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14 hours ago, Nick Laslett said:

Just caught up with the episode. @thefoxesmaltings, well done with your build. What a stunning home you have both created. How you spent your budget must give a lot of hope for what can be done. I’m sure there are many plots of land with footing for old buildings, that could yield planning permission for others. I’m sure more details on that part of the journey would be quite enlightening. 


Thanks very much for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the episode.

In terms of the planning, there was a historical consultant that carried out some research on the land. Some historical maps were pulled, looking what was on the land before, years ago. In this case - a historical malthouse. These were easily obtained for free, from the National Library Of Scotland. It's quite fascinating to have a nose around to see what was where you live hundreds of years ago anyway!

The planners were really onboard with the idea of restoring a heritage building, albeit, all we found on site were some old footings, a few bricks (nothing that would pass regs nowadays obviously).

A design was put together to pay homage to the old malthouse (the front had to look quite traditional), but at the same time, as it's a new building, bring a modern take to it. Which is the Corten glass portal, and the more contemporary rear.

 

Hope that adds a bit of insight, but let me know if there's any others questions, happy to answer.

 

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Just now, Super_Paulie said:


just the weekends? Im 2 years in, 5 days a week after work and weekends and ive just got lights 😆


Well we did spend 623k on trades, so it's not like we were building the whole thing ourselves. We did a lot, and got really hands on, but we didn't build the whole thing. Please don't get that assumption.

Many evenings after work and some early mornings too can be included into that. And any holidays we had with work, we spent that on-site working.

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27 minutes ago, thefoxesmaltings said:


Well we did spend 623k on trades, so it's not like we were building the whole thing ourselves. We did a lot, and got really hands on, but we didn't build the whole thing. Please don't get that assumption.

Many evenings after work and some early mornings too can be included into that. And any holidays we had with work, we spent that on-site working.


im just winding, its a great effort. Unfortunately my missus saw these sort of things on Instagram and TikTok and almost all the trades were not shown so thought it would be a few months job. You do get quite the false impression from social media unfortunately. 

I might have missed it but did you go for any sort of home automation. Id hate to have left a light on at the far end of the building... 😆

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Just caught up watching the episode. Awesome job and what a result! Can only imagine the fears and worries building something of that scale! Hats off to both of you, what a team! Hope you get to give a talk at a self build exhibition someday. You would be inspiring to listen to. 

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On 07/10/2024 at 12:55, Super_Paulie said:


im just winding, its a great effort. Unfortunately my missus saw these sort of things on Instagram and TikTok and almost all the trades were not shown so thought it would be a few months job. You do get quite the false impression from social media unfortunately. 

I might have missed it but did you go for any sort of home automation. Id hate to have left a light on at the far end of the building... 😆


I know you are, don't worry. Social media is great, but it sometimes doesn't show the reality. We've tried to do the opposite and show all the gritty parts on ours.

We did install home automation. You didn't miss it, just wasn't shown on the episode. It's a system by Baulogic. It has things like scenes for rooms, phone controlled and motion sensors. Nothing over the top. I work in tech, and know how complicated and unnecessary things can be, so it was all about keeping it simple.

Things like the lights in the bathroom automatically coming on when they detect motion during the late hours of the night, but only very dimly. So if you need the toilet during the night, you can see where you're going, but aren't blinded. It has the ability to do stuff like that.

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On 07/10/2024 at 21:31, mike2016 said:

Just caught up watching the episode. Awesome job and what a result! Can only imagine the fears and worries building something of that scale! Hats off to both of you, what a team! Hope you get to give a talk at a self build exhibition someday. You would be inspiring to listen to. 


Thanks so much. It was a lot of pressure for sure. Who knows what the future holds, maybe.

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Well I am really going to have to disagree with everyone else on this @thefoxesmaltings it was rubbish....

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, not really - 😁 - really great effort and ended up with a lovely looking building.

 

It shows what can be achieved with personal effort and I would echo the sentiments of others that the chap that you got to help was amazing, such a nice guy.

 

I am sure you are much more relaxed now that the build is finished (yes, I know, it never really finishes) and you can move on with your really quiet lives!!!

 

Congrats and well done.

 

We are just at the start of our process, currently waiting for planning, and just looking forward to when we can really get going.

 

Loved the Cor-Ten by the way.

Edited by mjc55
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On 11/10/2024 at 13:31, mjc55 said:

Well I am really going to have to disagree with everyone else on this @thefoxesmaltings it was rubbish....

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, not really - 😁 - really great effort and ended up with a lovely looking building.

 

It shows what can be achieved with personal effort and I would echo the sentiments of others that the chap that you got to help was amazing, such a nice guy.

 

I am sure you are much more relaxed now that the build is finished (yes, I know, it never really finishes) and you can move on with your really quiet lives!!!

 

Congrats and well done.

 

We are just at the start of our process, currently waiting for planning, and just looking forward to when we can really get going.

 

Loved the Cor-Ten by the way.

 

Ha - thanks very much. Yes, we were very lucky to have a community that was so supportive.

 

Exciting times ahead for you if you're going through planning!

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