We were drafted in to tackle a half started frame in a garden near Lingfield. The owners had been throught the mill following a ill-fated restoration attempt by another contractor. The frame was in a partial state of completion and open to the elements for just over two years whilst the red tape was untangled.

Once all the paperwork was rubberstamped we started work. Firstly we had to finish the frame and get it down onto the foundations(it was still up on blocks!). Once we were happy with how it was sitting we called in Andrew Smith structural engineer, to help with the justification of frame for the building regs.  He specified a few simple mechanical repairs to correct some of the inbuilt mistakes in the frame.

The original barn was mainly used as a garden shed, the upstairs wastoo dangerous to use but was alway intended to be an art studio. The clients really wanted to capture the feel of the original frame whilst making the space funtional and comfortable to use.  We felt that using traditional materials and finishes would give the building an authentic feel.

Once the frame was complete, settled on its foundations and fully pegged up we set about closing in. Rather than using a breather membrane we opted for 22mm and 52mm Stieco universal, an insulative sarking board made from wood fibre and tongue and grooved for an exact fit. It is a breathable product that is waterproof and quick to install.  It was felt that seeing the frame was very important so after cleaning it entirely to bring out its natural colour we infilled between studs and rafters with 100mm Steico pavaflex wood fibre batts.

The final finish was haired lime plaster from Mike Wye  associates on a backing of hand riven laths from G&M Marshman of Petworth.  We were fortunate enought to get hold of some 1″ thick elm boards and used them to make a beautiful floor with random width boards held down with rosehead nails. Astley took time to bookmatch some of the boards down the centre line of the room.

For the exterior finish we used 8″ greenoak feather edge(sizing came from a surviving piece of original cladding) held down with rosehead nails. We detailed the shutters from an original oak door. It was a simple ledged door with lapped boards and a simple scratch moulding along eachedge. We used hand made ironmongery and small wooden latches to hold them shut.

With this in mind, plus the intended re-organisation of the introductory exhibition in Hambrook barn, a space was devised whereby the floor area would be unobstructed by posts and have no windows in the walls to maximise display space. The roof pitch had to fit in with the surrounding exhibit buildings and so 45 degrees was decided on. With a span of 8 metres an 45 degree pitch would make the roof excessively high and obscure the view of exhibit buildings. A roof system was devised whereby use of 6 metre king post trusses would be placed accross the corners of the wall plates, the tie beams would take a cross beam and the cross beams would take two large LVL beams which would themselves form a box valley in the centre of the roof. The inside slope of the roof is covered in poly carbonate sheets and the exterior slope has a number of Velux conservation grade roof lights set into a traditionally tiled roof.

The insulation was from NBT and consisted of 200mm wood wool in the walls and 80mm rigid wood fibre sarking board accross rafters with scope to infill between rafters with 100mm wood wool. Anti racking was achieved using OSB on the interior face of the studs, this was pre-painted and edges lined with compriband to stop any drafts. All electrics are surface mounted with extra sockets high up to provide power for future exhibitions whilst being out of reach of the children. Heating is underfloor and powered by an air source heat pump.

This is the conversion of a 17th century timber framed, flint walled cart shed/stable into a self contained double room with en suite bathroom. We have tried to retain as much of the charm and character of the building whilst conforming to current building regs regarding insulation and heat loss. We have fitted conservation grade roof lights from the Metal Rooflight co.

Get in!

Our last house build project in Gower, South Wales is a high spec eco house designed to be ultra energy efficient. The main frame is constructed using ‘I beams’ from a British company called Touchwood Homes. This new technology from Germany allows the walls of the building to be up to 300mm thick with very little cold bridging. The voids between studs are then filled with Warmcell insulation(recycled newspaper.) The envelpope around the building is air tight but breathable and should get an airtight rating of 0.5-1.5m3/m2.hr @50Pa (UK building regs rating is 10m3/m2.hr @50Pa, Passivhaus rating is 1).

Heating will be supplied by a ground source heat pump to underfloor pipes and supplemented by a small woodburning stove in the main living area. All joinery will be high performance timber frame and triple glazed.

The client also required a certain amount of greenoak throughout the building to give a more natural feel. The kitchen/dining area is a traditional oakframe handmade and supplied by us.

The final deatailing will be feather edge wood cladding and a slate roof covering. The frame was completed in early March. The client expects to be in by Chistmas 09

What you see in this picture is the result of five weeks work. Total frame erection time is six weeks. Using pre-fabricated  frames allow a shorter ‘on site’ build time. Other frames can be erected in even shorter periods depending on the frame system(see news).

This house is still under construction although our part in the process is over. More up to date photos to follow.

Group hug

Frame

down a bit!

Oak and I beam both being used as part of the main load bearing frame

We work in all weather conditions

Internal stud walls forming master bedroom and en-suite

Ready for pegging up

The hay barn from Ockley, Surrey is the most recent historic building to be erected at the museum. The main repairs to the timbers were carried out by the museum’s veteran carpenter. I was asked to assist the collections department with framing up the replacement timbers and erection of the frame. This took place early 2008. The barn will eventually house the museum’s newly restored Marshall Threashing drum and living wagon.

At preasant, the building awaits its new roof covering due to be put on this Autumn by the collections dept with help from volunteers.

After a bad 90’s barn conversion the south facing atrium on this traditional sussex barn had rotted to the point of falling out. We were asked to install a replacement made from green oak. It was finished with direct glazing with oak cover strips. We were also commissioned to make a new exterior door from solid kiln dried oak.