£12.5K for a church

[George]

Blimey! thats a bargain,but to build a home in the middle of a housing estate? I don't think sooooo.

[mike]

So just to clarify, is it a bargain or isn't it?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I really hand it to the guys - Dean and his wife - for the effort involved. True not all of it was ideal - but then if an architect had been involved they simply couldn't have afforded it.

If only the swimming pool had been sunken...

The follow up on 4 plus included the usual snotty types looking down their noses - but being used to spending vast sums of other's money makes that easy.

[TheScullster]

"George" wrote

I was more concerned by the less lively residents closer at hand - in the grave yard. Definitely a strong argument for some elevated decking! Don't think that aspect even got a mention

Phil

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes - that had to be the reason.

Should be ok if properly ventilated? But it did seem strange to require it to be kept but completely 'boxed in' Although how you could incorporate it in a dwelling I'm not sure - and neither were the 'experts' on the following prog, although it was implied there were ways.

The one thing that wasn't touched on was how the hell do you heat such a place? ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The later prog sort of implied public access to the graves is a requirement on these sort of things, so you don't end up with a private garden.

[Huge]

Interesting. The only church -> house conversion I know of, the headstones were moved to the perimeter wall, so the actual location of the graves was no longer known. The presence of buried bodies wouldn't bother me (don't dig a swimming pool!) but grieving relatives wandering about might.

[Huge]

Actually, the heating question often crosses my mind in these makeover programmes, given the modern propensity for open plan. That, and the whole house reeking of curry, and sitting in one's hi-tech open-plan living room on some deeply uncomfortable slab of Scandinavian leather looking at the washing up.

I'll take rooms, thanks very much. With doors.

[Huge]

... cooking smells permeated the whole house ...

[Peter Johnson]

They showed a complete lack of understanding that he worked to a very limited budget. Of course he used standard door frames - he couldn't afford not to.

I agree.

[Andrew Mawson]

There is a big danger with architects that they want to build something to be remembered by rather than to meet the clients needs within budget. Too much or the arty side and not enough of the practical artisan doing what they are asked to do.

AWEM