Hi All,

We've got the builders in, we don't have an architect or project manager overseeing the work, and our experience with a lot of this stuff is that we've seen it on Grand Designs or 100K House or whatever.

Anyway, to the latest question........

The builder is today building block work walls on which he will res beams, and I think these will have gaps between for blocks to drop into (or the beams may just be butted up together (which is how a previous extension at the front of the house appears to have been done)). He is going to leave a void underneath the middle of the beams which will be vented via air bricks.

Anyway. a question I said.............

There don't appear to be any footing for the block walls. Is that normal? Allowed("Soil" is heavy clay)?

TIA

Chris

On 26/09/17 12:24, wrote:
Hi All,

We've got the builders in, we don't have an architect or project manager overseeing the work, and our experience with a lot of this stuff is that we've seen it on Grand Designs or 100K House or whatever.

Anyway, to the latest question........

The builder is today building block work walls on which he will res beams, and I think these will have gaps between for blocks to drop into (or the beams may just be butted up together (which is how a previous extension at the front of the house appears to have been done)). He is going to leave a void underneath the middle of the beams which will be vented via air bricks.

Anyway. a question I said.............

There don't appear to be any footing for the block walls. Is that normal? Allowed("Soil" is heavy clay)?

It depends. Its normal to put in a bit of concrete so as to allow for
slight bed movement, then the work will be concrete blocks up to damp or
thereabouts

What is ctirical is how deep the whole sehbang starts below damp.
Usually a meter or so in clay.



TIA

Chris



--
"It is an established fact to 97% confidence limits that left wing
conspirators see right wing conspiracies everywhere"

wrote:

There don't appear to be any footing for the block walls. Is that normal?

I'd expect either trench fill or strip foundations for the block work,
with the inner leaf supporting the T beams, any sign of Mr Building
Inspector to give the nod?

On 26/09/2017 12:24, wrote:
Hi All,

We've got the builders in, we don't have an architect or project
manager overseeing the work, and our experience with a lot of this
stuff is that we've seen it on Grand Designs or 100K House or
whatever.

Anyway, to the latest question........

The builder is today building block work walls on which he will res
beams, and I think these will have gaps between for blocks to drop
into (or the beams may just be butted up together (which is how a
previous extension at the front of the house appears to have been
done)). He is going to leave a void underneath the middle of the
beams which will be vented via air bricks.

Anyway. a question I said.............

There don't appear to be any footing for the block walls. Is that
normal? Allowed("Soil" is heavy clay)?

Footings can be made from blocks - so if they have dug down to a solid
base level, then arguably that will be ok.

(normally engineering brick or dense concrete blocks would be used for
sub ground applications)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Thanks guys. This isn't filling me with confidence.

I will try and give the BCO a call.

Cheers

Chris

wrote:

I will try and give the BCO a call.

Inspection regimes vary around the country, buy you can get a flavour of
the stages from these search results

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=building+control+mandatory+inspections+si te:gov.uk

John Rumm Wrote in message:
On 26/09/2017 12:24, wrote:
Hi All,

We've got the builders in, we don't have an architect or project
manager overseeing the work, and our experience with a lot of this
stuff is that we've seen it on Grand Designs or 100K House or
whatever.

Anyway, to the latest question........

The builder is today building block work walls on which he will res
beams, and I think these will have gaps between for blocks to drop
into (or the beams may just be butted up together (which is how a
previous extension at the front of the house appears to have been
done)). He is going to leave a void underneath the middle of the
beams which will be vented via air bricks.

Anyway. a question I said.............

There don't appear to be any footing for the block walls. Is that
normal? Allowed("Soil" is heavy clay)?

Footings can be made from blocks - so if they have dug down to a solid
base level, then arguably that will be ok.

(normally engineering brick or dense concrete blocks would be used for
sub ground applications)

Aka "trench blocks" for e.g.

Sounds like a job that would need paperwork from the BCO....

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On 26/09/2017 12:24, wrote:

Snip

I have asked my wife if she is able to ring the BCO today about this and other matters where we/the builder want variations from the plans which have been approved (the builder has said "They are a rough guide"

(He seems to be building quite a different extention to that shown on the plans (then again, he did quote HALF what the only other we could get to quote quoted (and was thereby just about within our budget rather than over it by a factor of two).

We don't have a costed quote or a written contract (I know this is the daftest of the daft way to go about this, but there are only so many hours in a day and we work / commute / sleep most of them and didn't manage to do it before work commenced and haven't managed to since).

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front wal... my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall) he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night) built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I also have some queries re- blockwork, but I'll post in a new post.

TIA for still listening.


By the way, I post via GG, and have read here before that this upsets some newsreaders threading. I am fairly careful about where I put my replies in the thread.

Do MY posts / replies appear ok (they appear fine from here), or are mine just as borked as everyone elses?

Cheers

Chris

wrote:

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front wal...

Did the BCO pass the excavation, or the pouring of the concrete?

my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??
Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

re google: Your line lengths are more like paragraph lengths, but your
threading is OK.

On 27/09/2017 11:38, wrote:

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front
wal... my understanding is building a course or two of double skin
with cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then
one end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and
then the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

So he has created a ledge to sit the beams on inside the new wall by the
sounds of it? Probably figures its cheaper and less hassle that using
bolt on joist hangers etc.

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I would expect so. This is presumably to take a normal floor load?

I also have some queries re- blockwork, but I'll post in a new post.

TIA for still listening.


By the way, I post via GG, and have read here before that this upsets
some newsreaders threading. I am fairly careful about where I put my
replies in the thread.

GG seem to have fixed some of their worst thread breaking bugs, so you
are threading ok here for me...





--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Wednesday, 27 September 2017 12:36:44 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

re google: Your line lengths are more like paragraph lengths, but your
threading is OK.

put a return at the end of each post and GG fixes the line lengths


NT

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 12:36:44 PM UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front wal...

Did the BCO pass the excavation, or the pouring of the concrete?

my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??
Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

re google: Your line lengths are more like paragraph lengths, but your
threading is OK.

Hi Andy, BCO passed the excavations, Thinking about it, I can't remember

if he's been back to check the concrete. I will have to check.

(I remember very little new stuff these days !::^*)) (And some of the old
stuff's not so great. I googled a problem with our lawnmower the other day, and the main post about it turned out to be from Me! (well, one of my Alter Egos) complaining about how Cr*p the thing was when new. There was a load of stuff in the thread that I've no recollection of saying / doing (Apparently my younger self was happy to take the carb off, whereas my older self stared at it
in bafflement as to how it might be removed !::^*))


GG, I have tried putting in lots of CRs, it looks the same here, but
hopefully it will help others.

Cheers

Chris

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 1:28:13 PM UTC+1, John Rumm wrote:
On 27/09/2017 11:38, wrote:

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front
wal... my understanding is building a course or two of double skin
with cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then
one end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and
then the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

So he has created a ledge to sit the beams on inside the new wall by the
sounds of it? Probably figures its cheaper and less hassle that using
bolt on joist hangers etc.

I suppose it's possible they come next??

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I would expect so. This is presumably to take a normal floor load?

Yeah, setee, dining room table and some bookshelves. It's not a big extention,
so theres not going to be a whole lot in there.

I also have some queries re- blockwork, but I'll post in a new post.

TIA for still listening.


By the way, I post via GG, and have read here before that this upsets
some newsreaders threading. I am fairly careful about where I put my
replies in the thread.

GG seem to have fixed some of their worst thread breaking bugs, so you
are threading ok here for me...

Great.



Cheers

Chris

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 3:10:28 PM UTC+1, wrote:
On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 12:36:44 PM UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

Having had a look at what he has done yesterday.....

He had put in (and the BCO has passed) foundations for the front wal....

Did the BCO pass the excavation, or the pouring of the concrete?

my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??
Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

re google: Your line lengths are more like paragraph lengths, but your
threading is OK.

Hi Andy, BCO passed the excavations, Thinking about it, I can't remember

if he's been back to check the concrete. I will have to check.

(I remember very little new stuff these days !::^*)) (And some of the old
stuff's not so great. I googled a problem with our lawnmower the other day, and the main post about it turned out to be from Me! (well, one of my Alter Egos) complaining about how Cr*p the thing was when new. There was a load of stuff in the thread that I've no recollection of saying / doing (Apparently my younger self was happy to take the carb off, whereas my older self stared at it
in bafflement as to how it might be removed !::^*))


GG, I have tried putting in lots of CRs, it looks the same here, but
hopefully it will help others.

Cheers

Chris

Hmmm, my putting in lots of CRs makes it look naff from here - Sigh!

wrote:

GG, I have tried putting in lots of CRs, it looks the same here, but
hopefully it will help others.

Yes that's better, it always looked OK when it arrived, but before it
didn't wrap properly on replying

In message ,
writes
my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I've just had a 2 storey extension done as above.

Apparently builders prefer block and beam as they get less aggravation
from BC about preparation for oversite concrete. The blocks need to be
set with cement slurry. Normally just brushed over the top.

You mentioned ventilation upthread. This requires Z shaped vents as the
void will be below the damp proof course.

Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

Ditto the photos bit:-)

If you don't have the BC paperwork the normal stages for inspecting an
extension a-

Notification of commencement, Foundations, oversite, drainage, floor
joists, steelwork, roof carcass, insulation, windows, completion
notification.

You don't have oversite or floor joists but he might like to see the
block and beam + vents.

One issue I had with our builder was him failing to fit opening closures
prior to the windows and doors being fitted.

--
Tim Lamb

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 9:23:00 PM UTC+1, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message ,
writes
my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I've just had a 2 storey extension done as above.

Apparently builders prefer block and beam as they get less aggravation
from BC about preparation for oversite concrete. The blocks need to be
set with cement slurry. Normally just brushed over the top.

You mentioned ventilation upthread. This requires Z shaped vents as the
void will be below the damp proof course.

Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

Ditto the photos bit:-)

If you don't have the BC paperwork the normal stages for inspecting an
extension a-

Notification of commencement, Foundations, oversite, drainage, floor
joists, steelwork, roof carcass, insulation, windows, completion
notification.

You don't have oversite or floor joists but he might like to see the
block and beam + vents.

One issue I had with our builder was him failing to fit opening closures
prior to the windows and doors being fitted.

--
Tim Lamb

Hi Tim,

Pray tell me about these opening closures. (Sorry if it should be obvious, but I don't know what you mean).

Cheers

Chris

wrote:

Pray tell me about these opening closures.

They're like "ventilation periscopes" they look like an airbrick on the
outside, but go down then under the beam/block e.g.

https://www.timloc.co.uk/uploads/images/Timloc_Telescopic_Underfloor_Vent_Image_with_Airbr ick_LR.jpg

In message ,
writes
On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 9:23:00 PM UTC+1, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message ,
writes
my understanding is building a course or two of double skin with
cavity and is intending to fill that cavity with concrete. Then one
end of the beams will rest on some width of this blockwork and then
the rest of the wall of the extention will be built above that.

sounds about right

Where the other end of the beams will go (by the existing house wall)
he has exposed the sticky out bit of the foundations the house was
built on (1948 Local Authority 3 Bed Semi) and had (as of last night)
built a single skin of blocks butting against the house wall. I
don't know if this is sufficient to support one end of the beams??

I've just had a 2 storey extension done as above.

Apparently builders prefer block and beam as they get less aggravation
from BC about preparation for oversite concrete. The blocks need to be
set with cement slurry. Normally just brushed over the top.

You mentioned ventilation upthread. This requires Z shaped vents as the
void will be below the damp proof course.

Dunno, suggest you take photos each morning ...

Ditto the photos bit:-)

If you don't have the BC paperwork the normal stages for inspecting an
extension a-

Notification of commencement, Foundations, oversite, drainage, floor
joists, steelwork, roof carcass, insulation, windows, completion
notification.

You don't have oversite or floor joists but he might like to see the
block and beam + vents.

One issue I had with our builder was him failing to fit opening closures
prior to the windows and doors being fitted.

--
Tim Lamb

Hi Tim,

Pray tell me about these opening closures. (Sorry if it should be
obvious, but I don't know what you mean).

The window and door openings will show the cavity between the inner and
outer leaves of your new wall. You should find it full of Rockwool
insulation. The cavity closure is a plastic extrusion like a T with a
very fat leg containing expanded polystyrene insulation.
Example here
https://www.uktradefix.co.uk/100mm-m...r-2-4mtr.html?
utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkvu_p Y3I1gIVxZ3tCh3x7wUqEAQY
ASABEgLYd_D_BwE

The purpose is to prevent cold bridging across the cavity.

--
Tim Lamb

Thanks Tim.

All the beams are down and most of the blocks. We currently have a swimming pool underneath (I
Did say we are on heavy clay??). But the builder has a cunning plan to pump this out as he makes it watertight.

I moved the BT line today (as the BT engineer had run it in the guttering and thats going to be ripped
Down ready for replacement.

I was surprised how quick moving the line was compared with moving the hub,switches, home hub,deft base station,etc,etc!

Cheers

Chris

Forgot to say, BCO is coming back Monday, but my wife checked with him about making various changes (not widening doors, removing only half a wall rather than the whole thing, etc, and he was very laid back.