Month: August 2010

  • Bowsaw

    ‘… Bowsaws have the supreme advantage of being quiet and allowing you to work at your own human pace. …’

  • Build in Technology

    Whatever the original structure, a conversion means major building work. Take the opportunity to build in major renewable technologies – PV, solar hot water, rain-water harvesting head my list. Invest now for sustainability and low bills. Snippets on MBC Rather than my usual wordy ramblings I thought I’d challenge myself to come up with some…

  • Wooden Galaxy

    I found this lurking inside an old off cut of wood… From bochgoch Pretty hey?!

  • Outdoor inspiration #1

    Once painting (windows frames) and pointing (repointing the stonework) are completed, I’m hoping that the good temperatures and most importantly dry weather of late summer-autumn will extend long enough to allow for some further work outside the barn. We intend to dig out much of the the bank that currently dominates what will be the…

  • Keep Beams!

    Utilise as much of the original structure as you can and make the most of it. Keep internal beams, exposed stonework (on fully internal walls only, building regulations prohibit exposed stonework on the interior of external walls), reuse original flooring… Snippets on MBC Rather than my usual wordy ramblings I thought I’d challenge myself to…

  • Wales has a ‘carbon free’ house

    An interesting story on Wales Online today that raises more questions for me than it answers for me… Wales has it’s first ‘carbon free’ house. The house is built along PassivHaus lines on a small estate in Ebbw Vale from mainly Welsh materials. It has PV panels so generates its own power and has managed…

  • Building Progress ~ July 2010

    Let’s get in early this month… I’ve mainly been occupied with repointing the external walls. I didn’t do any repointing last year, but want to get it finished this year so I’ve got my hands full. It needs completing before the weather turns colder so I probably have until the end of September to get…