My Barn Conversion … musings in small-house, off-grid, architecture, design with smatterings of art, history and literature

I’ve been meaning to mention, I’ve been tiling again… From Barn Conversion 2010 Hope that doesn’t mean I’ll be grouting again… Joy!

The feed-in tariffs scheme certainly looks to be of great interest. For the unitiated, feed-in tariffs are the governments new scheme to encourage the takeup of renewable technologies through financial benefits. These financial benefits are two-fold, firstly in the form of savings made to on-going energy costs and secondly through a payment made through the…

It’s been a very cold Winter so far… But at least it’s warm inside!

Back to my old tricks and late as heck again…here we go… From November 2009: Finishing treating the untreated oak stairs and banisters is proving a real pain – the banisters along the landing have all been whitened & waxed, but the stairs themselves along with the banisters running down the stairs still need finishing,…

For anyone with an interest in building, conversion or renovation, or in just getting your hands dirty, Michael Pollans ‘A Place of My Own’ is a great opportunity for some self reflection through Pollans written account of his own experiences in constructing ‘a room of  [his] own making‘.   The book is an insightful, introspective…

I occasionally ‘page’ through the ecologist website and came this article that piqued my interest: We need a citizens’ housing revolution Whilst a little short on content the sentiment – that the development of new housing can be partially entrusted to self-builders who should be ‘helped to create vital, sustainable communities’ – is one that…

I’ve never known such a long, cold period in Wales… The snows been here so long that we’re getting quite bored with in… Roll on spring-time.

The ice, snow and freezing temperatures of winter 2010 make a favourite quote of mine come to mind…

For as long as we’ve been planning and designing the conversion of the barn the issue of how to screen the large window on the yard side of the building has been nagging at us. The challenge being to allow as much light in as possible whilst retaining a degree of privacy (although it’s hardly…

I ordered solid European oak flooring and associated underlay, fixings and tools from a flooring company (who will remain nameless for now) back October [Corrected]. The passing of time has made the details somewhat hazy, but I planned to get the floor in, at least on the landing, by Christmas and that included an allowance…

Finishing treating the untreated oak stairs and banisters is proving a real pain – the banisters along the landing have all been whitened & waxed, but the stairs themselves along with the banisters running down the stairs still need finishing, they’ve been whitened but not waxed. The problem is getting the timing right (never my…

Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) is made by mixing polystyrene and a blowing agent under pressure and then forcing the resultant fluid through a die. As it emerges from the die the fluid expands into a foam, which is shaped before it cools. Extruded is stronger than expanded polystyrene and as such is better suited applications where…