The story of our project to convert some derelict Victorian barns in Derbyshire into a home
With all the recent delays we decided to get a second opinion from an expert.
Bob the Builder
Checking the plans
Inspecting the new brickwork
He loves the windows
Checking the equipment
And finally, a little bit of brick cleaning to end the day.
Indoor water feature
The scaffolding is getting higher and so is the brickwork.
We are wondering if we will ever get electricity. The paperwork has (finally) been drawn up and has been to the charitable trust's quarterly board meeting. Yes, I did say quarterly. There is no wonder this is taking for ever. However, we have heard nothing yet. And no-one has asked us for money so all we can do is send emails and make phone calls.
Meanwhile the build is continuing on barn 3 with a mad scramble to clean bricks to keep up with the brickie. The weather has been either summery with 25C temperatures or pouring down with rain and cold and horrible so it's been a case of making walls while the sun shines!
View from the rubble mountain to the more orderly pallets
After lots of hard labour this weekend (mostly not mine), the brick situation is beginning to look under control
View of the rubble mountain
It's a pretty good view from brick mountain.
Well, it's April and we still have no electricity. In fact, we are still waiting for the legals to be competed. Absolutely shocking state of affairs. We regularly contact Western Power, who then speak to their solicitors, who then speak to the solicitors for the landowner whose land we need to cross to obtain electricity. We can't speak to any solicitors direct, except of course our own, as the other solicitors are acting for their clients and not us. We have been told that it is 'very close' since January. Thank goodness it's not 'in the middle' otherwise we'll be waiting for electricity this time next year.
So after that mini rant about electricity, where are we with everything else? The good news is that despite the repeated spells of white stuff out of the sky, barn 3 is progressing nicely. It is almost at first floor window lintel stage and is looking really nice. We went 'upstairs' the other day to check out the first floor and it really gives a feel for the views from the windows and the roof height - we were a little concerned that we would be 'stooping' where the slope of the roof meets the top of the walls, but it looks like it is going to be airy enough for me at least, and only very tall folk will have to be a little bit careful.
Barn 1 hasn't been finished yet. The electricity situation has dampened down the drive to push to a completion. When we have a date for electricity it will hopefully be all systems go and we will re-order the kitchen to time it to be fitted at the same time as the electricity is switched on. The bathrooms can also be completed as the water will also be connected up at the same time as the electricity. We seem to have paid a lot of bills eg water and electricity without seeing any of the actual products! Interestingly we did get a bill for a tv license which was mildly amusing, and no, we didn't pay it. While rain and snow has stopped play (brick cleaning) we have been doing some of the more fun research like looking at lighting and wooden floors and bathrooms. I have to admit that it would be nice to have a normal life back and actually live in the barns.
Now there is a push to clear the front of the barns. The huge pile of bricks to clean has almost been converted into a pile of rubble and pallets of bricks. The process entails digging through the brick pile and sorting out the good bricks from the broken bricks. The good bricks are cleaned and stacked on pallets and ultimately converted back into barn building. The brick pile is the remains of barn 3 which was scooped up and shifted around to the front of the barns. As we have time pressure to tidy up the front (at the neighbours request) the good bricks are being partially cleaned (the big lumps of mortar knocked off) and then palleted up ready to be moved into the courtyard where they can be finished off and used for the rebuild. This has become a critical process as the bricklayers are running out of cleaned bricks.
Now isn't this a cheery sight? The log burner is fully commissioned and being lit daily. It's the first thing the builders do when they are having their breaks!
Barn 2 has no more progress although the windows and doors have been ordered and will be delivered at the end of April. That will make a dramatic difference to the look of the buildings and will mean that we can take most of the railings down from the front. We are hopeful of faster progress from now on assuming we get some flipping electricity.
At last.....the log burner is in! And tomorrow it can be lit. It's so exciting!
the brick cleaning Pile and chief technician
Reclaimed brick and quarry tile hearth
Well, this shouldn't take long as nothing much has happened. Except that is for the exemplary brick cleaning and site tidying efforts of Richard. Also the joists and floor boards have been delivered and put in place in barn 3......mostly.......there is an issue to be resolved around the position of one of the joists to allow the log burner flue to go through to the roof. However, whilst there has been a sad lack of building progress, quietly behind the scenes we have been:-
The good news is that barn 3 has grown up to the first floor. The joists have been placed and the floor boards are going down. A couple of giant steels have been ordered and they will hopefully be craned into place next week so that the first floor brick and blocks can continue. It was great to see the scaffolding go up at the beginning of the month and now we have views again
After the quiet period over Christmas we have quite a lot of progress. It rarely feels as if we are galloping along, but as long as it all keeps moving in some part of the development, it keeps the spirits up. It has definitely been a long haul and there is still a way to go, but this year will see it all finished. Absolutely. Definitely.
A hastily purchased dehumidifier has been working flat out and is gradually bringing down the humidity - today it was at 76% which is a vast improvement on 99% (!) when we first installed it. It has been moving around a bit and has had a little holiday upstairs to dry out the first floor bedroom and en-suite. The good thing about the dehumidifier is that it can be connected into the drains which is essential because it's internal bucket would have needed emptying several times a day. The next step is to get the log burner installed. This is being picked up on Monday and hopefully fitted next week. We are having a hearth for the fire and have today been scavenging around looking for a suitable surface. We were going to use the same slate tiles as in the kitchen but there was just too much wastage to even have enough for the downstairs wc. So, back to the scavenging. We have a few very large pieces of sandstone from the courtyard. Unfortunately they didn't survive too well being hauled out of the ground by the digger so they were no good for the fireplace. We also have some quarry tiles that we 'discovered' in one of the barns aeons ago after removing an enormous thicket of ivy. I think they were from the dairy in the farmhouse. After some mortar cleaning and washing, they are looking like a good candidate for the hearth. They are currently drying in the barn awaiting judgement from the builder.
The MVHR unit has been fitted in the mini loft above the utility room. It looks bigger than I expected and a bit untidy looking so I'm glad it's not on view downstairs. It's such a voyage of discovery, this barn conversion mullarkey!
Most of the tiling is finished. The ensuite bathroom and downstairs wet room are tiled in travertine and it looks absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, we hit a snag with bathroom furniture as the originally requested units are no longer available so we have had to do some rapid rethinking. Also, the electric wiring for the bathroom cabinets has been missed out, so some creative problem solving is underway(!) This has also set us on the case for sorting out the bathroom and shower room layouts in barn 2 to pre-empt any potential 'doh' moments when stud walls are fitted. The kitchen floor slate tiles look really nice too. They were chosen over a year ago and with the intervening interior design research I wasn't sure at all if I would like them when they were first being laid. Now they just need their final wipe down and sealing to really bring out the colours. Phew. We haven't re-booked the kitchen fitting yet, but I hope it will all look lovely together when it's in.
A blog diary of my creative life in Derbyshire with crochet, quilting, knitting, embroidery, textile art and baking......and barn conversions
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