Above 1200 Sq/FT Gentlemans Activity Bunker in the UK, Version 2

[roger440]

Moving switly onwards to august, with the wet weather well settled in, and the house now propely moved into, it was time to make a start on the barn.

At this stage there was still much more to come, and weekends were mostly back at the old place packing up, with the big heavy stuff still to come. So progress was slow.

Part of my plans were to have a clean room. Somewhere to do work like rebuild eninges, diffs etc. Separated from the main working area, primarily to avoid debris and dirt, but also as it would be possible to keep warm in winter.

As you may have seen, there was an open area under the upstairs offic/ living room. My plan was to close this in with a wall and insulate. The celing was already insulated and board over with plasterboard, sheetrock to my american friends.

Clearly something was planned for this area, as well as the ceiling, cables for lighting were already installed and connected. Rather handy that.

First job was to paint the ceiling, and the brick piers in the corners. These would need to remain uninsulated.

I decided to spay these and bought a second hand setup from a friend a bit further north from us.



The more observant amongst you will have seen the stack of insulation in the last picture.

The intention was to build timber studwork on the block walls and across the gap to close it in. Infill with the insulation, and board over. The painted wall is the otherside of the kitchen, so didnt really need insulating. This was plywood. Painting it didnt work well. More on this later.

The good news is that the insulation was quite cheap. An hour or so away from me is a place that sells all the rejected stock from the manufacturer. Essentially, the only thing i could see wrong was some minor handling damage and some slight variations in thickness.



Thats it for tonight. More updates to follow.

 

[VolksWomble]

@roger440 would you mind pinging me the name of the insulation place? Sounds like they might be useful!

 

[roger440]

@roger440 would you mind pinging me the name of the insulation place? Sounds like they might be useful!

Sure. PM inbound

 

[VolksWomble]

Grand, thankyou!

 

[Uncle murph]

It was early 2022, after the sale of my business, that we started seriously looking for something with a bit more space, and most importantly, a decent sized outbuilding.

Those familiar with the UK housing market will know, its pretty expensive, especially in the south east, where we lived, space is hard to find and large barns or outbuilding on a domestic property, virtually non exsistent.

Trying to get planning for a large building at a domestic property, is even harder still.

As we lived in the southeast, where house values are high, it made sense to look elsewhere, which for affordable means heading west, or north. Many, many hours were spent on righmove, the UK's main property website, looking for something suitable. Even looking in the cheaper parts of the country, budget was limited and options scarce. Whilst we were happy with a project, it needed to not to be a total basket case.

The search focussed, on Wales, or possibly, the north west. Lots of nice stuff, but always too expensive. The affordable stuff, whilst the house was usually, bearable, the outbuildings were the usual dilapidated agricultural sheds needing extensive work to turn into something useful. Which aside from the work can carry some planning permission risk too.

Many hours scrolling later, this picture catches my eye.



Looked great!

Appointment duly booked for a viewing. The following saturday was a trip to mid Wales.

The barn was fantastic, the house, well, needed some work, but was essentially sound, with a lot of expenditure having recently been made. But whose worried about the house? Priorities and all that.

A couple of hours later, we were pretty sure this was a property to make an offer on.

Having been here before, this generally hasnt gone our way, so we were very surprised our offer was accepted.

There was a lot of "what the hell have we done!" moments.

Actually buying it proved a long drawn out process, especially as the previous time it was sold was in the 70's, so long before electronic registration. This and some other issues did at times make us think we would never get it over the line. But towards the ens of '22, finally, it was ours.

Heres a few more pictures of our aquisition.





Obviously this was over a year ago, and lots has happened since. The move, geting the house livable etc, has been pretty frantic, hence only really getting round to this now.

As i dig out and organise all the pictures, ill try to update with any interesting stuff.

Beautiful.

 

[roger440]

As autum closed in, i continued to make progress on the "clean room" determined to actually try and finish something.

Lighting was fitted, after much pondering about where the benches were to go. I wanted, for once, lighting directly over where im working.

As per my previous post, stud work was installed, insulation fitted and, once complete, the vapour barrier installed, this being rather critical in this environment







The doors were obtained free from a builing next to where i worked. It was being stripped out and these were going in the skip. I asked them to leave them next to the skip. They did. Problem eas there were about twenty of them!

Still got them all, though not quite sure why? I do have use for some more, but still........................

On with the vapour barrier





As can be seen here, ive gone for the full air tightness approach. Im aiming to keep this warm-ish through winter so its a nice place to work as well as a stable environment for stuff that can go rusty.

The only flaw in my otherwise brilliant plan, was that the small window is a single glazed affair. I will need to come back to that later.

The sockets got a dose of expanding foam around them and around the cables. The sockets had gone risty, and the cables green with corrosion, as these cables exit into the cavity between the inner and outer walls.

Next job was to clad the walls in something. Decisions, decisions.

 

[roger440]

Pondering the wall finish, the obvious options were considered. Plasterboard (sheetrock?) would work, but needs finishing and painting. Im not good with plasterwork. And you cant hang stuff on it unless you go into the timber studs.

OSB is cheap-ish, strong, can hang stuff whereever i want. But looks rubbish. Still looks rubbish when painted.

A chance conversation with a friend hard me looking at some larch cladding from a company to the north, a co-operative.

I talked to them, priced it up. Essentially the same price as OSB. Deal done. Got the trailer out and went to get it.

Compared to my friends stuff, it was paler than i hoped.

So onto the next plan. Make it darker. To add a bit of interest i decided to torch it. Ive never done this before, but i think it came out OK.



As ive not quite decided how to tackle the heating side of things for the whole project, which may, or may not include retrofitted underfloor heating, i decided to do the floor in vinyl tile for now.

I cant say im a huge fan, but it does what i need for now





Time to move in some toolboxes and cupboards

Theres more to do, incliding a central bench, but it was greart to see something resembling completion, window reveals excepted.

 

[sawduststeve]

Great job, the Larch finish looks fantastic.

When I was a kid, late 70’s my dad came home with a load of doors from Heathrow Airport where he was working. He had enough to make a super strong shed. Roof, walls and floor all out of 1 3/4 “ fire check doors. It’s probably still standing.

 

[Geoff289]

Gee that's looking nice.

 

[littlebean]

wow, looks really good

 

[roger440]

Great job, the Larch finish looks fantastic.

When I was a kid, late 70’s my dad came home with a load of doors from Heathrow Airport where he was working. He had enough to make a super strong shed. Roof, walls and floor all out of 1 3/4 “ fire check doors. It’s probably still standing.

Ive got a load of doors as mentioned earlier.

Wife wanted a bench in the poly tunnel. 2 cut down pallets and one door later, job done!

I knew they would come in handy one fday.

 

[roger440]

One of the things we really wanted to sort out was the front boundary to the road. All there was, was a stock proof fence leaving the whole place rather exposed to people passing by, including the front of the barn, although the road is a fair bit lower than the land.

A proper fence would look completely out of keeping with the rural nature of the area, so, realistically, any barrier would need to be plant based.

Short term, we had put some green screening along the stock proof fence to assist with the privacy, but thats only a short term thing, and, frankly look awful. But needs must and all that.

So a plan was hatched to plant a hedge, a native hedge with a mix of plants.

These are bare root plants so should be planted during the winter months. Downside of course is everything is wet!

Worse, is that the bank is almost entirely clay, and digging a hole to plant a plant just resulted in a hole full of water. Im no expert on this, but i couldnt really see them surviving months in a puddle.

So a plan was hatched to improve things. Plan: Dig a massive trench, install land drain and drainage stone, membrane on top, and some decent soil on top. Great idea if you say it quickly, but more difficult in reality.

It was, however, an excellent excuse to buy a digger. I had been looking for months for a cheap digger, but these are rare. Eventually i found an old 90's Kubta KX61. It was minus its cab, but otherwise quite reasonable. Bought! Sadly, i have no pictures. I will get some as i still have it.

I also realised early on with a pile of stone, and 20 tons of top soil up in the field, that moving this with wheelbarrows was going to take forever. We are not that young any more. Cue, more spending on a "mule". Went battery powered as easier for my wife to operate, and right now, i dont need more engines to maintain.



,A fantastic piece of kit.

So on with prep work





And then on with planting. 300 plants in total. For good measure we planted a 4 rowan trees too. Away from the house





All planted! Since then, they have taken very well. One particular variety suffered some early casulties, but cutting right back seemed to recover them.

In 2 or 3 years time, hopefully we can remove the nasty green fabric screen, and allow the hedge to grow through the fence.

Another job done!

It was cold though. Gratuitous winter pic

 

[VolksWomble]

Excellent work! Nice to see more native hedging going in. What varieties did you plant? Easy on the blackthorn I hope… Well done for finding the digger and barrow for sensible money too! Looking forward to seeing it grown - then you’ll need a flail attachment to trim it with

 

[roger440]

Excellent work! Nice to see more native hedging going in. What varieties did you plant? Easy on the blackthorn I hope… Well done for finding the digger and barrow for sensible money too! Looking forward to seeing it grown - then you’ll need a flail attachment to trim it with

Good question. Im in charge of engineering operations. Actual plant choice is a domestic activity.

There was some blackthorn, but not much. From memory, hawthorn, field maple, dogwood, a few hollies, hornbeam, some sort of beech, alder and another 3 or 4 i cant remember.

Yes, cutting it from the road side is going to be "interesting" !

Probably a few quid to the farmer who does the road side cutting for the council.

 

[f121]

Going to get it laid when it’s grown? There’s been a bit of a resurgence of cut and laid hedges around here and they look fantastic

 

[BiTurbo228]

Man am I jealous! That barn is fantastic, and you can't beat the views in Wales (you seem to have got some pretty good ones!).

Nice Triumph collection too. T2000, Stag, Dolly and a Standard. What sort of state are they in? My T2000 is a little on the rusty side, but my Spitfire's getting somewhere. Love a good Maestro as well.

 

[roger440]

Going to get it laid when it’s grown? There’s been a bit of a resurgence of cut and laid hedges around here and they look fantastic

Cant say i was intending too, but an interesting idea though.

 

[roger440]

Man am I jealous! That barn is fantastic, and you can't beat the views in Wales (you seem to have got some pretty good ones!).

Nice Triumph collection too. T2000, Stag, Dolly and a Standard. What sort of state are they in? My T2000 is a little on the rusty side, but my Spitfire's getting somewhere. Love a good Maestro as well.

The stag is the only one operational at the moment, the others in varying states of dissary!

Standard is the first one to get attention though. Im ramping down work a fair bit in Jan, so more time for cars and barns

The 2000 estsate was customised bodily with a rover v8. took it off the road in 2007 with a knackered cam. Been stood ever since.

Dolomite is in a million bits as id started to restore it prior to moving. Thats never a good idea.

pic of the 2000 in better days

 

[67CarGuy]

Love that view over the hills!

 

[gren_t]

What a great property find, looking forward to more updates.

 

[roger440]

What a great property find, looking forward to more updates.

Another wales dweller. Welcome. Ae you doing a thread on yours?

 

[roger440]

Love that view over the hills!

Theres worse views to have.

Though the current view from the back of the house is piles of stone and road plannings, so not ideal.

 

[roger440]

Shortly after finishing the hedge, the rains came back, so back into the barn.

In my "clean" room, those who were paying attention will note a big space in the middle. Ive always wanted a bench i can walk round and is big enough to put, well, big things on.

Additionally, the more observant will have seen the massive bench down the side of the main area. Good as it is, its probably longer than i need, and an outline plan required to to be a bit shorter to make way for my steel bench.

So, basically, i chopped a piece off the end, and added a set of legs. I then added a large plastic sheet to protect more delicate parts like pistons etc, and to finish off a stainless strip down one side, as a hard surface i can tap things on if need be.

Screwed my gearbox/T56 holder thing to it as well for good measure.

Now, the placement of the lighting makes sense.
















Once complete, i christened it by starting a diff rebuild on the diff from my ute, and rebuilding the carbs from my stag to resolve a running isse.

 

[Jayman17]

Wow that clean room is a nice set up. Imo you put just enough color on the walls to make it interesting but not too dark. Well done!

 

[ChefRex]

Going to get it laid when it’s grown? There’s been a bit of a resurgence of cut and laid hedges around here and they look fantastic

Cant say i was intending too, but an interesting idea though.

Going to get your hedge "laid"? I guess laid on you side of the pond has a different meaning.

 

[f121]

Going to get your hedge "laid"? I guess laid on you side of the pond has a different meaning.

No, it means the same over here…except where hedges are concerned.

A cut and laid hedge is allowed to grow to a certain height, then the stems are cut most of the way through with an axe and laid horizontally and intertwined with vertical stakes, to create a living stock fence. There’s a lot of local styles, but these are examples of a freshly laid hedge:




After a seasons growth:


After a few hundred years of neglect the hedges grow into some really strange shapes. Surprisingly I couldn’t find many good photos of laid hedges that have grown out on Google, which is ironic because I pass hundreds of miles of it when I’m walking the dog, here’s a couple of bad photos:

 

[BiTurbo228]

Yep, more jealous by the day! Can't wait til I get my garages build and I can sort my clean room. Far too many diff rebuilds on cardboard in dirty garages, having to repeatedly clean and clean again every surface any time you go near it. Still good practice, mind, but it'd be good to have a little less tension around the whole thing.

I think I recognise your car from the good old days of Club Triumph. Never got to any of the events as I was too busy blowing the scope of my 'rolling resto' out of the water by deciding I wanted to turn it into a unibody a la Austin Healey.

Oh, and I've committed the same fatal error of taking a number of cars apart before moving house. Total chaos.

 

[roger440]

Yep, more jealous by the day! Can't wait til I get my garages build and I can sort my clean room. Far too many diff rebuilds on cardboard in dirty garages, having to repeatedly clean and clean again every surface any time you go near it. Still good practice, mind, but it'd be good to have a little less tension around the whole thing.

I think I recognise your car from the good old days of Club Triumph. Never got to any of the events as I was too busy blowing the scope of my 'rolling resto' out of the water by deciding I wanted to turn it into a unibody a la Austin Healey.

Oh, and I've committed the same fatal error of taking a number of cars apart before moving house. Total chaos.

Ive been working towards this kind of set up all my working life. Taken a while!

I think the pic of the car was the Round Britain Run in 2006 at a stop in west scotland.

The car may not be on the road, but i still do the event, just in the stag more recently.

Great event, great club. Get your car done and get entered

Just got back from the clubs 10 countries run. Very good also.

 

[roger440]

Wow that clean room is a nice set up. Imo you put just enough color on the walls to make it interesting but not too dark. Well done!

Thanks.

That was indeed the intention. Has the added bonus that if theres a big temp change, the wood can absorb and subsequently release moisture reducing the risk of condensation.

I still have a dehumidifier in there though set to 50%

 

[Grizz1963]

Just caught up.

Nothing to add except WOW !!!!

 

[roger440]

Just caught up.

Nothing to add except WOW !!!!

Thanks

Wow is what i said when i walked into the barn for the first time............

 

[Grizz1963]

Thanks

Wow is what i said when i walked into the barn for the first time............

I have a 30x30 garage and 20x15 carport plus paved parking etc here in Rochester which you will know is rare, so I feel fortunate and blessed.

But your searches certainly hit the jackpot.

After my road trip this year I really want to buy some very cheap land in America to use as base.

 

[roger440]

I have a 30x30 garage and 20x15 carport plus paved parking etc here in Rochester which you will know is rare, so I feel fortunate and blessed.

But your searches certainly hit the jackpot.

After my road trip this year I really want to buy some very cheap land in America to use as base.

Your set up isnt disimilar to my first place. Did a lot of good work there, including my charger.

The current place especially the barn is great, but to be honest, theres plenty of stuff like this round here for what, in UK south east terms, isnt really much at all. And at the moment, for small holdings, it seems to be a buyers market. Of course, not everyone wants to live in rural wales!

Your road trips look like great fun. Isnt buying land as a non resident complicated? Or does it vary by state?

 

[Grizz1963]

Your set up isnt disimilar to my first place. Did a lot of good work there, including my charger.

The current place especially the barn is great, but to be honest, theres plenty of stuff like this round here for what, in UK south east terms, isnt really much at all. And at the moment, for small holdings, it seems to be a buyers market. Of course, not everyone wants to live in rural wales!

Your road trips look like great fun. Isnt buying land as a non resident complicated? Or does it vary by state?

I am early on in investigating

But I suspect it will be state to state.

Anyone can buy land though.

I also would love woodland or some other cheap space here in the UK.

 

[roger440]

I also would love woodland or some other cheap space here in the UK.

Plenty of that in wales too!

Woodlands tricky though as you cant do much with it. Well not officially anyway.

Downside is wales is a long way from kent.

 

[f121]

Downside is wales is a long way from kent.

I always thought that was part of the charm

 

[ChefRex]

Your set up isnt disimilar to my first place. Did a lot of good work there, including my charger.

The current place especially the barn is great, but to be honest, theres plenty of stuff like this round here for what, in UK south east terms, isnt really much at all. And at the moment, for small holdings, it seems to be a buyers market. Of course, not everyone wants to live in rural wales!

Your road trips look like great fun. Isnt buying land as a non resident complicated? Or does it vary by state?

The Chinese are buying our farmland but I won't go into that but apparently it's not that hard.

 

[roger440]

I always thought that was part of the charm

For me, yes, its a decent run from anywhere where theres people

 

[BiTurbo228]

For me, yes, its a decent run from anywhere where theres people

That's the dream, though sadly not shared by my other half. We compromised on a place with only one set of immediate neighbours and a field straight in front, but 10 minutes from a big Sainsbury's. Took a while to find somewhere that worked!

 

[roger440]

That's the dream, though sadly not shared by my other half. We compromised on a place with only one set of immediate neighbours and a field straight in front, but 10 minutes from a big Sainsbury's. Took a while to find somewhere that worked!

I had a bit of a compromise. She didnt want to be completely isolated, but in or near a village or similiar. The downside is we do have one neighbour, not that they live there curently, but will do. And am 1/4 mile from the village. It also front a road. Virtually no traffic, but i had visions of a winding track to a farmhouse on its own. Sadly, my vision and my budget were incompatible!

As it turns out, its 1/4 mile from the village, 5 miles from the nearest town (term used loosely) and still only 2 hours to the midlands.