LSB

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.

I have huge respect and admiration for those who have gone before us, including members of my own family, for what they did in any war to protect us. At times I think they were conned as much as any of us, but they were there in good faith putting their lives at risk. Thank you one and all. But, back to this blog, this is also so I don't forget. I'm going to try and update weekly on what I've achieved, or failed at, in the previous week and hopefully on plans for the next. It's great when others read this and comment, makes me feel less lonely on this long journey. As I have said previously, I'm looking at costs at the moment and as we are on a tight budget (most are) I'm looking at how to save money. There are always the big cost items, roof (40k), windows (30k) amongst many others and I wonder how others have managed. This week I'm trying to look into changing how we are building our cavity wall. Our build is a class Q barn conversion where we have to keep the existing walls, except for necessary new openings, it's 240m2 single story, so there is a lot of roof, twice that of a 2 story one. It also has to be metal, hence the very expensive estimate of 40k, or is it just me that thinks this sounds like a lot. The existing walls are on 80% of the barn and are block built, but single skin. We have permission to build the cavity wall outside the existing wall, but my calculations have shown this to be over 5,000 blocks. This turns out to be a lot of money, and as DIY self builders we are also concerned about how long it will take as we are not able to work full time on this. So, I have been considering other options, but not getting on very well, should we use ICF or timber frame or just bought in labour. It's easy to see how blocks will work, but I'm not so sure about building a 2nd wall outside using a different method. I can just about see how ICF would work, like big lego, but that is still expensive. The structure is not that important as it is partially clad and partially render, so whatever we use will be covered up. Apart from this I'm trying to get hold of BC re foundations, originally as we are converting they said that they don't need to see any, but as we will have to have new foundations for the 2nd skin, and damp course etc. I need to know how this works. I guess by their lack of reply that they are not available during L2. A week of questions and not many answers. I must remain optimistic that things will become clear, but it's not easy. Here's wishing good luck to everyone else taking the same journey, particularly in these difficult times. In the next week I am hoping to continue with my manual estimating and getting the internal costs down to then start of the external elements.

This maybe down to personal preference. But, what are the good / bad / ugly of warm roofs versus cold roofs and with flat roof (slight pitch) what do people think is better Thanks

thanks for these, very useful, I was wondering what I needed for these.

Having worked in IT since it was 'computing' when I left uni in 1983 I have been in a male dominated society. Without being to generalised I have found the more intelligent the male the better they respond. I never really had an issues at work as I knew my stuff. The guy yesterday was young so it was even more of a surprise. When he spoke to my husband I thought he would be exactly the same, so I was surprised when his whole attitude changed. But, keep battling on and when you find someone good, keep hold