So, to the big one... this is the most major of our projects and hopefully the most fun even though it will likely also be the most challenging. The windmill or mill as we call it (being as it is sans sails) is the main attraction of our property and what caused us to look at it in the first place. Originally built in 1780 and then re-modelled in 1815 the windmill is a four storey 11m high circular building approximately 7m in diameter at ground level tapering to around 4m at the top. As mentioned, the sails are (sadly) long gone and adjoining the mill is a bungalow that was built in the 1970s with little to no thought as to a sympathetic aesthetic with the mill itself. Being as the building is Grade II listed the bungalow’s existence is a little surprising, but somehow it got built. The previous owners had disguised the bungalow’s incongruity with the mill itself by planting trees and bushes all around it and indeed it was they who had dragged the mill itself back from a point of near dereliction to make it watertight and into the lovely home we purchased in March 2018.
The mill and bungalow as we purchased it.
I think it's fair to say that we weren’t especially enamoured with the bungalow’s aesthetics (when contrasted to the beautiful mill building) so started to think about what improvements we could make. We spoke to the local Conservation Officer who was vey helpful and we tentatively suggested to her that we re-skin the building in reclaimed brick to match the mill and change the roof to slate. She was broadly positive about this, but also suggested the windows should be changed from uPVC to timber to be in keeping with a Grade II listed building. Then we got to thinking about extending the bungalow out from the building to have an L shaped add on with extra bedrooms and a dining room and again the Conservation Officer rather liked the idea, However, over time and after speaking to the previous owners, Peter and Catherine Harvey, (who we had become good friends with) as well as researching other mills in the East of England we decided to pursue a second storey extension on the top of the existing bungalow (if the footings were substantial enough to carry it). My idea was still to change the ground floor appearance by removing the somewhat lacklustre 70s outer brick skin and replacing it with reclaimed brick, and to then build a second storey timber frame on top of it that would be externally clad with ‘shiplap’ type boards. A slate roof and new windows in both the mill and ‘new’ adjoining building would finish the exterior.
The mill itself would house the kitchen on the ground floor, a study on the first floor and two bedrooms above this. In the adjoining (now two storey) building downstairs would be a largeish living room, a dining room, utility room, WC and a hallway with a staircase leading up to a landing, two more bedrooms (one with ensuite) and a family bathroom. The two spaces would be joined by a double height hallway with a bridge to access the mill on the first floor from the landing into the mill’s study. While it was a 'grand design' of sorts it was hoped that costs could be kept down by building on the existing floor plan and structure and doing as much of the work ourselves as we could manage although we were under no illusion that this was still a major financial undertaking.
Before we could even get into that though we needed to establish the load bearing capabilities of the foundations and as such we dug down next to the bungalow to expose the footings which gave us the width (calculated by how much they projected from the wall) and then dug down the side of them to find out their depth. This revealed footings that were 700mm wide x 225mm deep and then a soil bore survey revealed them to be built on stiff dry brown silty clay. This meant they were capable of bearing the load of the second storey (timber frame) and new slate roof and a surveyor’s report corroborated this.
Test dig schematic.
Now we could move to the planning stage. I designed the layout and drew it up on the computer in a fairly rough and ready version. From this we contacted an architect to draw up the plans professionally and then engaged a planning consultant to help us prepare the necessary documentation for the application as with it being a Grade II listed building this was a bit more complex than for a more standard development. The subsequent planning process was fairly drawn out as both the planning department and conservation wanted various rounds of changes (such as lowering the height of the hall intersecting roof) which we went back and forth over for months, but ultimately these were made and the application was approved on 22/01/2020 albeit with 16 conditions that needed to be discharged during the course of the build.
The existing elevations/plans.
The proposed elevations/plans.
We decided to do the build/renovation in four distinct phases:
Phase 1 – refurbish the mill exterior including re-pointing the brickwork where required, review the sate of the roof and take any action necessary, install new timber windows and renovate the cast iron date plates affixed to the top of the mill in 1815.
Phase 2 – build the second storey on the bungalow including timber clad walls, a slate roof, new timber windows and a re-skin of the brickwork.
Phase 3 – landscape the exterior including adding new car park, paths, patio area and a gated courtyard/driveway.
Phase 4 – tackle the interior including new kitchen, bathrooms, renovation of the mill floors, a complete re-wire and re-plumb, the addition of a log burner and underfloor heating as well as full decoration.
In terms of timescales the initial plans were to try and do the outside works in good weather so below are the predicted timescales:
Phase 1 – June 2021 to October 2021
Phase 2 – April 2022 – November 2022
Phase 3 – March 2023 – July 2023
Phase 4 – December 2022 – March 2024
These phases would work in around other projects such as completing the barn etc. and hopefully mean we could move in to our new house in April 2024, but as with all these types of project we knew there could well be some slippage time wise hence the plan was to accept this, but also to try and minimise it as much as we could.
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