OLD-HOUSE CASE STUDY NO 11
BARN REVIVAL

A once redundant barn has now been converted into a stunning home. We look at how a sensitive transformation can be achieved

The conversion of barns into non-farming usage has caused much debate amongst those who stand guard over the country's architectural heritage.

On one side there are those who believe that conversion is always equal to, or worse than destruction, and so would rather see barns decay and collapse than see them bastardised. On the other there are those who believe that sensitive renovation and conversion is a perfectly acceptable continuation of the adaption and change which such buildings have often undergone in the past.

The arguments are covered by architect Huw Thomas elsewhere in this issue (p44). If buildings are to be converted there are sympathetic ways of carrying this out and Collops Barn is an example of sensitivity towards both external appearance and maintenance of its structural integrity.

In theory it would be fairly simple to remove all of the internal partitions and return it to use as a barn. Great care was taken to ensure that the design fitted around the structure and timbers of the original buildings.

The conversion of the barn was commissioned by the current owners, Jill and Alan Wyatt who had previously lived in the nearby farmhouse. Though the barn might once have belonged to the farmhouse it no longer did by the time the Wyatts bought it twenty years ago.

At that time Collops was still in farming use and was obscured by a modern Dutch barn sited in what is now the courtyard. The farmer stopped keeping bullocks and the barns were used for a time to store tractors and equipment though the layout did not lend itself to this.

The barn was therefore truly redundant and after some negotiation its sale to the Wyatts, together with other outbuildings and enough land for a garden, was agreed!

DESCRIPTION
The property now consists of the barn and several cart sheds. The barn itself is of timber frame construction. The oldest part is that on the left hand side as viewed from the courtyard. To the right of this, and built onto it, a second and taller structure was built which doubled the barn's original size.

Later still the barn was further extended when a cartshed was added along the front by enclosing the area between the two wings. This filling-in was probably done towards the end of the last century. The majority of the barn is roofed in red clay pantiles though the cartshed area was, and still is, covered with slates. The outbuildings and other sheds also have pantile roofs.

The barns and outbuildings are all timber clad. On the barn this was found to be of elm whilst on the other outbuildings cheaper pine had been used.

The decision was taken that, in spite of the cost, the barn would be entirely reclad in elm. Although as much material was salvaged as possible the condition of the external cladding was too poor to allow for re-use. In the taller barn the timber frame rested on a wall about four feet high. On the external face this can be seen as made of a very attractive local red brick.

CONVERSION
The conversion of the barns and outbuildings took a whole year to complete and during that Both Alan and Jill were glad that they were still based in the adjacent house.

One of the very first tasks which if sort out once they had decided to proceed with the conversion was to find an architect. Before finally deciding on Huw Thomas there were several meetings and a viewing of some of his other conversions.

Secondly they had to find a builder who they felt had the appropriate skills and in whom they also felt they could trust. Of their final choice, local builder Gary Hutton and his workforce of 14 men, Alan has nothing but praise.

One of the most pressing tasks was the provision of a new water supply to the barn. Since the supply to the house had itself always been less than perfect it was necessary to provide a completely new supply.

This involved running new plastic piping for some miles. In return for the farmer granting an easement over his land Alan provided a supply to the farmers remaining modern buildings adjacent to the barn. Even so, the cost of providing the new water supply alone to the barn was £7,000. There were a number of important criteria which controlled the planned conversion. It was felt by both client and architect that the integrity of the barn, as a barn, must be retained. This involved retaining not just the external appearance but also the structural integrity of the barn and the sense of space inside the building.

The final result was to achieve all of these aims and yet create an intriguing and intimate family home. In the taller half of the barn a second storey was to be created whilst in the lower barn there was to be only one floor.

In fact the floor at this end was raised which reduced the internal volume and made heating the living room easier! The split level flooring has made for a very pleasing, and interesting room.

Another decision which had to be made early on was the placement of the kitchen which runs along the front of the building facing onto the courtyard. This is between the two wings (in what had been the old cartshed) and means that the kitchen can be entered from either end of the house.

The main entrance hall doubles as the dining room and features a spectacular custom-made oak staircase. The type of flooring in this area was felt to be most important and the final choice was to use bricks which had been lifted from one of the outbuildings.

Whilst the barns were not unsafe they were in need of some substantial maintenance. In the two years between purchase and the start of renovation a number of emergency repairs had been carried out including the strengthening of an area of the barn roof which threatened to collapse.

The initial work on the barn involved removing the roof tiles and all of the elm cladding. Much of the latter proved too rotten to be reusable whilst, fortunately for the overall costs, many of the roofing tiles and slates were able to be recycled.

The structure of the barn proved, for the most part, to be in reasonably good repair. One area which had suffered was the horizontal timber cull plate of the lower end of the barn. This had rotted, as had the base of the uprights, leaving the frame poorly supported.

As the floor at this end was to be raised the solution to this problem was not too difficult. A low brick wall was built to support a new wooden cill plate. Since this is below the new floor level the beams still appear intact from the inside.

It was felt by the Wyatt's that central heating radiators would look inappropriate in the main areas of the barn and so a network of heating pipes had to be buried in the solid floor. To allow the system to be controlled each area is on a separate, controllable, circuit.

The plumber seemed reluctant to install this modern system believing that radiators were what the Wyatt's really should have. Despite his protestations the Wyatts remained firm. The plumber sent one of his workers to do the job, almost as a sign of his disapproval. So taken was this new plumber with the underfloor heating that he left soon after to set up in business installing such systems!

One interesting feature that was included at Alan's request was a small cellar. This is under the raised floor of the single storey part of the barn and is reached from the central ground floor bedroom. Because the floor had been raised only a limited amount of excavation was involved to create the cellar which is about 10ft square.

There were some fears over whether the cellar would remain dry, even though the concrete lining incorporates a waterproof membrane. These have proved unfounded as it is still bone dry.

Whilst not huge it does offer much needed storage since without it Alan and Jill feel that with no loft there would have been a definite lack of space.

Another hole had to be dug at this time to accommodate the Jacuzzi which the Wyatt's had decided to have installed. This is located in a room to the right of the main entrance. Leading from the Jacuzzi is the service wing, another former outbuilding, which runs down the side of the courtyard.

At some time a fire had caused some damage to this building near to where it adjoins the barn. The roof at this point had to be completely rebuilt but much of the rest of the structure was sound.

Located within this short wing is the room containing the central heating boiler, controls for the underfloor heating and water softener. Another room houses the laundry and there is also a small shower and cloakroom.

A good barn conversion not only provides a satisfactory home it also allows the building to be returned to agricultural use with the minimum of difficulty. To this end all of the internal timber frame of the building was kept intact.

All of the rooms within the barn are constructed of timber and plasterboard partitions. This has proved very successful, the only oddity being the connection between the master bedroom and its en-suite bathroom.

This bedroom is in the taller barn and its bathroom is the only upstairs room in the original part of the barn. Between the two rooms a beam crossed at two feet above floor level. Since cuffing this beam would have meant weakening the barn's structural integrity, let alone vandalising a key beam, the only option was to go over it. To this end one climbs up a step and over the beam through a shortened door!

As this might prove too much in later years there is a matching bedroom and en suite bathroom, without the beam, on the ground floor directly below.

The en-suite bathroom upstairs has the only Velux window in the building. If it could have been avoided it would have pleased Alan who feels that they can spoil the all-important look of the roof In the case of Collops Barn the window is tucked close to the change in roof height at the rear of the building and so is unobtrusive.

A large inglenook chimney was constructed as the focal point in the end wall of the living room in the lower barn. Whilst it looks nice this has caused some problems as the fire refused to draw - even with the addition of a hood.

In the end an electric fan has had to be installed at the top of the stack to help the fire draw. Although the fan does produce some noise at full power it is, apparently, masked by the roar and crackle of the fire.

To each side of the fireplace are built-in cupboards which help to give added character to the room and offer space to keep the hi-fi and television out of sight.

After the basic work on the frame was completed felting of the roof and replacing the external timber cladding came next. Prior to this new timber frames had been inserted in the top of the wings for the high-level glazed panels and other window frames had been installed.

All of the existing timberwork had to be treated to kill any insect infestation but one of the pleasures of converting a barn like Collops is that often the timber has never been painted so that the timbers exposed internally have a completely natural look and a patina of age which cannot be recreated.

Unfortunately the roof timbers at Collops had been replaced at some time and were not of a quality to be left exposed. Accordingly the underside of the roof has been completely clad with plasterboard.

The only exception to this are the timbers in the lean-to roof of the former cart shed which is now the kitchen. More than 39 feet long the kitchen has windows along its entire length.

The only disadvantage is that in the summer temperatures soar. A fan helps move the air around but with no opening windows it can only do so much!

The kitchen units had originally been planned to form an L shape and act as a divider making two separate areas. But once the units were placed in position it was clear that this arrangement did not work. The result is that the units which would have formed the divider have now been repositioned flat along the wall.

The entrance hall/dining area is dominated by the beautiful oak staircase which divides into two and leads up to the galleried landing. The two sides of the landing are also joined by a bridge which runs from side to side behind the staircase.

On the original designs it was planned to have the stairs rise up from the other end of this area. This would have meant them leading up from near the front of the building.

But, after further discussions between the Wyatts and Huw Thomas it was decided to turn it around. In the event it is difficult now to see that it could have been any other way.

CONCLUSION
Converting a barn is quite an undertaking. Apart from satisfying planners and providing for basic services the amount of work involved is easily underestimated.

Neither are such conversions cheap. The conversion of Collops Barn cost around £230,000 excluding the initial purchase price.

But the end result of such a conversion can be a truly unique, and spectacular, home. There are things to get used to in such a property, but these are common to timber framed buildings in general.

The movement of the frame means that cracks can appear and the insulation, whilst good, does not stop the occasional draught. However set against this the benefits of living in such a spectacular building far outweigh the few minor niggles. But, as with any building it is the finishing touches and the overall setting that are important. At the same time as the barn was converted Alan had the cattle shed on the left-hand side of the courtyard converted into offices for his and Jill's ski business, called Over the Hill, which organises ski parties for the over-forties.

Because the barn and house were sold separately a new wall has been built between the two properties and a new entrance to the courtyard was required. This was achieved by making an archway through the brick and flint wall of the open cart shed which formed part of the fourth side opposite the barn.

This curved archway works very well and unless inspected closely it is hard to believe that this has not always been the entrance to the farmyard.

Viewed from the country lane which provides access it is easy to believe that the house and barn are still part of one working unit.

At the back of the barn is a simple garden. laid to lawn, which borders open farmland. Along the border Alan has planted a typical local hedgerow which has some way still to go but seems to sum up the attention to detail which makes Collops such a unique and attractive conversion.