Years of wet and windy winters in rural Shropshire had brought the 1960s bungalow on Bob Griffiths’ farm to the point of near collapse, but he decided to give it a new lease of life
Text Roseanne Field
Tucked down a country lane in rural Shropshire is Houlston Manor, a dairy farm owned by Bob Griffiths. One of a number of buildings on the land is a bungalow Bob’s late father had built by a local builder in 1966. It had stood there ever since without incident, until several grim winters eventually took their toll. “Quite suddenly, it started to get subsidence cracking all around the property,” Bob explains to Selfbuilder + Homemaker. After his father passed away he decided to let out the bungalow, but points out the irony of his reaction when asked if he wanted to add subsidence insurance. “I thought ‘it’s been there 60 years, it’s not going to fall down now!” he jokes.
The bungalow, which is home to Bob’s farm manager Neil, sits on sand, and a firm commissioned to do some experimental digging found the ground was essentially washing away underneath the slab the building sits on. “We had been having wetter winters,” explains Bob, adding that because in the 1960s Building Regs weren’t in place, the foundations it sat on were “pretty minimal.” It is also west facing, so subject to prevailing winds and generally quite exposed to the elements. “When there was driving rain, it would actually come through the brick walls,” Bob says.
He considered demolishing completely and building anew, but decided instead to conserve the asset he had. “It’s a nice property; space is not an issue of course because it was built on farmland so it’s spacious and its outlook is good,” says Bob. “It was cheaper to spend some money on it rather than knocking it down and starting again.” He was also still able to claim back VAT, despite the fact it was a renovation, because being home to the farm manager, it’s classed as a business asset.
The bungalow – which sits approximately 100 metres from the main farmhouse – had been extended in the 1970s, so as well as underpinning it to solve the subsidence issue, he also took the opportunity to replace the flat roof on the extension with a pitched roof, as well as adding external wall insulation, and new render. “I wanted to make it good for the next generation really,” Bob says.
Bob commissioned an architect, Trevor Stevens, and engineer Andrew Owen to design the underpinning, to ensure it was a “proper job.” The architect also assisted with the aesthetics of the new pitched roof on the extension, drawing up different slope variants. “I didn’t stick entirely to the architect’s plans,” Bob admits, crediting his “wonderful” builders E W Kinsey & Sons for picking up issues “which perhaps hadn’t been considered,” he says. “That’s one of the benefits of having trustworthy builders, otherwise I would have had to get the architect back in and new drawings done.”
SECOND TIME ROUND
This wasn’t Bob’s first experience tackling a project of this kind. The main farmhouse underwent a similar refurbishment five years ago. “That was a mishmash of styles,” he explains. “It’s old at its core, around 1600s, but it was all mixed up – some of it was brick, some of it was sandstone. I insulated and rendered it so that now the two houses match.”
Bob’s involvement in the farmhouse project proved useful when it came to tackling this one. “I knew what I was doing, I knew what to expect from it,” he says. “It was very much repeating what I’d already done.” He was also able to use the experience to tweak the process to be more efficient. During the farmhouse renovation, he had used several different contractors on different jobs, such as the plastering and rendering. “It got a little bit complicated, so I simplified it this time by having one contractor,” he explains.
The same contractor helped with the farmhouse so deciding to use them on the new project was an easy choice. “They’re so proactive at solving problems,” he says. They also project managed the renovation, although Bob was also onsite every day, “mostly because I’m spending a lot of money and I want to know where it’s going!” he laughs.
GOING GREEN
Bob is passionate about energy efficiency and sustainability, and has ambitions to one day be entirely self-sufficient. The farm already has solar PV and a wind turbine, and he has looked into installing batteries. The site both generates and uses a lot of electricity, “but we tend to generate it when we’re not using it and use it when we’re not generating it,” he says. However, he believes the way the national grid currently regulates the equation around battery generation isn’t helpful enough to support the investment. “They do the calculations based on the assumption the turbine is going flat out, the sun is beaming down on the solar panels, and the battery is fully charged,” Bob explains. “You can fix that with software, but they don’t currently accept that solution. But I’m not alone in wanting to use it, so it will happen!”
Despite this hitch, it’s this passion for sustainability that has led to Bob specifying a range of eco solutions on the refurbishment. The bungalow (like the farmhouse before it) has wood fibre insulation and the exterior is finished with a two-coat lime render, both supplied by Lime Green Products. Wood fibre was “very attractive,” he says, as it locks in carbon, as well as offering better breathability than some other insulation materials. He adds: “My experience has led me to believe that breathability in buildings is really important.”
As well as the breathability aspect, Bob was also impressed by the fire protection qualities ascribed to wood fibre. “I’ve seen video trials where it just kind of chars,” he says. “That was significant.” The lime render also comes with a lower carbon cost in terms of its manufacture: “It’s cooked at a much lower temperature than cementitious products,” he says.
Bob took a few further steps to improve energy efficiency on both the house and bungalow. “I don’t have chimneys anymore, and I have draught-proof windows,” he explains. He went for “good quality” timber windows – on aesthetics and efficiency grounds. “I didn’t spend lots of money however,” he says, “they’re perhaps not as efficient as we could have had.”
The bungalow’s oil-fired boiler remains in place, with Bob deciding not to replace it as it isn’t very old. However Neil, who now lives in the bungalow again with his partner, says they are spending less on fuelling it now the building is more efficiently insulated. When the boiler does eventually need replacing, Bob wants to install either a ground or air source heat pump.
Neil moved out of the property while the work was taking place, but helped out, keeping an eye on the project’s progress. He also helped get rid of the large amount of soil that was excavated, plus some rubble. Bob is thankful for his help: “He was very helpful, and didn’t seem to mind too much being thrown out of his house!” This cooperation was assisted by the fact he now has a property that is cheaper to run.
ONE SMALL HICCUP
Bob counts himself lucky they encountered no major problems or delays during the build. The only small hiccup came when they discovered the existing downpipes weren’t adequately taking water from the roof. “We did quite a big job of getting roof water well away from the property – which was an extra cost. That might have been another cause of the subsidence.”
They had set six months aside to complete the work, renting a property in the nearby village for Neil. “In five and a half months, he was back in,” says Bob. “It worked exactly how we wanted it to.” He credits this in part due to the fact they started work in March so the majority of it took place in the summer months.
The installation of the external wall insulation was, says Bob, “very straightforward actually.” It’s mechanically fixed to the outside of the external wall, with a “base rail” fitted around the bottom in order to prevent it from getting wet. “We had to lower the exterior ground level a bit because you want the insulation coming down below the DPC so the floor keeps warm, but you don’t want it so low as to allow ground moisture to get in,” he explains. “Keeping it dry is an important factor. You have to do it properly.”
He decided to go with the naturally-coloured lime render option, as well as on the farmhouse, meaning they are both now an off-white shade. Bob comments: “The rendering is a totally specific skill, but they did a good job. It’s all worked very well.”
The only problem they’ve had with the exterior look, as demonstrated in particular by the farmhouse, which had its new render several years back, is the mess left by nesting birds. “When it was brick it didn’t really matter, but there is staining,” he says. “It’s lost its pristine look in five years, but I’m not too fussed, and in fact there are breathable paints available so it can be redecorated. It’s just something to be aware of.”
Internally, little really changed on the bungalow. Two internal walls showed signs of possible movement so these were underpinned, but the layout remained the same. The three bedrooms include a “very big” master, and there’s a large entrance hall, kitchen, sitting room and dining room, as well as a family bathroom and additional separate toilet. “It’s a nice property and of course we had to redecorate it,” explains Bob. “But there were no other changes.”
A JOB WELL DONE
Overall, Bob is thrilled with the end result on both buildings. “It really works, I’ve got no doubts about that,” he says. Although both the insulation and windows were done at the same time, making it difficult to know specifically which has contributed more to the property’s improved efficiency, he’s confident the insulation system works well, stating he would definitely use it again.
Bob says the cost came in “within my expectation. I had a number in my head.” He had agreed a price for the job with the contractor, and says there were only one or two extra costs, such as the clean water drainage. “That’s an advantage of using a main contractor and having architects’ drawings to work from.”
When contemplating whether he’d do anything similar in the future, Bob says: “It wasn’t without its stresses and I was working full time at the time, but it all went very well.” At the moment he currently has no plans, or indeed any need to tackle another project – “I haven’t got any more houses!” he jokes – but he certainly wouldn’t rule it out entirely. “I like a bit of a project!”