My Barn Conversion

As I mentioned in my January building progress update, I’ve been pointing the internal cracks in the mortar of the exposed masonry internal walls. We to put in two openings, one at ground and one at first floor level, from the main room of the barn into the smaller, two storey section that now housesContinue reading Cosmetic pointing

Having spent a few hours cutting out tongues (from floorboards nothing more sinister), lifting boards, rummaging around underneath them, padding and separating copper pipes with insulation, rescrewing and renailing, I discovered that in fact the easiest way to quieten down squeaky floorboards was to simply rehammer the heads of the nails that hold the boardsContinue reading Lessons learnt the hard way – squeaky floorboards

The head torch, #1 in my favourite-tools-in-no-particular-order list. I used to think that head torches were mildly comical, rather strange things for grown men to wear. Then I started laying insulation in unlit attics and lighting fireworks in dark fields and my opinion transformed into a need to have one close to hand at allContinue reading Head torch

I suppose that I’ve been avoiding writing this post for quite some time, probably since not long after we started work on the barn and this blog. So, cards on the table, time to explore the dark-side(or at least some of the challenges) of barn conversions… There are a whole bunch of troubles that comeContinue reading The trouble with barn conversions

Update on building progress during July 2011…

One of the problems with the way that this site has evolved is that I’ve missed some of the fundamental blocks upon which a site like this would normally be built. One of the most obvious of those is that I’ve never really described the barn and the conversion that we’re undertaking. An email IContinue reading Vital Statistics