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my barn conversion

Keep track of what's happening (slowly) with our Progress Updates.

If you read only one book before designing your conversion or renovation, then we recommend that you make it this one. We love patterns!

Location, Location, Location! pah, that's old hat we all know that the new mantra of home-building is Insulation, Insulation, Insulation learn more from our ongoing series.

Read more about - Lime mortar, VAT on conversions... more favourites coming soon...

Around an ongoing barn conversion project, this website draws together advice, information and references to aid all would-be and current barn and non-residential building converters and renovators.

Our approach takes on board 'healthy house', sustainable, ecological & environmental concepts to as great a degree as timescales and budgets allow.

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Latest Posts

Living room windows

Bedroom hayloft door

Building Progress ~ October 2009

Slack

Yard Window

Logs

Building Progress ~ September 2009

New bed

Island Micro Grid

Building Progress ~ August 2009

Latest Comments

On Air Source Heat Pump by mbc on November 9th, 2009
Matt, solar thermal will work for say (pessimistically) 60%+ of the time and will require additional inputs - so not...

On Air Source Heat Pump by Matt on November 1st, 2009
Solar thermal will not be as effective for the restaurant water heating because there is no guarantee that you will...

On VAT for barn convertors - Update December 2007 by mbc on October 19th, 2009
Fred, I think you may be storing up problems for the future - not sure on your exact circumstances, i.

On VAT for barn convertors - Update December 2007 by Fred Fennell on October 15th, 2009
I am converting a lage barn, 6,500 sq ft and controlling it with an Architect.

On Insulation by mbc on October 8th, 2009
Anthony, not the most practical or encompassing advice, but in Eastern Europe fire wood can provide a partial solution >>...

On Insulation by anthony Watts on October 4th, 2009
Does anyone have any views on the best solution for insulating the internal side of external stone walls of a...

On VAT Reclaim - Preparation by mbc on September 30th, 2009
I was lucky in that my builder & and one of his previous clients had already fallen foul of the...

On Air Source Heat Pump by mbc on September 30th, 2009
Not personally sure that an ASHP is your solution, but I'd certainly encourage you to consider solar hot water panels.

On Air Source Heat Pump by Angus Jones on September 26th, 2009
I run a small restaurant and our electricity cost is £1200 per month most of which is hot water.

On VAT Reclaim - Preparation by Janet Locke on September 25th, 2009
Notice 719 has now been replaced by HMRC with VAT 431C.


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    Living room windows

    Category: Vital Statistics November 17th, 2009 by mbc

    Picture with measurements of both of the living room windows - one photo two sets of measurements. Only where the two windows vary are both measurements given. Just for the record the picture is of the left side window (I think!)

    Click on the picture for a larger version hosted by Picasa.

    Posted in Vital Statistics | No Comments »

    Bedroom hayloft door

    Category: Vital Statistics November 17th, 2009 by mbc

    Picture with measurements of the hay loft window in the bedroom window.

    Click on the picture for a larger version hosted by Picasa.

    Posted in Vital Statistics | No Comments »

    Building Progress ~ October 2009

    Category: Barn Conversion Journal November 9th, 2009 by mbc

    Ah, October - seems like a long time ago now…

    I’ve stalled in finishing treating the untreated oak stairs and banisters the banisters along the landing have all been whitened & waxed, but the stairs themselves along with the banisters still need finishing. I managed (mistakenly) to wax one of the posts before whitening it and the colour difference was quite noticeable, thankfully a quick sanding brought things back to where I wanted them.

    In the kitchen the cooker is now in (well almost, the gas just needs connecting) and I’ve got the cooker hood ready for installation - that will be fun. Every job involving attaching something to the plasterboard walls gives me ongoing nightmares at the thought of collapsing walls and gapping voids.

    I’ve started work (another job not yet finished) on putting in skirting boards in the main room downstairs. I’m quite surprised by the difference they make, adding a cherry on the cake type finishing touch to the room. I’ve taken the easy route in fixing them to the walls that everyone else seems to follow (an opinion formed following extensive internet searches), namely using adhesive or sealant in my case rather than anything more permanent. The reason I’ve not finished is that the Wickes shop I normally go to has had none in stock since my original visit … as valid an excuse as any.

    I’ve also started boxing in the pipes in the bathrooms. There’s a fair bit of this to do as the layout of both changed quite a lot as appliances were moved around to fit. It took me the best part of a Saturday to cover half of the shower waste pipe in the en-suite. I lost count of how many pieces of wood I cut and it’s still not finished after a split decision on whether to use skirting boards as part of the boxing or not. Another one for the to-be-finished list… must knock some of these on the head in November.

    If you enjoyed that post, then read these...

    British Summer Time on August 12th, 2008
    There's a mountain out there somewhere.

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (1)

    Got Wood! on August 15th, 2008
    softwood / hardwood Sorry about the title of this post I couldn't resist it.

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (1)

    Lime Pointing ~ Summer 2008 ... part 2 on August 8th, 2008
    With a set of plans and my ruler I set out to check the figures I'd put together earlier in the Summer when working out...

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (1)

    Building Progress ~ July 2008 on August 5th, 2008
    July has been a good month with much progress.

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (1)

    A Room With A View on July 25th, 2008
    I promised I'd post a picture of the view from the gable end bedroom so here it is.

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (1)

    Posted in Barn Conversion Journal | No Comments »

    Slack

    Category: Barn Conversion Journal October 30th, 2009 by mbc

    Sorry, I’ve been very slack in updating the site over the last few weeks - very busy at work (my proper job) at the moment with a system implementation.
    Rest assured my usual slow and steady service will be resumed shortly…
    If you enjoyed that post, then read these…British Summer Time on August 12th, 2008There’s a [...]

    Posted in Barn Conversion Journal | No Comments »

    Yard Window

    Category: Vital Statistics October 11th, 2009 by mbc

    Picture with measurements of the yard side window.

    Click on the picture for a larger version hosted by Picasa.
    Share This

    Posted in Vital Statistics | No Comments »

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