A Timber Framed Self Build in Berkshire

Walking past the cottage home of Haydn and Wendy Wood in a leafy Berkshire lane, with its timbered exterior, rendered gable ends, mature roof of rugged handmade clay tiles, neat dormer windows and attractive herringbone brick infill panels, it is easy to conclude that it has stood there for several hundred years. The reality is that they moved in during the spring of 2000 and that even when the house was two thirds complete the deception was so good that the team sent by Potton, their timber frame suppliers, to undertake the second fix woodwork drove up and down the road trying to find it. Small wonder then that the house was declared outright winner of the Potton Self-Build Awards 2002.

For Haydn and Wendy it all started seven years ago, when they were keen to move from their three-bedroomed mid terrace house on an estate in Wokingham to a historic cottage, preferably not too far away. When they realised that the sort of historic cottage they were looking for was beyond their pockets they decided to self-build. Armed with all the magazines they could muster they scoured land agencies, got hold of a local plan and maps and consulted friends over a wide area. Then one day Haydn spotted an unkempt area of garden behind a hedge that appeared to belong to a large private house in a village on the outskirts of Reading.

“It was about a fifth of an acre and very overgrown, except for a lawn at the front — quite large enough to take a house of the size we wanted plus a reasonable-sized garden,” says Haydn, who runs a live music management company.

When he knocked on the door of the house Haydn was told the land actually belonged to a developer who had owned it for several years but permitted them to use it as an extension to their garden. Haydn and Wendy made contact with the developer, who agreed to sell them the plot for £100,000. Before purchasing they approached their local council for planning consent. It turned out to be a battle royale.

“Despite the fact that we proposed a relatively modest infill in a vernacular style there were 78 letters of objection from local people, including the parish council and the local amenity society,” Haydn says. “The whole process, including the public appeal which we finally won with the assistance of a planning consultant, took 12 months.”
By the time the purchase was complete Haydn and Wendy had fallen in love with the 137m2 Caxton model in the Potton timber framed range. They wished to reverse the layout downstairs, placing the lounge on the left hand side facing the front and the kitchen and dining room to the right of the hallway. This would give them a larger lounge than had it been the other way round. It also meant they were able to extend the lounge to give a sunroom at the south-east of the rear of the house.

“It was a perfect arrangement for all our entertaining and also meant that we could take advantage of the morning sun,” says Wendy. “Potton proved very amenable to all this and several other changes — in fact most adapt­able,” says Haydn. “They were also happy to add a porch at the front, which added greatly to the traditional cottage look we wanted to achieve. By using Potton to do the redesign in this way and erect the shell and the roof structure, it gave us confidence. As novice self-builders we had the security of knowing that we were supported by a major timber frame company with a lot of experience of self-build and whom we could talk to on a daily basis if we so desired.”

During the lengthy planning stage Haydn and Wendy worked hard at sourcing all the reclaimed materials they thought they would need in order to achieve their aim of making the new cottage look more like a renovation. They managed to obtain reclaimed handmade clay rooftiles, genuinely old oak timbers, and ‘Elizabethan-style’ two inch bricks, some of them several hundred years old, for a few of the exterior wall panels.

In the course of this hunt they had an extraordinary find. One of the demolition contractors they got to know informed them of a 14 bedroomed, early 20th century house in Maidenhead that was due to come down to make way for a small housing estate.
“We went there to look at oak flooring but ended up buying 30 oak square leaded light windows and doors at £100 each,” says Haydn. “We selected the ones we could use and sold the rest for £3,000, so all our lovely high quality oak windows cost us nothing!” By the time they had some broken panes repaired and a double door made to enter the sun room they were £2,000 worse off – but it still proved a pretty good deal.

Once on site in May 1999 the first task was to move a 35ft tall cedar tree which had a preservation order on it. It now stands happily near the front entrance. After this, putting down the beam and block foundations and erect­ing the timber frame proved straightforward.

“We scoured reclamation yards from Cornwall to Cam­bridge for materials,” Haydn says. “All the old beams came from Antique Buildings of Dunsfold in Sussex where owner Peter Barker had some 300 year-old oak sawn as planks that he usually sold as cladding. They proved perfect for the idea I had in mind, which was to adapt the Potton method – using planks of stained or painted Douglas Fir to give a mock Tudor appearance – and make it look much more authentic by using planks of genuine reclaimed oak fixed to lightweight insulated blockwork and surrounded by a lime render.”

The deception of the exterior timbers is totally effective, partly because of the depth of the rugged lime render but also because of ingenious methods of masking the deception, mainly devised by Haydn.

The blockwork is separated from the Potton timber frame by a clear cavity. Together with the insulation in the blocks this has given the house added insulation values, which has meant that they have been able to do away with the requirement for double glazing.

“We were very careful to check with our extremely help­ful building control officer that the insulation values in the roof and walls and floors would counteract the windows, which are not thermally efficient, before we bought them,” says Haydn. “Fortunately he appreciated the exceptional quality of the windows and approved. This was a great bonus for us as the windows were a great find and we were adamant that we did not want double glazing.

“With the old glass and the warped leadwork in many of the lights the light catches every single pane in a delightful way and the effect is one of a myriad of reflections. Really we built the house to suit the windows. The Potton designers resized every window opening in the house to take them, which was fantastic. They also did some very clever manipulation so we could have our new bespoke solid oak front door, which we obtained from a company in Yorkshire.

“Really we built the outer walls of the house twice to achieve the effect we wanted,” Wendy says. “We don’t regret the added expense of doing this because the result is everything we always wanted it to be. The plot was expensive – several years ago building land was changing hands at £1m an acre round here – but the building costs came out quite reasonable as we sub-contracted and did a huge amount of work ourselves. For a total outlay of £232,500 we now have a four bedroom house of great character that is worth well in excess of £600,000.”