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my barn conversion

Keep track of what's happening with my Progress Updates.

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

Location, Location, Location! pah, that's old hat we all know that the new mantra of home-building is Insulation, Insulation, Insulation.

Read more about - Lime mortar, VAT on conversions and managing woodland for fuel.

Tiling tips - learn from my mistakes!

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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Building Progress ~ February 2010

Step 8 = roof

Step 7 = high level design

Stoneworks

Downstairs tiled floor

Coppicing ash trees

Tree Planting - Winter 2010

The four new English "eco-towns"

Building Progress ~ January 2010

Future Fuel

Latest Comments

On Travertine tiling - pictures by Downstairs tiled floor | my barn conversion on February 18th, 2010
[...] time and money in planning, sourcing and then fitting. It’s been completed for a while now (since August 2009),...

On Gas Pipeline Woes by The four new English “eco-towns” | my barn conversion on February 10th, 2010
[...] my first thought was ‘glad they’re not on my doorstep’ , but then I have a bloody big gas...

On Building Progress ~ August 2009 by Building Progress ~ January 2010 | my barn conversion on February 8th, 2010
[...] foray into the world of tiling can be quicker and more effective than the last one, the thought of...

On Insulation by Logs | my barn conversion on February 5th, 2010
[...] Location, Location! pah, that's old hat we all know that the new mantra of home-building is Insulation, Insulation, Insulation...

On Logs 2 by Future Fuel | my barn conversion on February 5th, 2010
[...] Logs 2 [...]

On The Healthy House by Green Business on February 2nd, 2010
Thank you for this checklist - I might use it in future when building a green house of my own!...

On Air Source Heat Pump by Feed-in tariffs … coming soon to a roof near you!? | my barn conversion on February 2nd, 2010
[...] On Air Source Heat Pump by Pete on January 12th, 2010I'm in a barn conversion with a GSHP supplied...

On Building Progress ~ December 2009 by Gina on January 22nd, 2010
My first visit here... great blog! I always say, if you want to be really green, don't build a new...

On Design Patterns ~ my choices by Alexanders Pattern Language | My Place Of My Own on January 21st, 2010
[...] also think I’d selected too many patterns, choosing mainly those that fit, rather than those that I really valued....

On A Pattern Language - Towns Buildings Construction by Alexanders Pattern Language | My Place Of My Own on January 21st, 2010
[...] inspiration, but this time one that I’d previously used was Alexanders Pattern Language [review on MyBarnConversion.com]. I’d applied this...


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    Pellet Stoves - a current evaluation

    Category: Systems of interest March 5th, 2008 by mbc

    I feel like I’ve somewhat misrepresented pellet stoves in the past.

    To recap, pellet stoves are wood burners with a difference, they burn pellets made from pressed waste wood, that are feed from a hopper into a combustion chamber all of which is often controlled electronically.

    I’m sure no-one has really been reading who’ll take offence, but I feel that I should redress the balance. When writing about biomass heating, I stated that:

    biomass systems are often bulky and so can require extensive storage space for both fuel and machinery

    …with no statement of assumptions and seemingly no exceptions.

    After further research, I’ve found some nifty looking pellet stoves such a those from Rika, that offer full biomass credentials whilst remaining compact in size and offering levels of control not available with more crudely fuelled wood or multi-fuel burners. I especially like the Rika option that allows remote control of the system by mobile telephone. Read More

    So, to redress the balance: Biomass can be compact as well as clean and green!

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

    Solar Water Heating on March 13th, 2008
    Solar water heating systems use energy from the sun to heat water for use in the home.

    category: 'Systems of interest' (1)

    Photovoltaics on April 21st, 2008
    Photo = light & voltaic = electricity Photovoltaics is a technology that utilises light to generate electricity.

    category: 'Systems of interest' (1)

    Heat pumps on October 9th, 2008
    Many people visiting this site are looking for information about heat pumps, being one who believes in giving the people what they want I thought...

    category: 'Systems of interest' (1)

    Biomass Heating on October 1st, 2007
    The term biomass heating refers to the combustion of plant based organic materials for the purpose of heating a volume of air.

    category: 'Systems of interest' (1)

    Air Source Heat Pump on July 10th, 2007
    The younger sibling of the ground source heat pump (GSHP), the air source heat pump (ASHP) is an exciting development in heating technology.

    category: 'Systems of interest' (1)

    Posted in Systems of interest |

    One Response

    1. Thomas Says:

      There’s some of these stoves that also burn things like corn and cherry pits. I’ve always wanted one, as it is now I heat a 1600 1960’s home with wood and electric oil filled heaters.

      Would LOVE a biomass furnace. We have a cherry processor about 50 or 60 miles away, and all the commodity corn a guy could want…

      Plus being able to handle bags of pellets rather than 5 chords of wood that needs chopped, stacked, moved etc. etc. would be nice.

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