LSB

Hi, I'm also in EA doing about the same size, where are you, we are in East Suffolk.

Thanks, this forum is a godsend for me The main issue was the barn, it was built for pigs so definitely agricultural, but I'd used it for my horses for years and equestrian buildings are not valid for class Q. So, I found it quite difficult to get an architect to even work with us and these guys were recommended. It turns out though that it is the history of the building that matters, as in what it was built for, all we had to do was remove any horsy stuff, before the LPA visited, so it looked like it did when we bought it and no problem, but our architect just thought it was going to be an issue all the way through so didn't really bother to try. With other clients they are possibly brilliant. The LPA were great with me, potentially because I was an individual and helped me loads, I know they get a lot of bad press, but she helped me. I just didn't want to get any one else to do new drawing because of the cost having already spent about 15k.

Thanks, I'm planning on using the same company that did the contamination surveys, I will instruct them once I receive their report, hopefully by the end of the year. Thanks for all you help and advice.

All the architect did was draw the existing structure and then suggest a layout for after the conversion. He failed to get us planning 3 times, refusing to do what the LPA suggested saying that the LPA shouldn't need them and only making very minor changes to the plans. This whole process cost me many 1000's. The LPA said on every failure that they wanted a structural and phase 1 contamination survey, but the architect, he say NO. I believed that he knew best as he came highly recommended to get class Q approval. So, I started doing my own research over a 6 month period to find out lots more details, including looking at all the class Q apps for the last 3 years, of which 70% were refused. Over this time I learnt a lot. I realised how arrogant I had been, having done lots of renovations and a couple of extensions I thought I understood things, but now I know better. I then parted company with the architect, did a pre-app consultation with the LPA to see what the problems really were, got the above surveys myself, wrote a very long report including my plans to render / clad, ASHP, PV, water treatment etc, submitted that and had the planning in 5 weeks. So, I guess you could say that right now I don't have an architect. A condition of approval was a 3 month phase 2 contamination survey so during that time, which ends during December, I have been looking at what I want / need / can do. I've spoken to BC who say that they are not interested in foundations as we are a conversion. I've spoken to the LPA who say that we can change the internal layout how we like, so I've been looking into that as well. We re planning on a DIY build, hubby used to be a builder working on new builds for a company, and we will get subbies when we need them. I work part time from home and has spent the last 20 years project managing projects, not buildings, but process is similar.

Bit like replacing spalled bricks then, first I need to find out if there is one. The SE dug 3 holes on the exterior of the walls so I will also check his report and see what he said. Farmers just do as they wish and what with all the extra floors and the concrete yard we can't see how deep the walls go to know about DC or foundations. But I suspect that even if there is one that we are better doing this as it is likely to be bridged multiple times.

now more options, I think I need alcohol. The floor is currently on 4 levels, we are already going to dig down to the original floor as the others have just been poured onto that one. Then we will lay a proper floor on top as I can't imagine it is very even. The SE passed the floor as fine when we had structural stability report to get planning. The contamination survey was to do with soil contamination and gas as it was a pig farm and pigs produce lots of **** Luckily the ex slurry pit is on the land of our current house and not in the curtilage of the barn. This survey took 3 months of monitoring and has just finished, we are still waiting for the report to discharge our condition. We were caught between a rock and a hard place, to get planning the building had to be physically fit to convert, but once that was agreed we can't really say now that it's not. At the moment I'm leaning towards the EWI, hubby just says "tell me what we are going to do when you find out" ? Once I have a final decision on this and a better list of what we need then I shall send off for estimates, although being rather OCD I'm also looking myself. Then I shall get BC and structural drawings.

how do you cut in a DC without the blocks above collapsing?

thanks greatly, more investigation needed. we are not sure yet about the damp proof course, will this work with a retrospective injected course, something we had to apply to a previous renovation for a rental. We think that there is one, but with all the extra floors added and the concrete yard it's not obvious.

I do of course mean a 5mm gap between floor and wall ? We also have to remove the bit of asbestos roof early on in the process.

the lack of any necessary foundations sounds good. Some one else said about putting the insulation and cladding / rendering directly on the outside of the existing walls. Is that possible?

Thanks, the block laying quotes we are getting are much higher than £1 per block, probably double that. I am confused. Before we have done renovations and extensions, but no conversions I would be perfectly happy to build from scratch, it's all these restrictions that are getting me. I spoke to the LPA re knock down and start again and they said absolutely no chance as it counts as building in the countryside. Here are a few pictures, out planning drawings by the architect are just lines on a page and don't specify any materials. Our planning approval says that we must use the walls, floor, roof etc to ensure it is a conversion not a new build. We are already being a bit risky by replacing the roof. The current one is roofing sheets and leeks, the floor is 4 different levels with concrete on concrete on concrete. It was for breeding pigs and I've no idea why they had to do this, most of the floors are younger than the walls so they a floating and have a 5m gap between the edge and the wall. Here are a few pictures. Originally we were going to do some external cavity walls and some internal, but then when I realised how much space that would take up inside and how many blocks were involved we started looking at other ideas. On the long North side there is no wall at all so that ones easy, but the rest are currently driving me mad.

Although we are building the 2nd skin outside the original it is because there is currently a large overhang ranging from 0.2 to 1m which is included in the footprint, but is outside the walls. You are right, we are not allowed to extend the dimensions, but we also have to keep the walls. See picture here showing largest overhang. I don't have the BC or structural drawings yet, I'm just trying to work out cost and what to use first.

It would be the following length, 24.5 + 9.5 + 19 + 6 + 5.5 + 16 = 90.5 one skin, doubled = 181 + internal walls as they need to be load bearing which is loads, can't find my measurements to hand. Hence the 5,000 ish count. If you look at my blogs there is a plan in there.

we have considered that, but at the moment the work and cost that would entail is huge. The back wall is 24.5m long and the side ones between 10 and 16 (it is an L shape), my calculations were that it is over 5,000 blocks. Also, the planners have told us that this is not acceptable as that would constitute a new build in the country and not a conversion. if we did this it would have to be one wall at a time, and in fact with the long one part of it.

we don't have any detailed plans of the current floor at the moment, getting them once our contamination surveys are done.

we are not sure at the moment. there are multiple floor levels, some of which are floating floors and until we get them out we can't see. the barn was build in the 60's so I think it will have.

thanks for this information we are doing a barn conversion with single block walls which we must keep, as we must keep the roof type (metal) and pitch. I'm just getting to the stage now where I feel like I know less now that I did to start with.

this is a barn conversion, we must keep the existing walls and roof type (metal) so are limited with what we can do.

we are doing a barn conversion so we can't dig the floor very far because of the limited foundations of the existing walls that we must keep. We are planning on going down a bit, but that is already allowed for in the height calculations.

I don't think I can use the foil in the roof either, after looking, as it's a warm roof which needs much thicker insulation. I need thin insulation for the floor which handles UFH and I thought from my research that you could use the foil, back to the drawing board. We have a metal flat roof, well 5 degrees and we have a maximum ridge height of 3.015m. With that pitch it takes us down to 2.276 at the lowest point with the roof 9.3m. This is pretty low so we are planning the layout to handle this, but we need to minimise both floors and ceilings as much as possible. Our architect made all the lowest bits storage, but that loses a lot of living space so I want to make it more usable.

Please can someone explain to me. I'm trying to get my head around internal insulation, plasterboards, plastering, skimming and painting for walls. I've been researching, but not getting far. So, I have block walls which I need to internally insulate and then get ready for painting. I've read about insulated plasterboard, but hear it's expensive. then there is insulation with plasterboard on top. Then, some research says you can paint straight onto plasterboard, but what about the joins, even when they are tapes, how would that ever be smooth, knowing that I'm painting not wallpapering. The what about plastering versus skimming, is it simply that one is thicker than the other. It seems to be that the more I look the more confused I become. The plan for the floors and ceiling is SuperFOIL SFUF as we are very limited in height and this insulation is very thin. TIA

but don't you have to have a cavity to meet the insulation regulations, I would love to do the above with the house both timber clad in some parts and render in the other. that would be so much simpler and cheaper

thanks, great to see someone's plans that have made it to completion and interesting to see how you did away with some things during the build.

what sewage treatment plant did you decide on

congratulations on building yourself a lovely house. any chance you can show us a layout. you are very lucky to get a grant of 38k, nothing like that is available in my neck of the woods. enjoy living there and it's lovely to know that you have plenty of equity in your property in these uncertain times.