Author Archives: malcolm

Ivy on Barn Roof

Clive was around this week and removed the ivy from the barn roof. The tiles were generally in good condition, though the 50 reclaimed ones we bought were all used up. The gable of the barn has been built on top of the garden wall. I think the ivy was originally planted to disguise this.

We nearly had to withdraw the planning application last week when it looked like we would have to pay a second Section 106 tax plus associated legal fees (maybe £10K total), Fortunately that seems to have been resolved now. Being officially a commercial building causes a lot of problems so we’re aiming to push to start making the place residential under the existing plans.

This is how it looked before:

Windows

We didn’t get to speak to the Conservation Officer in the end, but the Planning Department seemed generally happy about our application so we’ve updated the plans with their recommendations, had the dates changed on the various surveys, and have put in a proper planning application.

It was helpful to have the extra time to think about the design – the pitched roof replacing the flat roof looks much prettier, the barn/function room will now be a medieval banqueting hall instead of a garage, and Kae has grabbed some extra space for the kitchen. I’ll post plans on here when they are scanned.

Meanwhile I’ve been busy on the exterior woodwork. The windows were painted with modern paint – you can tell because the finish has cracked. I want to paint the windows that we aren’t going to replace before the winter. They are in a state and are taking a lot of time to prepare, but the wood is still reasonably sound.

I’ve been putting this window off – it’s the big one at the front where the double height room used to be. It’s 10 feet wide by 7 feet high and is fiddly. (For metric conversion see how small the front door is by comparison.) The bank holiday weekend should hopefully have it finished.

Garden

The question to the conservation officer turned into a pre-planning application. Hopefully we’ll hear something back soon. It will be at least another 3 months (if all goes really well) before we have planning permission which will give me a chance to earn some money to pay for the work.

So we’ve been doing the garden. We tried to plant some flowers under the Cypress Leylandii tree but they aren’t growing. The ivy growing on the barn had died (I might have accidentally cut through all the stems after I moved in) but I don’t want to cut it down until all the birds have finished nesting.

Inside

Oddly the downstairs (previously commercial space) works really well as a living area, but the upstairs (previously residential) doesn’t work at all. Most of the changes will be upstairs.

The architect sent plans to the conservation officer last week. Hopefully he will add his input so we can get it right before we submit the planning application.

The car park looks like it might be sold by Greene King within the next week or two. The potential new owner is a developer who plans to build the new house that was approved last year. He is a nice guy and the house should fit in well.

Bookcase

I’ve still not unpacked and the barn is littered with cardboard boxes. There are books in a lot of the boxes so we’ve just collected the most enormous bookcase from very close by. I think there will be 10mm clearance to the ceiling to allow us to stand the bookcase up in the study.

Unfortunately we found there is not enough clearance through the doors from the barn so we’ve invited some big strong lads over to dinner who will hopefully help take it the longer route through the front door. The photo is an artist impression of how it might have looked had we collected the bookcase on the roof of a Renault.

I thought there would be 10mm clearance to the roof. The bookcase just brushed the ceiling when we stood it up.

Unfinished Fence

We’ve finally constructed a fence to define the new boundary that lies in the car park. We have the dimensions of the fence agreed in the contract with the current owner of the car park but the fence needed to go up before the remainder of the car park is sold (I note the car park is under offer on 2nd April).

The fence doesn’t go all the way to the pavement yet. The driveway will ultimately go where the smoking shelter is at the moment, but it needs to be approved by Planning and the Highway Agency which will take a few months. Also we ran out of fence boards and Crowthornes is shut for Easter.

This is roughly how it might end up. I am hoping to add a garage just behind the fence. The garage might be better in natural wood.

The fence at the rear overlooking Wellsfield also needs to be replaced. That will hopefully happen in May.

Initial Ideas for Plans

I don’t like the flat roof so I’m going to apply to add a pitched roof to make it prettier. I’ve put together an artist impression based roughly on the architect’s ideas. Only roughly – he reckons the conservation officer will prefer roof lights to windows. I’m tempted to propose some windows as I think roof lights at the front would look ugly.

I’ve painted in windows for the void and a new bathroom. Downstairs I’ve no idea what to do with the area that is currently the gents, but it looks nicer with a window or two. Might look even better with some bigger windows. I need to chat with the conservation officer to see if the gents toilet look is really worth preserving.

This is how it looks at the moment:

Building a new gable would leave a lot of 1960s style brick on the end view. It might be nicer to finish the gable with weatherboard or render

Rot in the Snug

Kae is in France this week, and in the absence of anyone sensible around I decided to do some decorating. Though one thing leads to another…..

The problem was rot. Initially the term dry rot was bandied around but it seems it was good old-fashioned wet rot. Under the carpet in the Snug there was some lovely 1920s parquet flooring. Unfortunately the ground level outside is about 12 inches above the floor level inside and the far end of the room has been damp for years. The parquet floor and the later wood panelling had crumbled away and needed to be brushed up.

The rot appeared to be confined to the area around the end wall and fireplace. I had intended to remove all of the parquet but moving further into the room the parquet floor appears to be in reasonable condition (apart from maybe the bay window area). I’m in two minds whether to restore the floor or recycle it on eBay.

Before I keep it I’ll need to find a solution for the damp problem. For now the rotten bits are on my skip pile and I’ll rest the carpet back on the good bits. The missing bits will leave the structure exposed to try to dry it out.

I ended up restoring the parquet.

Architect

I’ve taken on the architect that I liked. We’ll be working together on plans over the next month or two and will hopefully organise something that planning, the village (and me) will like a lot. I guess we’ll be able to submit an application in April. More on ideas as they progress.

The flat roof part you see after turning the corner from the hill looks really ugly and wants sorting. It’s a fiddly shape to do anything with. The architect drew a sketch of a pitched roof at first floor level matching the slope of the existing roof, then another pitched roof connecting it to the barn. I’ll post pictures when I have them. Looks like it was supposed to be there.

Inside the changes will hinge around sorting out the stairs. They don’t go up high enough to meet the corridor, and the 2 extra steps from the landing make it risky to go to the bathroom in the dark. Though building regs will require 2m height for stairs if we fiddle with them, and there isn’t quite the room. Architect can figure that one out.

The Void

On the plus side an architect visited today and we got on well. He reckons the design, planning and approval process is likely to take 6 months. The main thing I want to do is make the void into a room. The void was formerly a double height ceiling to the front room with the tall bay window. The double height room was created in the 1920s when the mock tudor frontage was added and the upstairs room was removed. It was blocked off with a false ceiling at a later date. The only access is through a small hatch in the downstairs ceiling.

It is almost possible to stand up in the void and it takes up about a third of the upstairs space. It would be much more sensible as bedroom and bathroom but the floor would need to be lowered slightly and the ceiling raised, and a window or two added to the front. The architect has suggested I arrange a meeting with the conservation officer before we go too far.

Fast forward 7 years……. Removing the false ceiling and getting a ballroom

Old Wood Beam

The water damage in the upstairs front room had caused some plaster to fall off the wall. Behind the plaster there was a suspiciously old piece of wood. That part of the house dates from approximately 1650 and would have been built originally with a wood frame and mud. The mud was replaced with brick but there is evidence in the roof space that some of the wood frame survives. This bit appears to be in good condition but some other bits are a bit suspect. I’ll expose what I can to check on condition.

5 years later I exposed the beams

Scaffolding

The roof isn’t lined, so water backing up behind the moss in the gulleys had been finding it’s way inside. The upstairs room fronting the street had some water damage. Clive removed the moss with a broom taped to some waste pipe.

Burst Pipe

We had the heating on full with some windows open to try to dry the building out. That worked well, but then a couple of days later we came home to find a burst pipe and a flood downstairs. The VAX carpet cleaner we bought for the beer smell sucked up the water and we removed the underlay. There’s not too much damage and the place should be dry in a week.

Shuttering Removed

The shuttering came off today. It’s freezing in there as the heating won’t work until the weekend. I can’t have running water in this weather until I have heating. I am spending a lot of time at Kae’s house.

The heating was recommissioned on 27th and I moved in on 28th January.

I bought the place with shuttering on and have never seen it without. It looks so much better without the shuttering.

13 January 2013 – Introduction

The Salutation closed in December 2011 and has been boarded up for a year. I’m Malcolm. I’m an engineer and have bought the Salutation to make into a home. I don’t want to run it as a pub myself but I’m keen to make sure I don’t do anything to stop it from being a pub again in the future (apart from not buying the car park – it has planning permission for a house which makes the land too expensive).

I plan to move into the upstairs in January 2013 (timing might be weather dependant) and will take the shuttering off and tidy up the outside a little. I can’t do a lot more until I have planning permission which should come in April or May 2013. I bought some of the car park to the side of the building and that will eventually become my driveway. The remainder of the car park is still for sale with planning permission to build a house.

The restoration will be sympathetic to the building. I’m keeping the bar and as many interior features as I can. The exterior will be freshened up but the style will remain the same.

The Salutation has a long history as a pub and still smells of beer. Colin’s Blunham Pubs webpage has some History of the Salutation

I’ll update this page with plans for the conversion when I have them.

The Salutation – Restoration

The Salutation, Blunham – Restoring a former pub