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

Inspired by my first outing onto YouTube and dazzled by the 143 people who’ve so far taken the time to watch the minute long tour of the ground floor of the barn that I’ve subjected treated them to, I thought I’d give it another go. This time I’ve gone for a more abstract yet focussed…

One solution I’m considering for the seemingly porous stone gable-end wall is to repoint and dub-out the joints between stones where necessary then whitewash it to provide a greater degree of rain protection. What I’m wondering about this is how much work this would save over a time consuming hack out of damaged or cracked…

The feel of the barn has moved on again as now the openings for the two windows that we’re adding to the gable end of the barn have been completely punched through. Whilst it’s hard to get a proper appreciation for the view they provide as they are currently covered with old aggregates bags and…

In my haphazard stumble through the world of architects and architecture, I came across Robert Venturi. Whilst not perhaps directly appreciating his work when seen on the page in print (his emergency service building for Disney World in Florida is a Fire Department HQ straight out of a Mickey Mouse cartoon), I do appreciate and…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! Obviously with nasty old Christmas getting in the way (!) progress has slowed a little, but not to the extent I would have expected. The beams are looking great and have been completely embedded in the wall – the walls have been rebuilt where the…

A Frank Lloyd Wright quotation: Organic architecture more or less means organic society. An architecture inspired by this ideal cannot acknowledge the laws imposed by aestheticism or mere taste, just as an organic society should reject any external imposition on life that contrast with nature and the character of the man who has found his…

I’m always looking for new ways to get the message of this site across, so I’m happy to announce that I’m going to start adding video content via YouTube. The first video is on the interior of the barn as it begins to take shape. The floor is partially finished, oaks beams are in place…

Rather strangely, I’ve we’ve discovered stalactites in our walls. Whilst the photograph is not that clear, that downward dribble to the right of the centre of the picture is a lime stalactite that has formed within the south facing wall of the barn. Whilst the wall is not very damp at the surface, internally it…

The first of the structural elements that will form a finished part of the building have been installed. Our much debated oak beams, that were selected over steel beams as a key element of our healthy house design have been delivered and put into place. As the walls that will support the beams are already…

As well as the health benefits of not using carpets in your conversion project, alternatives can also help your bank balance when incorporated into the building during its conversion. You can reclaim VAT spent on flooring during your conversion except for carpet. 8.10 Carpets Carpets, carpet tiles and underlay are not building materials for VAT…

Through to the end of November progress has been mainly on filling back in what has been taken out! The original internal floors were removed and extra excavation carried out to give sufficient depth for the new floor. The new floor comprises of a layer of well bedded in hard-core, then a damn proof membrane…

I thought it was about time to review the VAT situation regarding the barn to ensure that my understanding is correct, so an overview of the current legislation follows with appropriate extracts. My apologies if any of this reads a strangely, I wanted to keep as much of the wording from the official sources intact…