Month: March 2008

  • Heating & Hot Water – a solution?

    From the start of this project, I’ve been through numerous options regarding the method by which we’ll heat the barn and generate hot water for domestic purposes. It’s been a long and twisty road but I think I’ve arrived at a solution that I’m comfortable with (at least for the time being). Let’s start off…

  • Project Management ~ Basecamp

    For me, the cornerstone of project management isn’t a gantt chart or a risk register, but lists. In Basecamp, I find the ability to create and maintain all the lists that I need to keep track of my barn conversion. It also provides you with the ability to share files, text, and messages and track…

  • 100th post marks Spring on mbc

    Well this is my 100th post on My Barn Conversion and as my solitary clump of snowdrops is flowering (probably has been for a while, but it’s only now I’ve noticed) I’ve decided that after a wet and windy Winter it must be Spring. This site has gone from a standing start, on its first…

  • Building Progress ~ March 2008, week 1 & 2

    We’ve now arrived at the stage where I need to get start getting services installed into the fabric of the building – first fix electrics and plumbing. I’ve got an electrician sorted and a plumber in the pipeline (ha ha), so hopefully things will move on over the next few weeks and I can stop…

  • Solar Water Heating

    Solar water heating systems use energy from the sun to heat water for use in the home. This water can be utilised for washing and general domestic uses as well as for heating purposes. There are three main components: 1. Heat Collectors or Panels. The two main types are flat plate and evacuated tube both…

  • The Greener Homes & Buildings Show ~ Builth Wells, 8th & 9th March 2008

    As I write the The Greener Homes & Buildings Show ‘trade and professionals day’ will be in full swing at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, Powys. On Saturday and Sunday (8th and 9th) the show is open to the public and there looks to be excellent attendance from the sustainable & green building…

  • Pellet Stoves – a current evaluation

    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…

  • Building Progress ~ February 2008, week 4

    We have walls. Well at least partially, the partition walls have started to be built in the kitchen, to form a utility / services room & a small WC and upstairs, to form the second bedroom, main bathroom and ensuite / dressing area (if you can call a meter-&-a-half corridor a dressing area). This dressing…