The Oasthouse

[Artiglio]

Evening all

After years of having eyes open for something that really appealed to me, this popped up. There has been a barn on the site since around 1750, may have had a cottage on the end for just as many years, definitely converted to an oasthouse when the local mill ( alledgedly owned by same family closed , supported by there being a pair of millstones in the barn when i got it). Its listed but council have been pretty good about how its being treated given its varied past and standards of workmanship over the years. Hopefully this picture posts ok.

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[Artiglio]

The first picture is from the estate agents details in november 2019, completed on it in the feb. Planning took until september. Now pretty much stripped out, oast roof has been redone, (over half a tonne of scrap lead weighed in, and avout the same in new lead up)the chimney that ran through it has gone, cowl up and some of scaffolding has come down. This was taken this morning.

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[Andyp]

are you living in it while all this is going on?
What are the interiors like?

[Artiglio]

Morning Andy

No ,its got nothing much left inside now once i’d stripped out the 1980’s changes and removed the fireplace and chimney. Half the barn is going to be my workshop its been rewired and i’ve spruced up a pair of stables in the yard which along with a caravan is where i’m living. Also whilst empty it was broken into and copper stolen but owners hadn’t rpturned water off and it got a justa bit wet.

[Mike G]

So the oast end is going to be accommodation, and the other end, to the right of the mid-stray is going to be your workshop? Is that about right?

Is that a temporary repair for a leaking roof, to the right of the scaffolding, or is it a feature that's been removed? That's a bizarre porch/ overhang thing in front of the main door. Does that stay or go?

Are the main structural timbers softwood or hardwood? I'm struggling to date the building from what I can see. Is it 19th century?

[Artiglio]

Morning Mike

The oastend will be living acommodation along with half the ground floor of the barn and about 2/3 rds of first floor ( a bedroom will be above the mid stray ( not heard that term before)).
Its all very odd, the temporary covering on the left is a high level window that had completely rotted and was letting a waterfall in , the beam under it is completely rottedout, but at some point rather than fix it a steel was bodged in.
There are a very few pieces of oak , but rest is softwood, the pitched roof over the barn door was added in 1907 and the roof has been altered at least twice, below is picture of the end wall. The road level is 3 feet higher than the barn floor, the house next door when they dug out to extend their lounge went past 3 road layers.
There’s just one truly original window in the place. I’ll put up a few explanatory pics as the days go by , a couple here for now.

[Artiglio]

The front porch arrangement, is from around 1936 ( it has same roof covering as the bay on a rear extension which is documented) Odd though it is I like it and it’ll be staying , however the telegraph poles holding the pitched roof above will be going, structural engineer is currently working out how the existing structure will be supported. There’s not a huge amount of the original left and i want to keep it, but every woodworm in history has been round for lunch then decided to stay for dinner and supper. Replacing the timbers would destroy the buildings charm, so its going to be a bit of “suck it and see” approach as things progress.

[Mike G]

At least there are some gorgeous stable-type doors there to incorporate somehow.

Do you have a drawing?

[AJB Temple]

You can't be far from me. Very nice project.

If you need a bit of assistance on framing stuff or tools, give me a shout.

Adrian

[TrimTheKing]

If you need a bit of assistance on framing stuff or tools, give me a shout.

Adrian

Yep, he's got a new book on it and everything!

[AJB Temple]

Ha! Thanks Mark. I think I might have every book on framing that has been published in the UK! (And some from the US).

The PDF one you kindly provided is interesting. It takes a very industry centric approach to both timber and construction. Many real life framers would regard a number of aspects as impractical and unrealistic.

[Andyp]

Adrian, thanks for the offer, you might regret it at some point. The rotten “5 paned window” in the picture sits over the grey steel , the beam above the steel has completely gone and is top of the list for when weather gets better then rest of the reapirs to that side of the roof.

Have found a company that does that sort of work and they’ll be taking a proper look in the spring ( covid permitting)

I’m in broadstairs area so not a million miles away. If you have a book/site you’d recomnend on this sort of structure i’d be grateful.
This pic shows the fairing piece laid over the previous beam that had formed part of the original flat roof that had projected over the barn entrance.

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[Artiglio]

Apologies i seem to be having orientation issues, needs rotating 90 degrees anti clockwise.

image rotated.

If you use select the Place Inline button and place you cursor in the post where you would like the image to appear, the horrible white box and dotted border disappears and the images can be displayed with explanatory text either above or below, of both.

[Artiglio]

MikeG

A couple of pictures of the timber. First is of the main post and its support on one of the bay dwarf walls. The bottom piece i’m pretty sure is oak , there are 4 of them, nails just cannot be pulled out of them, they have to be cut flush. The posts are softwood, last picture is the top of the same post, as you can see extra bits have been nailed on at some poit, all 4 posts have the same top profile/decoration.

[Artiglio]

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To the invisible assistant Thank you, i’ll eandeavour to get it right. As a test. This is to replace the 5 pane window on right of barn roof. Accoya and built with lots of reference to a “how to” posted by Coley on another forum, i found it an excellent guide and greatly appreciate the effort that went into it.My first piece of proper joinery , if it looks a bit rough and uneven that’s in part because i was not trying overly hard to make it perfect as the window that it replaces looked as though it had been made from left overs and practice pieces and also i made more than the odd error.

[Mike G]

Yeah, that plate is oak (there's a slight chance it could be chestnut, but there's no great difference anyway). It's less easy to be certain about the posts, although the machined finish and crisply cut jowl suggest it is relatively recent in date.

[Andyp]

If you want to understand Kentish Weald buildings, then this book is worth reading:

(247.23 KiB)

I don't know how old your oast frame is. This books deals with 1450 to 1750, but timber framed structures after that largely replicated past designs. Oasts and ad hoc farm buildings are dealt with from page 125 onwards.

There are lots of books on timber framing. Many of the ones that are often recommended (like "building the timber framed house - by Benson" ) were of little use in practice to me, but one that is gives a lot of framing and joint cutting tips, as well as methods of cutting joints of most types (though with an American leaning) is this, and I recommend it to anyone thinking of doing actual oak framing work themselves. It includes structural loading charts and calculations suited to a home builder rather than construction industry:

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There are a couple of good French books (the first barn frame I erected came from France) but they are in French and there are no English translations that I have come across.

Kind regards, Adrian

Sorry. The image software here rotates the images for some reason. Pictures are legible though.

[Andyp]

Thanks for the replies. This is the only old window in the place ( the rest are a mix of 1920ish sashes, casements of similar age fitted into what would have been the oasts vent frames, casements from the 70’s/ 80’s, crittals from 1930’s and 60’s).

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[Mike G]

!930s Crittalls are beautiful windows, and can be fully restored, galvanised, double glazed, and fitted with modern seals (as can the 1960s models). Bear in mind that if you are listed all of the windows will need approval before you do anything with them other than an in situ repair. The 1920s windows will have a nice fine look to them, too, I'll warrant.

[Artiglio]

Evening Mike

The planning permission and listed building consent covered every window in the course of the process. I didn’t mind either repairing the early crittals or replacing with wooden casements, imdid want to get rid of the 60’s crittal as it was the only one on that elevation. Where new windows were to be inserted again i had no real preference. There is a company very close to me that repairs / builds crittals. The council decided they preferred wooden casements.
One of the odd things is that despite the council declaring a climate emergency , i’m not allowed double glazing in any shape or form and getting permission to put some insulation in was a real drag, despite historic england supporting such moves in buildings with no special history.

Its main appeal to me is the way its been so thoroughly altered over the years, how’s this for a gable end wall. This was taken several years back.

[Mike G]

........There is a company very close to me that repairs / builds crittals.......

Got a link? I've only ever used a company in Gloucestershire, and I've a client about to start on a project with about 30 Crittall windows.

As a fun little aside, my dad worked for Crittalls. He ran their operation in South Africa then set up the business in Australia (the latter under a different name). He started in their drawing office in Braintree sharpening pencils and making tea, as a 16 year old.

[Phil]

Interesting project.

Looked up Oasthouse, found some places for sale at GBP250k up to GBP900k
Suspect we will not be moving.

[Mike G]

Interesting project.

Looked up Oasthouse, found some places for sale at GBP250k up to GBP900k
Suspect we will not be moving.

That's because oast houses are found almost exclusively in Kent and Sussex, and being in the SE of England, prices are sky high like all property. Add that to the rand/ GBP exchange rate and you'd have to be selling a family farm in SA to buy a modest house over here.

[AJB Temple]

Unfortunately I think the vast majority of oasts in Kent within commuting distance of London, have long since been converted. House prices can easily get into the millions for a large conversion with reasonable grounds. Roofers around here are used to the special skills of tiling oasis, though far too many have been clad in what looks like black fibreglass, which is an abomination. I would say 70% of Kentish oasts are circular.