs are let out through a series of doors keeping the heat insidethe other point about the back area is that it is open one side and allows you to eat outside virtually all year long cause even when we get snow when the sun comes out its very warm... i cannot see the point personally of living here and spending all days in doors... and even though we use it all year round the second kitchen attached to the back porch/covered area allows us to cook with a wood cooker... which is very cosey in the winter... is not in the main house ...so not the problems of smells and dust ...wood is stacked close by so apart from the inital stacking not really having to move it much... we also have an indoor pizza oven and grilling firplace in that area... it just makes it all so much more frindly feeling when the weather is dismal...Ìýone other thing about winter living here is air... all ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs ...well all that we know air the house every day...throw open windows and let at least an hours air get in... Ìýgenerally early morning... Ìýits a good move to do this because one its nice to have fresh air...the other thing is that often houses dont have any air bricks... again ... i have put them in our house to allow circulation...but otherwise this is about the only way of keeping damp down.... Ìýslightly worrying when you see fuel bills... but thats another story.....finally i would say to make sure you have a life here...sitting around in some areas we vist is depressing... you always seem to find them sitting in clouds of mist or streaming rain... Ìýwhatever you do start getting out... build up friends and go and have coffes... cahts... whatever .. i know for some its difficult.. we are lucky in the sense that we always have school runs to do and evening activities ...so you have to push yourself to go out and about even when not the best temps or you have to clear snow... to get to the car... you can fall into an easy life in front of the TV or computer here very easily... grow stale ,stagnant and fat on the lack of interest and activity... have seen it happen with a few people that have moved here... and they are just too depressing to Ìýknow...life seems for them one long complaint of woes... efforts get rewarded to my mind...and learn to love the elements... Italy is full of exterems ... and i enjoy them all from boiling heat to snow blizzards... it keeps you alive.. and to me its a joy of living hereso really no rules... i think you have to just realise that for many that are here with no fixed schedule..retired say ...that life here in winter is or can be as cold and wet as the uk... wetter in reallity if you look at say annual rainfalls in places like Tuscany... build a network of good friends and things to do... leave room in your house for doing these things...dont convert every spare inch into smart living accomodation.... Ìýand to my mind choose carefully where you buy a house so that you get the max of the best weather in the winter season... because a south facing property on a slope with clear views...not only feels warmer... it makes your life feel warmer tooÌýÌýsorry my general type of waffle... Ìýbut it was an intriguing question... and not sure how many times i thought i had finished before i did... but it is quite interesting to see how many people just give up after a winter here in Italy... Ìýand its true this is a question way beyond heating and insulation... good question

Ìýwell they sent a message via facebook saying thank you... dont know how exactley they worked it out... i know there are a few people that joined from here...of course Becky... but also have seen familiar names.. i posted their site also to the italy community face book site... Ìý... their numbers have gone up...but not by a lot... once again the face book site benefits because of numbers of fans...if you have a face book account it just helps becoming a fan because maybe your friends will see and might want to help too...ÌýÌýits based in sardegna so a long way for most of us... but their effort in setting this up made me look twiceÌýÌýÌý this is bellaÌýÌýÌý and here is gocciaÌýÌýand thats the face book area...Ìýi wrote back because when people like that say something in terms of thanks it makes you feel awful because you cannot do more and they are people that seem to care beyond what most of us can do ... i think they are worth suporting so thanks to all that have done so... a few more would be handy and above all helpful...they do apreciate it

Ìýhis fiorello adverts... very funny...well whenever he and fiorello were on stage together... wasnt that keen on his game shows..and he had had a bit of trouble recentley with unrehearsed gaffs... Ìýa clasic comedian very dead pan

Ìýits the main ski area in abruzzo and the best... Ìýthe only other real choice is the gran sasso areas...assergi and pietracamella... all the resorts that sit on the east of the apenines..the majella... are basically not really worth thinking of as ski holiday destinations ...more areas that if you happen to be there and by chance there is snow you have a ski...ÌýÌý

Ìýsorry dont have the web site but serach on puglia uncovered i think ...well actually just did the google bit so hers the siteÌýits an expat forum in Puglia.,.. i know various menbers at the start of it were very pet oriented so they might well be able to help you...its a good site anyway for Puglia related info...if not and you are having to drive up to rome for the aeroport can suggest very good ones here in abruzzo but best you try them first i think