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Demolition Begins 💣
This week I started taking down the turkey shed. We have several buildings to demolish but have started with the main barn this week and will then move on to taking the other barns down throughout the year. The budget will be very tight for this project and following costings from the builders we need…
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Solar Research
We have been very keen throughout this project to consider how our build will affect the environment. Whilst we are not planning to build the kind of house that requires us to drink our own wee, we do want to have a construction that doesn’t make the earth groan. Solar is a great option for…
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Why we have chosen a timber-frame build
Building a home is a monumental decision, and choosing the right construction method is crucial. After extensive research and consideration, I decided to delve into the various house-building options available in the UK. Here’s a simple breakdown of the pros and cons of traditional masonry, timber frame, SIPS and ICF and why we ultimately chose…
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Asbestos Removal
It has been an exciting week on-site as we have had the first proper bit of demolition occurring. While we were only required to remove the asbestos from the turkey shed as part of the planning, we decided it was best to remove all the asbestos from around the land. This decision ended up being…
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Asbestos Condition Approved
After a three-month wait, our planning condition for asbestos removal has finally been approved! 🎉 We faced some delays initially because our previous asbestos company let us down by not providing the necessary reports. Thankfully, Colchester Asbestos Services stepped in and quickly supplied everything we needed. The previous company had given us a competitive quote,…
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Functioning Tractor
One of the barns we acquired came with a delightful surprise—a rather aged tractor. When we purchased the land, we were generously allowed to keep this old relic. After some serious poking and prodding, and with a little help from a friend who knows far more about mechanics than I ever will, we managed to…
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Clearing out the chicken cages
While we await the green light on the asbestos planning condition discharge, we decided to roll up our sleeves and start clearing out the barns that need their roofs removed. The barn at the far end of the plot houses the enormous chicken cages you see in the picture. We’ve been quite fortunate to have…
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Water
We found ourselves in need of a water connection and promptly sought assistance from Anglian Water. Initially, it seemed we would require a pipe running 300 metres around the field to reach the main connection (as you can see in the diagram). However, upon chatting with the farmer, we learned that there was already a…
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New Build Planning Approved
Amazingly our planning application has been approved! As previously mentioned, we have to pay the Section 106 payment, but I have made my peace with it as the overall build cost will be massively reduced going from a renovation to a new build. 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
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Electricity Connection
Connecting the barn to the power grid has turned out to be quite the undertaking. UK Power Networks (UKPN) informed us that we needed to upgrade the 200-metre power line running down the farm, as well as the transformer up at the farmhouse. We had to decide whether a single-phase or three-phase connection would be…
