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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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Environment for Children

Whitewashing update 2010

Built in bed

Building Progress ~ February 2010

Step 8 = roof

Step 7 = high level design

Stoneworks

Downstairs tiled floor

Coppicing ash trees

Tree Planting - Winter 2010

Latest Comments

On White-washing? by Whitewashing update 2010 | my barn conversion on March 16th, 2010
[...] wall. After finding it was ‘infested’ with stalactites and stalagmites, I considered whitewashing the wall, then eventually it was...

On We have stalactites in our walls! by Whitewashing update 2010 | my barn conversion on March 16th, 2010
[...] do about the leaky, south facing gable end wall. After finding it was ‘infested’ with stalactites and stalagmites, I...

On Boxing Clever? by Built in bed | my barn conversion on March 12th, 2010
[...] of practicality and desire. Practical because part of the construction can be used to solve my tricky carpentry challenge...

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...


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    The Low Carbon Transition Plan

    Category: News July 17th, 2009 by mbc

    I like some of the headlines coming out of the Low Carbon Transition plan. The two that catch my eye especially are:

    • Financial incentives for home generation.
    • Paying for the creation of woodland.

    I’d love to be able to commission a wind turbine (so long as it was quiet) or get some photo-voltaics up and running and at least generate a portion of my own electricity - selling an excess back to the grid would be the cherry on the cake.

    Getting paid for transforming a few acres into woodland is something I’d love to do and that would make a lot of sense for the barn. It may also be the solution to my problematic overgrown fields - can’t even give the grass away at the moment!

    I hope the headlines match up to reality some time soon.

    One to watch…

    The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan

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

    MBC Photos now on Flickr on November 2nd, 2008
    With the somewhat baffling success of our YouTube videos now playing on Channel MBC.

    category: 'News' (1)

    My Barn Conversion Is Changing... on October 30th, 2008
    We'll be making a few changes to My Barn Conversion over the coming weeks.

    category: 'News' (1)

    Wales' Zero Carbon Dream on December 31st, 2008
    Zero Carbon is a term that 'haunts' me a lot (I need to get out more).

    title (1)

    Zero Carbon to be redefined on January 26th, 2009
    My concerns over the ability of Wales to achieve its zero carbon dream by 2012 appear to be shared by the political community.

    title (1)

    MBC goes Twitter on March 30th, 2009
    Seems everyone is doing it so why not MyBarnConversion.

    category: 'News' (1)

    Posted in News | No Comments »

    Building Progress ~ June 2009

    Category: Barn Conversion Journal July 14th, 2009 by mbc

    So, June…

    Tiling two bathrooms, both floor and shower enclosures has taken far longer than I predicted but on the whole I’ve enjoyed the work and the end product should be okay.

    The main progress this month has been in getting the solar panels and heating system up and running. It all went pretty smoothly with the panels kicking in when powered up and getting the water in the accumulator up to around 40 degrees Celsius after a few hours. So far, even on a dull day the water is kept at a constant 40+ degrees, raising to 60+ on a sunny day - pretty satisfying. The simplicity but efficiency of the technology is very attractive - when the water in the accumulator is cooler than the panel then the pump kicks in and circulates the water, thus heating it. Once equilibrium is reached the pump switches off until either the water cools or the panel heats up… simple.

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

    Building Progress ~ April 2009 on May 3rd, 2009
    Determined to beat my previous poor showings, here's the April update, just a few days after April has ended.

    tag: 'Progress' title category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (5)

    Building Progress ~ May 2009 on June 16th, 2009
    May has been about two things - painting and tiling.

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' title tag: 'Progress' (5)

    Building Progress ~ February 2009 on March 23rd, 2009
    As it's already embarrassingly late I'll make the February update a whistle-stop tour of what progress has been made.

    title category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' tag: 'Progress' (5)

    Building Progress ~ January 2009 on February 8th, 2009
    As well as bitingly cold weather the New Year has seen some slow progress on the barn.

    tag: 'Progress' title category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' (5)

    Building Progress ~ June 2008 on July 9th, 2008
    Insulation. June has been a pretty slow month ... progress has been dominated by insulation and plasterboard. First fix electrics and plumbing are complete. The roof...

    category: 'Barn Conversion Journal' tag: 'Progress' title (5)

    Posted in Barn Conversion Journal | No Comments »