You may have noticed we ain't blogged much lately - 'cos we've been so busy. How do we summarise this - well ....
We decided the raised floor level solution was a good idea, but the compromised lower gallery wasn't, so I spoke to the planners about 3 things - putting the kitchen in a larger extension so bringing one of the bedrooms downstairs (planners - no way), raising the roof by another metre (planners - could accept maybe 200mm, but not a metre) or lifting the bottom member of the truss to increase headroom over the gallery (planners - might be OK). The planning officer is really good and always gives feedback on what might be acceptable, but of course it's the conservation officer that has the real say. The CO's response to our 3 ideas was no, no and - well, the existing trusses are of no particular merit, so that might be acceptable. So the planner then says if we can send in revised drawings within 3 days they can deal with it under the raised floor levels application. A quick call to the architect secured his agreement, and he pulled out all the stops. The revised drawings went in on time, so we're now waiting for approval to that scheme and then we'll build it.
Meanwhile our house sale nears completion, but not without it's own traumas. Our buyers are keen to move in, yet their solicitor is still sending 10-point enquiries including items like "will your clients remove the brick barbecue" (anyone who's been to one of our barbies will know it's loose laid with no mortar, so removing it is not an issue) and "will you pay £10 for a chancel indemnity". It took some self control to respond sensibly to that last one. The upshot is, we think we'll be out of this house in 2 weeks, and haven't yet found anywhere to rent! Could be on Rightmove's website a lot this week.
But being so close to starting construction means we've ordered our structural warranty, paid for our water connection (just got to order it now once the builder has installed the standpipe), sourced our external materials and got a builder lined up to start. Then today we had a 'site visit' by friends Pam & Brian and Pam's brother and wife. A quick tour of the barn, then lunch at the pub, before we came back to Warwick to continue getting ready for the move, before setting off to Warwick Castle as VIP guests at the Proms concert, followed by a spectacular firework display.
And it's nearly Monday, ready for the start of what looks to be a hectic week ...
So now it's starting to get exciting. We've got an estimate from one builder, and we're waiting for a price from another. We realised that one of the planning conditions is that we have to submit samples of external materials before commencement, so Misan was collecting slates from one merchant whilst I was collecting bricks from another. Then I visited a few yards last Thurs evening looking at stone, and took all of our samples to Towcester on Friday for the planners to approve.
Meanwhile our house sale nears completion, but not without it's own traumas. Our buyers are keen to move in, yet their solicitor is still sending 10-point enquiries including items like "will your clients remove the brick barbecue" (anyone who's been to one of our barbies will know it's loose laid with no mortar, so removing it is not an issue) and "will you pay £10 for a chancel indemnity". It took some self control to respond sensibly to that last one. The upshot is, we think we'll be out of this house in 2 weeks, and haven't yet found anywhere to rent! Could be on Rightmove's website a lot this week.
But being so close to starting construction means we've ordered our structural warranty, paid for our water connection (just got to order it now once the builder has installed the standpipe), sourced our external materials and got a builder lined up to start. Then today we had a 'site visit' by friends Pam & Brian and Pam's brother and wife. A quick tour of the barn, then lunch at the pub, before we came back to Warwick to continue getting ready for the move, before setting off to Warwick Castle as VIP guests at the Proms concert, followed by a spectacular firework display.
And it's nearly Monday, ready for the start of what looks to be a hectic week ...
