Time to catch up

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.

 

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 ...

Are we there yet?

We're almost ready to start building.  The Building Regs application went in on  Monday, and in theory we can start within 48 hours, although we haven't quite got a builder yet.


Mind you, the scheme we've submitted for approval is the one with the higher floor levels, and Misan is not convinced that this is a good solution.  She's still concerned it contains too many compromises on headroom, gallery height, etc to be worthwhile pursuing, whilst I maintain that any design that avoids underpinning seems right to me.  We need to discuss with our builders to get a better feel for the relative costs and merits of the 2 schemes.


Raising the floor levels has also required a new Listed Building Consent application, and a Minor Material Amendment application to the planning permission - which attracts extra fees.  And of course we've had to pay our designers more to develop this alternative, plus the building regs application fee ... it's never ending.  A word of caution here for any prospective self-builders - all of the costs we've incurred so far have exceeded the allowances suggested in the various self build magazines.


We also saw a house for rent that fits the bill for us.  We applied straight away, but the landlord has apparently chosen someone else who wants a longer term.  We've offered a higher rent to convince them otherwise, but haven't heard back yet.  We need to get somewhere soon, as the buyers are keen to complete on our house in late July.


Then I re-dug the trial holes at the barn by hand on Monday evening so that the architect can get levels on the underside of the stone walls and relate them to other existing and proposed levels.  I still can't believe they haven't done this up to now, as to me it's the most critical piece of information about the existing structure, but at least we now have it and so can be more certain about the proposed design solutions.  We live in hope.

Let down by Kiwis

There I was, in line for a maximum 10 points in our World Cup Predictions competition, when New Zealand get an injury time equaliser!


And just before our Warwick house was surveyed yesterday by the purchaser's surveyor, the Kiwi plant against the back wall was blown over by a gust of wind, nicely exposing a crack in the brickwork below the kitchen window.


We're now waiting nervously for any feedback from the survey, hoping he didn't find anything serious enough to put the buyers off.  Should find out tomorrow ...

Back to the drawing board

Six weeks after we asked the architect and engineer to proceed with the Building Regs drawings, which should have taken 1-2 weeks, we've had to get them round the table and have a radical rethink.  As the details were being drawn up, it became apparent that horrendous foundation works, including underpinning, was needed to build the scheme that's been approved by the planners.  So we've suggested the designers now look at a higher ground floor level to avoid undermining the existing stone walls. This will mean pushing the bedrooms further up into the roof - which can't be raised any more than the 500mm raising allowed on the approved plans - but which we think can be accommodated because there's enough headroom between the trusses to do this.


The frustrating thing is that we've had to address this at such a late stage - we've got builders waiting for these drawings to give us quotations.  And again it's our ideas and our initiative that they're now going to develop.  Why don't they come up with these in the first place?


Oh, and it's 7 months since we bought the barn, and we're still a month away from starting building work ....

Homeless

After a month of inactivity in the housing market - everyone waiting for the election, then waiting for the Dave & Nick love-in to finish, then waiting for the announcement on spending cuts, then ... we had a viewing at our house yesterday, and agreed a sale today!


So we're back looking at Rightmove, but to rent a house this time until our barn becomes habitable.

Not that things are charging along on that front.  We're doing our bits - cleared out 2 more trailer loads of rusty scrap metal last weekend, had a big bonfire to burn all our scrap wood, and mowed/strimmed our grass and the verge along the road.  It was really hot, too, so we had to retreat to the pub for cooling shandy.  Discovered my wife is becomong a bit of a photographer, too - have a look at this one ...

But the designers are frustrating us at the moment by taking so long to produce the Building Regs drawings.  They're into their 5th week now on something they told us would take a week or two, and some of the structural details they've come up with don't seem that buildable - and look expensive!  And the absence of those drawings is delaying everything at the moment, as we need those drawings for builders to give us quotes.


Still, we're getting on well with the neighbours now.  Even feeding their animals with our grass cuttings ...

Now that's a fence

Met our final builder today at the barn.  They seem a good company, too, so with the 2 or 3 others we have a decent group to invite tenders from.  Just need the Building Regs drawings from our architect now and we can send out tender packs.


Our cottage neighbours have put up a fence around their part of the paddock.  We were worried that it was going to be a close boarded fence that would have blocked our view down the valley, but fortunately it's a really neat 3 rail fence, with a short close boarded section between our two gates, which actually gives us more privacy whilst retaining the views.  What a relief.

Also started finding out how to obtain a new water supply.  As usual, we're close to the border of 3 authorities; our water supply comes from Anglian, our sewerage goes to Thames Water!  Ended up downloading 3 separate forms and 5 guidance documents - which indicate that Anglian could need up to 3 months notice if traffic lights are required.  Gonna send off that application tomorrow!

A Historic Day

So you think appointing our new Prime Minister was a momentous decision.  Huh, that's nuffink.  The biggest decision this week was made by our planning officer - to approve our application.  It was indicated on the planning website first thing this morning (about the same time as Dave stepped into No. 10) although we haven't had the decision notice yet, so still don't know what conditions they'll attach.  But at least we know for sure now that it's approved.

Met one of our prospective builders last night to 'interview' him for suitability and availability.  Had some useful discussions, so he's on the list.  Trying to find time to meet a few more whilst the Building Regs drawings are being finalised, so that we can then invite tenders as soon as they're ready.

Also noticed that our neighbour has started fencing the paddock in front of the barn with what looks like a stockproof fence.  We hope so, as that will retain the open aspect and mean we still have a view down the valley.