THE BARN CONVERSION

The Barn was built somewhere around 1887 as the builders marks on one of the main beam shows. The construction was of local stone and red earth the walls being over 50cm thick. The red earth is clay like, it sticks the stones together and sets very hard. The main beams are of various timbers principally oak with hornbeam. The roof construction is typical of the area with an inbuilt curve to allow the canal tiles to sit tightly on each other and the roof timbers rest on beams lying along the top of the wall. You can see the construction of walls and roof in the hanger. It had no services connected but when the village drainage was modernised a mains drainage access was laid to the outside of the barn.

To obtain planning permission we had to submit architects plans to the local Marie but these plans had also to be approved by the office of the Architect de France, the reason for this was that the building is within 500m of a historic monument, the church. We tried to ensure that the Barn reflected the other buildings in the village especially as it was at the entrance to the main part of the village. For this reason we did not include solar panels on the roof as they would destroy the harmony of the roofscape which we tried to maintain by using new tiles underneath and good condition old tiles with a patina on top. The new dressed stone was chosen to match as closely as possible the existing stones in texture and presence of fossil shells. Where possible materials that have been taken out during the renovation have been reused elsewhere.

A local building firm who specialised in working with stone and this type of building were selected and they in turn helped find the joiners and electrician that they were happy to work with.

The first stage involved stripping out the old cow stalls, hay lofts, and the timbers that were non structural and worm eaten. Then stripping the roof back to the main timbers saving the old canal tiles that were still in good condition so that they could be replaced on completion to keep the old look and feel of the roof.

The old stone floor was lifted and the level lowered to allow for drainage installation and then the laying of a damp proof membrane and new concrete subfloor.

As the door opening in this corner had been made very close to the end wall we needed to increase the return to improve stability. This involved rather more of a demolition than anticipated and resulted in the whole south east corner being rebuilt. You can also see that we had reduced the soil level outside to reduce damp penetration. Drainage pipes and gravel back fill were added later.

Our masons were skilled in the handling of the dressed stone and were not to concerned with health and safety requirements! The stones were cut by chain saw and manhandled into the new openings which had just been made without supporting the surrounding stonework as they knew a natural arch would be formed.

To balance the façade the new windows were designed to match those diagonally opposite. The skill in cutting these stones which are also sloped upwards on the inside to admit more light was a joy to watch, if very dusty!

Whilst the masons worked on the main openings and structural elements we started removing the old cement mortar and rendering that had been put on the walls over the years when the red earth had been weathered out. In preparation for the lime mortar finish all of the joints between every stone were scrapped out to a depth of about 5cm and any large voids filled.

The lime mortar was strengthened with small quartzite stone chippings and applied by hand over the whole surface, pressed into the joints and allowed to nearly dry, at which point it was brushed off until the surface of the stones just appeared ‘le fleurie de la pierre’. Both the finish and the mortar mix are traditional. Lime mortar is used because it lets the building breath and retains some flexibility meaning it does not crack like cement mortar. This was an arduous and lengthy task taking over three years from start to finish, get someone else to do it!

With the openings and dressed stone in pace the joiners could make the windows, doors and shutters from hardwoods. The windows and doors are double glazed with gas filled units and use reflective glass to reduce the effect of the sun.

Meanwhile the masons created the stone arches and before the old barn door was replaced the new main beam for the mezzanine was put in place on the first of the arches and new internal wall.

The arches are made of a finer grain denser limestone and supported on former framework until the joining mortar is set. Once finished they are capable of bearing huge loads.

Now the new first floor joists could be dressed into the walls and main beam and across the arches in readiness for the floorboards. The joiners could now also fix the doors and windows into the dressed stone openings and hang the shutters.

With the new windows and doors in place the two old barn doors facing the road could now be replaced. Using timber structures to maintain the barn door like appearance the Barn was now weather proof and ready for the next stages of external joint work and internal fitting out.

Internally the next task was to stabilise the red earth joints in the walls and protect them against vermin by filling in the voids and then applying a spray coat of cement render over the all the inside walls. Once this had dried a number of coatings of Weber damp proofing up to a good height were applied to ensure no internal rising damp penetration. Its important to remember that there is no damp proof course in the stone and earth walls, if there was the earth would gradually dry and crumble so don’t try to put one in!

The next major dirty task was to sandblast the old main beams removing much of the accumulated dirt and fragile outer surface revealing the steel hard inner. You need to dress for this!

Now the metal framework for the plasterboard and insulation could be installed. Fixed at floor and ceiling and braced against the wall the framework and 75mm insulation was positioned to leave an air gap for further insulation and to run the services.

Cold and hot water are distributed from manifolds each run fitted with a service stop valve. Each outlet is served by a single length of PER pipe run in sleeves and the hot water runs are further insulated with foam sleeves. Retigripp brass fittings are used throughout with final connections being by flexible connectors. The electrical cables are heavy duty and where required also run through sleeves fastened to the walls.

The plasterboard is 12mm fastened to the uprights spaced at 600mm and the floor and header rails in the bathrooms and wet areas moisture resistant plasterboard has been used. The boards are taped with mesh joint tapes and filled and sanded to a flat surface. Where heavy loads are likely to be placed additional wood bearers have been inserted for example in the kitchen for head height cupboards. Around door frames the uprights are doubled and have wooden infill for additional stability.

The tiles were laid out using a builders square and run throughout the groundfloor to maintain consistency of appearance and ease of maintenance. Spare tiles are available should they be needed. The tiles and the mass of the cement floor act as a heat sink and once warmed by the underfloor heating mats radiate the heat throughout the day to maintain an even temperature, this maximises the use of cheap rate electricity.

The second fit could now commence on the ground floor and we went to work on the first floor boarding out. The boards are all oak of various width to add character, cut and tongue and grooved by local artisans. They are tamped (hammered!) into place using a hardwood sacrifice strip and fixed through the tongue to each joist. This reduces floor board movement and creaking.

Once fixed they were sanded and finished with oil and wax. Now the first hot water tank could be installed and the pipe work and cabling and ducting for services were run. The hot tanks are both steatite meaning the heating elements can be removed easily if necessary. Each tank has a manifold for hot water distribution with each pipe run having a service valve to control the supply.

As you see access was still by ladder although by now the stairs had been made by the joiners.

With the floorboards in place the ground floor ceilings and acoustic insulation could be fixed along with the lighting and now the Barn started to turn from a cold building site into a liveable space.

A temporary kitchen was installed with a sink rather than buckets and a work surface rather than planks. The downstairs bathroom took shape, hot showers and baths at last. the stove was installed in the lounge.

Now we could finish the family bathroom and have a hot shower or bath, at last!

The Invicta Chamane stove was installed and connected up to the stainless steel Poujelat twin wall flue which has an easy access hatch for cleaning. The first part of the flue in the lounge is single wall for better heat radiation.

Now the Barn was nearly fully functional downstairs and work started on the upstairs bedrooms.

Another red letter day arrived with the fitting of the staircase, no more ladders to get upstairs! The balustrade around the mezzanine would come later once all the plasterboard sheets for the first floor had been lifted. Now the Barn was nearly fully functional downstairs and work started on the upstairs bedrooms.

The plasterboard was hand cut to fit in between the beams and fastened the rail system which had been shaped to match the beams then jointed and filled as before. Due to the height of the main partitions a wooden frame work was used for the master bedroom and en-suite, this was double skinned for extra sound proofing and to run the cables.

With the upstairs partitioning finished the oak balustrades were put in place and waxed to match the floorboards. A ledge has been left on the stair side of the mezzanine void to rest the beams of a false floor on when it is necessary to decorate, the other end of the beams sit in between the balustrades.

Now on the final stretch four and a half years after beginning the kitchen equipment arrived and the granite for the work tops was bought over from the UK. This was cut and fixed to a subsurface and jointed with food preparation quality epoxy resin. The dishwasher, double oven, hob, fridge freezer and extractor fan were all fitted and we spent the summer cooking on the bbq! Spare sheets of granite were kept for surfacing an island unit if wanted on the future.

The last part of the major works was the installation of the en-suite shower room and wc and with this done work could transfer to the outside and begin landscaping the garden.