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Hello from Northamptonshire


BenF

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Hello

 

We figured we should say hello after reading nearly every post on the site (not necessarily understanding much).

 

Last year we purchased a barn at auction, we walk past it on a regular basis and always said it would make an amazing home. So quite thrilled that we managed to get it. But now the more tricky bit will start. We are just finalising our plans and hope to go in for planning in the next couple of months. 

 

In terms of our experience, it is pretty limited to Ikea flat pack and a bit of painting. 

 

So hello!

 

CNA-SK06-01-Floor Plans.pdf

CNA-SK06-05-Courtyard View.pdf

IMG_0066.JPG.pdf

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What a long narrow house. I wish you all the best with your project and hope it goes well for you.

Only one thought your uility room seems a bit small as I would think you will need to fit alot in there. 

All the best.

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Hi and welcome

 

You seem to have the bedrooms facing the street with only arrow slit windows, and a corridor facing SW where you can have large windows.  I would swap that around and have the corridor on the street side, who cares it only has arrow slit windows, it will give your bedrooms a sunny aspect overlooking your garden.

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46 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Hi and welcome

 

You seem to have the bedrooms facing the street with only arrow slit windows, and a corridor facing SW where you can have large windows.  I would swap that around and have the corridor on the street side, who cares it only has arrow slit windows, it will give your bedrooms a sunny aspect overlooking your garden.

Top idea. 

The bedrooms could have French doors too then. 

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59 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Hi and welcome

 

You seem to have the bedrooms facing the street with only arrow slit windows, and a corridor facing SW where you can have large windows.  I would swap that around and have the corridor on the street side, who cares it only has arrow slit windows, it will give your bedrooms a sunny aspect overlooking your garden.

Yes, we have deliberated over this quite a lot. The two reasons we ended up with were:

 

1. The neighbour's house does overlook, although there are plans for trees to block some of the view. 

2. We don't envisage using the bedrooms along there will be used that much, and we like the idea of walking down the corridor with the view of the garden. 

 

It was one of the harder choices though...

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1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Welcome.

 

It seems to have the right orientation. Is solar planned?

 

You will certainly get fit going to bed B|.

 

It is the right orientation so we will definitely have solar. Though how big and what type of system is yet to be figured. My dream is for the Tesla Solar roof, but I am not getting my hopes up for that one. 

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@BenF

 

After a little more reflection, some more detailed comments.

 

It would be useful to know:

 

1 - Do you have PP or can you still mess change it easily?

2 - Are you in a regulated area eg conservation or eg listed?

3 - What standard are you planning to build to? If it is anything like well insulated you will have thermal and solar gain issues with all those south-facing windows and skylights, never mind the aggravating factor of having the proportions of a bent narrowboat broadside on to the sun with essentially a glass wall on that side B|.

4 - Skylights? Personally I think those skylights look not-very-attractive and a bit scattergun.

5 - Is the back straight on to the street?

6 - Are your slates reclaimable?

 

Hopefully your architect is already talking about solutions. She seems to have quite attractive pricing at about 6-8% of project cost (based on her website). Possibly Clare Nash is one to consider for others here.

 

My thoughts.

 

3, You need to think about shading and brises soleil. And the low height makes that quite demanding.

 

Technical solutions such as anti-solar film are available, but I would also consider something like an orangery / veranda / winter garden / arcade (see eg Italy or Spain) along part or all of it. Were that to be combined with a partial screening wall further out in the courtyard (no reason why it needs to be totally solid, or straight on plan) you would get a courtyard garden sun trap hidden from overlooking where you could cavort in private to your hearts' content, while keeping rooms private. You may need to move the entrance in the courtyard wall more away from the house.

 

That would also help with overheating in the autumn / spring.

 

For the veranda I would consider a roof made of solar panels at a shallow angle which cannot be seen from the ground, or with eg a 150mm high edge parapet.

 

Thermal modelling will be important.

 

4 - I think those roof windows would be better on the North side, so that quite-deep rooms had lighting both sides. Roof windows give much more light than wall windows. You may be able to drop the slit windows entirely. You also would not have to look at them from your garden, and the solar panels could be tidier.

 

This rental of mine uses a similar principle backing on to a public path:

1bsv-site-plot.jpg

 

It is discussed in this blog entry. The rooms are approx 4.5m deep and the back-side roof windows are transformative.

 

5 - If it does back straight onto the street, and you choose the wrong finish, Gorbag the Graffiti Artist will potentially have a ball, and Lobelia the Licensing Officer could make you pay loadsamoney for scaffolding licenses to repair/maintain it. 3ft of your land outside there would make all the difference.

 

Tactically you could maintain it while the Council were not looking. More effectively you could leave it like it is now and perhaps just repoint, or finish in powerwash-off anti graffiti paint.

 

6 - Reuse if possible. Assume you are planning this.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited by Ferdinand
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What a lovely project.  Have you considered sliding pocket doors between the bedrooms and bathrooms?  It would give you a lot more clearance where space is tight; I'm planning to use them in a couple of places in our new build.

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On 19/03/2018 at 11:55, vivienz said:

What a lovely project.  Have you considered sliding pocket doors between the bedrooms and bathrooms?  It would give you a lot more clearance where space is tight; I'm planning to use them in a couple of places in our new build.

 

Hey Vivienz, what a great idea! We have not considered it but I think it makes perfect sense. 

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2 minutes ago, BenF said:

Have you considered sliding pocket doors between the bedrooms and bathrooms

Just be careful what brushes you use (if you use any at all) where the door goes into the wall. Mine are a tad to noisy and will use something softer next time

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On 19/03/2018 at 07:08, Ferdinand said:

@BenF

 

After a little more reflection, some more detailed comments.

 

It would be useful to know:

 

1 - Do you have PP or can you still mess change it easily?

2 - Are you in a regulated area eg conservation or eg listed?

3 - What standard are you planning to build to? If it is anything like well insulated you will have thermal and solar gain issues with all those south-facing windows and skylights, never mind the aggravating factor of having the proportions of a bent narrowboat broadside on to the sun with essentially a glass wall on that side B|.

4 - Skylights? Personally I think those skylights look not-very-attractive and a bit scattergun.

5 - Is the back straight on to the street?

6 - Are your slates reclaimable?

 

Hopefully your architect is already talking about solutions. She seems to have quite attractive pricing at about 6-8% of project cost (based on her website). Possibly Clare Nash is one to consider for others here.

 

My thoughts.

 

3, You need to think about shading and brises soleil. And the low height makes that quite demanding.

 

Technical solutions such as anti-solar film are available, but I would also consider something like an orangery / veranda / winter garden / arcade (see eg Italy or Spain) along part or all of it. Were that to be combined with a partial screening wall further out in the courtyard (no reason why it needs to be totally solid, or straight on plan) you would get a courtyard garden sun trap hidden from overlooking where you could cavort in private to your hearts' content, while keeping rooms private. You may need to move the entrance in the courtyard wall more away from the house.

 

That would also help with overheating in the autumn / spring.

 

For the veranda I would consider a roof made of solar panels at a shallow angle which cannot be seen from the ground, or with eg a 150mm high edge parapet.

 

Thermal modelling will be important.

 

4 - I think those roof windows would be better on the North side, so that quite-deep rooms had lighting both sides. Roof windows give much more light than wall windows. You may be able to drop the slit windows entirely. You also would not have to look at them from your garden, and the solar panels could be tidier.

 

This rental of mine uses a similar principle backing on to a public path:

1bsv-site-plot.jpg

 

It is discussed in this blog entry. The rooms are approx 4.5m deep and the back-side roof windows are transformative.

 

5 - If it does back straight onto the street, and you choose the wrong finish, Gorbag the Graffiti Artist will potentially have a ball, and Lobelia the Licensing Officer could make you pay loadsamoney for scaffolding licenses to repair/maintain it. 3ft of your land outside there would make all the difference.

 

Tactically you could maintain it while the Council were not looking. More effectively you could leave it like it is now and perhaps just repoint, or finish in powerwash-off anti graffiti paint.

 

6 - Reuse if possible. Assume you are planning this.

 

Ferdinand

 

17

 

Hi Ferdinand,

 

Thank you for the detailed response!

 

In terms of the first 6 questions:

 

1- Do you have PP or can you still mess change it easily? We are looking to go into planning in the next 3 - 4 weeks. 

2 - Are you in a regulated area eg conservation or eg listed? Conservation area

3 - What standard are you planning to build to? If it is anything like well insulated you will have thermal and solar gain issues with all those south-facing windows and skylights, never mind the aggravating factor of having the proportions of a bent narrowboat broadside on to the sun with essentially a glass wall on that side B|. Yes this is a challenge, hence the architect.

4 - Skylights? Personally I think those skylights look not-very-attractive and a bit scattergun. We are going to align them as best we can, the master bedroom one we will change, it is tricky as our architect does not think we will have any hope of having the plans agreed with them on the other side. 

5 - Is the back straight on to the street? Yes

6 - Are your slates reclaimable? On the front of the barn no, on the back yes. 

 

 

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