My Barn Conversion

I’ve already written about one of my favourite building design books A Pattern Language – Towns Buildings Construction by Alexander, Ishikawa & Silverstein. I thought it would be worthwhile stating which of the patterns I’ll be paying most attention to in my design. The list is not exhaustive, other patterns will have a bearing, newContinue reading Design Patterns ~ my choices

Let the games begin. The first phase of building involves excavation of the exterior ground levels all around the building to provide drainage trenches and ensure that exterior floor levels are below the eventual interior floor level. Internally, the existing flag stone, cobble and concrete floors have been removed and dug out down to theContinue reading Building Progress ~ November 2007, week 1 and 2

The functions of a house, setting aside all other ‘romantic cobwebs’ are to provide: ” 1. A shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive. 2. A receptacle for sun and light. 3. A certain number of cells appropriated for cooking, work and personal life. “ Le Corbusier … keeping it simple.

I’ve spent the day practicing my version of precision carpentry cladding openings of my big metal shed. My approach to carpentry is based on one of the many mantra’s of someone of great wisdom who used to work with my father and brother: Measure twice, cut once. I have finely tuned this to: Measure once,Continue reading Green = Mean ?

The original plans for the barn had two largish bathrooms one of which contained an airing cupboard that to my mind was a waste of space. Not being a person who knows when to stop meddling, I decided to remove the airing cupboard, add an ante-room to the main bedroom’s en-suite and move one ofContinue reading I’m certainly no bathroom designer / the strange 1 metre wide space

I’ve been promising these for a while, but eventually I’ve got there. I’d added a whole new set of photographs of the barn to the site that I’ll use as my before photo’s. Hopefully, I can use these to demonstrate progress as the conversion goes on. Some of them are similar to other pictures I’veContinue reading New Pictures ~ Before

So, as we have started work, we need to think about all those details that I’ve put to one side until we had a builder. Not liking getting too formal about such things, it seems like a good idea to make a list so: Last update [4th November 2007] Ground or Air Source Heat PumpContinue reading Attention to detail…