My barn conversion

[EddyP]

Hi Guys

Thought it about time I put a thread together for my workshop build/barn conversion.
We bought the place back in June 2015, unfortunately the house had to take the priority, so my nice organised workshop from our old place ended up like this:

And that was only half of it!

This is what the barn looked like when we were looking around prior to purchase, at the time there was a wall blocking off the driveway so the entrance was by driving through the barn!

This was us on moving day, everything had to be carried through to the house as the trucks wouldn't fit through the barn.

One of the first jobs to do was to get the wall across the driveway taken down and turned into a proper entrance so that I could then close the barn up.
Once this was done a new pair of doors needed to be made for one side of the barn as they were missing, they're big doors too!
Unfortunately the property is Grade II listed, as a result of this every little thing needs planning permission, even if we wanted to change the guttering or fix the roof, we need permission, it's a real pain, but we don't mind. I did meet the local conservation officer before we bought the place and told them of my intentions for the barn and had an OK, if they hadn't been on board we wouldn't have bought it.

Once our planning permission came through we could get started on the drive way wall.

Picked up some beefy Oak gate posts:

And just popped them in, 1 metre deep.

Then the walls could be built:

Finished:

Now time for the proper work to begin:

And then I could finally park a car inside!

Not for long though as quite a lot of work is about to start.....

 

[gaz1]

looking real nice there though i must admit id have ripped that wall down first be4fore carrying them all through the barn

 

[the snooper]

looking real nice there though i must admit id have ripped that wall down first be4fore carrying them all through the barn

he couldnt due to it being a listed building

 

[EddyP]

he couldnt due to it being a listed building

Exactly, I did look into it, but it took me a month to do the drawings for the permission, then a further 3 months for the planners to think about it.
Luckily the removal people didn't mind too much, at least I' moved the lathe for them rather than expecting them to lug a Chipmaster through there! They struggled enough with the Snap On box!

 

[Crater Creator]

Cracking job there mate. Love the new wall and posts.
No shortage of working space in your workshop as well - many happy hours will be spent I'm sure.

 

[EddyP]

Once the original pair of doors were closed up I wanted to add some more security so they were boarded up, they won't ever be used for driving in/out. It also adds a bit of insulation and weather proofing.
The little hatches in the boarding are so that I can get to the latches on the gates to open them incase I need to do any repairs to them in the future, they're pretty old and the timber has seen much better days.

Now to start painting, I only wanted to paint the sections that had previously been painted/ lime washed, I didn't want to lime wash as it's a complete PITA but instead I've used a modern breathable paint, it's important with old stone work to make sure that everything can breath, if it can't you end up with damp problems or render falling off the walls.

Picked up an airless sprayer at a bargain price from Amazon last year in the Christmas sales:

And managed to convince the wife that she could help by doing all the fiddly cutting in:

Before and afters:

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Coming along nicely! Keep up the goo work [and reports ].

Is that a Tuscan you have?

 

[EddyP]

Coming along nicely! Keep up the goo work [and reports ].

Is that a Tuscan you have?

Thanks, have a lot more done, just need to get the posts done

It's a Chimaera, a lot more affordable than a Tuscan. At some point I'll get round to a body off restoration, the chassis is looking quite scabby on it now.

 

[Kent]

Top job so far

 

[addjunkie]

Nice stone work on the walls quite satisfying once you get the hand of it. If you want to age it quickly brusk on a mix of cheap yogurt and sheet sh1t thinned with water.

And youll need to insulate that roof in the bar....but sure you know that already

 

[sardine]

The mig forum clubhouse is coming on nice.

Will there be guest ales ?

 

[EddyP]

And youll need to insulate that roof in the bar....but sure you know that already

The mig forum clubhouse is coming on nice.

Will there be guest ales ?

Afraid there's no room for a bar, especially when there's a nice pub a couple of minute walk down the road

Some of my mates often come round on a Monday evening to get work done on their car/my car/my barn etc.. we start work at 7.30 then go to the pub at 9.30, works perfectly.

Now for the next instalment:

Time to paint the floor!

Start off with an acid etch

Smoothed out some cracks

Got the wife giving it a clean

Getting the primer down

Now time for some top coat

Don't appear to have taken any photos when I finished painting though which was a bit of a mistake.

I did start having a look at some electrics too, got a few sockets to put in

Also started to run some trunking around the top of the walls

Haven't got many other electrical photos, need to take some.

A delivery arrived to distract me from electrics though....

 

[awemawson]

That corrugated iron roof is going to run buckets of condensation - it fairly drips off mine in my welding shop, whereas the main workshop is foam sprayed and heated.

What do you plan to use? Too late for foam spray now as it goes everywhere

 

[EddyP]

Currently there isn't any insulation and I've had a little bit of condensation but not much. The plan is to replace the roof sheets in the summer and as a minimum replace with ones with an anti condensation coating on them, or better still if I can decide how I'll insulate it. One option is to sheet the underside of the rafters with 12mm ply and then put standard rock wool between the corrugated sheets and the ply, or better still put kingspan but I think the finance might rule kingspan out, it's a pretty big area to insulate!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

You're not stinting yourself on the electrics

Are there steps going to that back door? What about railings round the drop in level?

 

[armalites]

You may actually find that Kingspan isn't much more than sheets of ply. It's clear you have some nice stuff and I guarantee the day you have the worst condensation will be when you haven't been in there for a few days and you've left the lid open on the Snap On roll cab. The more stuff/thermal mass you get in there the worse it will get. An old stone build like that will breath as it would have been built with lime mortar/plaster but unless you have used limewash and not normal paint then there is a good chance you removed one of things that would help control the moisture.

It's going to be really nice when it's all done.

 

[Rig Pig]

+1 I have insulated my workshop and garage, the garage used to rain inside when it was damp and small amount of insulation had dried it out completely keeping my car nice and dry through the winter. The workshop is much more heavily insulated, in the middle of winter I pop the heating on, go back indoors and make a cup of tea, by the time I have finished it the workshop is nice and warm, I hate try to work in the Cold!

 

[knighty]

you can get roof sheets with insulation built in... it's pretty much 2 sheets with insulation sandwiched between

mate of mine used it, says it went on really easily and works well

I'm going to re-do one of my roves with the same stuff in the summer

going to follow his trick and buy really long sheets (he ordered them the right size)... that way you only need 1 sheet to go from the ridge to the gutter :-)

 

[EddyP]

You're not stinting yourself on the electrics

Are there steps going to that back door? What about railings round the drop in level?

I hate having to use extensions, there's quite a lot of sockets going in! Although I can assure you there will still never be one where needed!

There's a single large step by the back door, not enough to need a railing around it, plus there isn't space for a railing anymore

You may actually find that Kingspan isn't much more than sheets of ply. It's clear you have some nice stuff and I guarantee the day you have the worst condensation will be when you haven't been in there for a few days and you've left the lid open on the Snap On roll cab. The more stuff/thermal mass you get in there the worse it will get. An old stone build like that will breath as it would have been built with lime mortar/plaster but unless you have used limewash and not normal paint then there is a good chance you removed one of things that would help control the moisture.

It's going to be really nice when it's all done.

I did price up the ply, I can get a sheet of 8x4 for £12, kingspan thick enough to do anything worthwhile is about 3x that. You are right though, it really does need considerable consideration.
The paint I've used is breathable, it's specialist stuff for stone buildings, plus the joint between the sheets and the tops of the walls is plenty drafty enough at the moment.

you can get roof sheets with insulation built in... it's pretty much 2 sheets with insulation sandwiched between

mate of mine used it, says it went on really easily and works well

I'm going to re-do one of my roves with the same stuff in the summer

going to follow his trick and buy really long sheets (he ordered them the right size)... that way you only need 1 sheet to go from the ridge to the gutter :-)

You can, unfortunately only in a box type section, not a traditional corrugated section which is what I have to stay with due to the listing.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Although I can assure you there will still never be one where needed!

Always the case, no matter how well you plan ahead.

There's a single large step by the back door, not enough to need a railing around it, plus there isn't space for a railing anymore

Aye, but you need to allow for dummies like me, who are capable of stepping off the edge while admiring something...like the TVR for example......