Ziggys conversion

No, i'm not changing religion :lollol:.

Just been chatting with Marley about what i've been upto for the past 3 years & I thought i'd post a link to the other, other forum, so you can all get bored by it :hehe:

http://forum.downsizer.net/Ziggy_s_conversion_about51551.html

Carefull in the gardening sections mind.

 

Where did you downsize from? Forgive me if the information is in that link already, but I have a short attention span and might have overlooked it when reading it...

 

Hi SG, no its not in there, we kinda upsized really. We were stuck in a 2 bed end of terrace with 3 kids & not enough room to swing a badger. The hall came on the market, builders wern't interested because the planning was to retain the look of it, it didn't extend to demolishion & rebuild.

We bought the site with the profit on the last place & borrowed the dosh to do the work from the ecology building society.

It would have been finished long ago but building control made us underpin the whole place. The budget went flying out the window along with the subcontractors. Had to do the lot myself, plumbing, plastering, electrics etc.

 

Cheers Marley, been times when its driven me to distraction though:usr: We got 3 bedrooms at last ! Now Daughter #1 has gone to uni thats enough room to swing a badger :lollol:

It kinda heats itself with the passive solar gain most of the time. In the winter the woodburner goes out at the end of the evening, but the insulation holds the heat in overnight. There was one morning last winter when I woke up & thought it a bit chilly, (bearing in mind I don't wear pyjamas :wink it was minus 15 outsides00k

No heating or hot water bill, 12volt solar backup circuit & i'm hoping to get a grid feeding solar pv system on the roof soon.

The hall is an ex army barrack hut bought from salisbury plain in 1920s for "The Hambridge friends of the soldiers of the great war" Later to become the British Legion. We found poetry written on the walls at top bunk level & ritual protection pennies placed in 3 of the 4 walls. The British legion guy in the village gave us a framed copy of the minutes of the meeting about getting the hall up from salisbury & they bought the site with a mortgage of £10.

Most of the original fabric is still retained within the modern structure. You wouldn't believe it was pine if you'd ever had to saw thru it. probably 200 years old when it was felled & as heavy & hard as oak. None of your B&Q kiln dried **** there.

 

Just bumped this up for Chopper to have a look.

And to report that the plumber has certificated the woodburner. That means we can now get our completion certificate.

Done the VAT return, there was less vat to come back than I thought but every little helps.

 

Just brilliant Ziggy and very well done.
I love houses which are individual and not mass produced boxes.
It all comes at a price - sometimes in work more than money - but at the end of the day you get what you want.
Enjoy your achievement.

 

Cheers Alice,

I am enjoying it now. Relaxing a bit after the stress scenarios that have been going on in my head for the past few months. Doing something like this puts you at the mercy of every beaurocrat's whim. If they don't like something or want you to do it differently, you have no choice other than to comply.

finished the back elevation and (despite telling building regs how I was going to do it & them agreeing) they made me take it all down again to fire proof it just incase next door build a house next to me.

It took them 6 months into the build before they told me I've got to underpin the entire building. Imagine if you'd just bought your dream cottage, just got the finance you need to do the work & then the council spring an extra £120,000 of work on the project.

Most people would just walk away. I didn't, I just got my spade out & got on with it.

Boy, was I glad when I hit bedrock at 1.3 meters, otherwise I would of had to go 2.5 meters deep to support a single storey timber framed hut that has been here for 60+ years and not moved.:dh:

 

What a nightmare Ziggy.
Some of these people are just MAD,mad, mad.

In our last house we had lots of land, and sold a small plot with planning consent for a single storey cottage. The poor guy got hit with 10 "reserved matters" including the need to have the archeological society on site at all times.
What were they looking for - a Roman camp !

I can really understand all your frustrations.
Hope things are better now.

 

All cool now Alice. Sorry for the rant, just been a bit stress full.

We had to have an archeologist present on a couple of jobs, mind you, he was a star.

 

This is a work of love and you have done brilliantly mate, including the hardest bit of putting up with Idiots in the Council. This will give you many years of happiness to come. Well done (I hope that doesn't sound condescending as quite the opposite is meant, I am impressed.) :thumb:

 

Ziggy

I go past your place several times a week. When you hear what sounds like rolling thunder going past, IT'S ME!!!

Mrs Chopper and I were seriously thinking about buying your place when it was on the market. I have noticed the work being done but never stopped to look at what was happening.

As it happened your place was one of a couple of unusual places we were looking at. The other one was Charmouth Tunnel. The total and absolute nightmare of the red tape involved just to be able to buy either of them was off putting to say the least. We also looked at the Royal Observer Corps bunker in Yeovil. Another nightmare but this time caused by the owner being a tad smarmy and too clever for his own good. He came unstuck badly in the end, but thats another story.

You have done a grand job mate. I remember how the place looked before you started work on it. Really impressive. Very interested in the solar installations. Be good to meet you when you have chance to call in. I sent you my number, just give me a call to make sure I am home.

Regards

Chopper

 

Cheers Guys & Gals,

Ahh, thats you is it Chopper, every time you go by i have to check this site,

http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/live_storm_data.htm

Didn't know the charmouth tunnel was up for grabs, been looking at that on this site.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/

I have a book from 1927, Unknown Dorset by Donald Maxwell, that has this sketch of it.



The underpinning is only expensive if you pay someone else to do it. Otherwise, its just the costs of skips to get rid of whats coming out & the cost of the concrete to go back in. Think it was about £400 a mix.

Plenty of room on the roof for solar pv, still waiting to hear from the company though.