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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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Latest Posts

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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    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 ~ July 2009 on August 4th, 2009
    On into the rainy damp Summer of 2009.

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

    Building Progress ~ August 2009 on September 6th, 2009
    The rainy damp Summer of 2009 continues.

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

    Building Progress ~ September 2009 on October 2nd, 2009
    Straight in this month, no excuses and no delay.

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

    Building Progress ~ October 2009 on November 9th, 2009
    Ah, October - seems like a long time ago now.

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

    Posted in Barn Conversion Journal | No Comments »