I'm having a bit of a problem with the design of our new utility
room/conservatory and the building regs. people and was wondering if
anyone has any ideas.

We got the builders to extend the house up to the old garage and was
planning to convert the garage into a conservatory/utility room. The
design I was going to go for has the right and far walls with solid
brick for 1/3 at the bottom and 2/3 toughened glass above. I was going
to leave the left wall as it is because it's on the boundary of the
property and the neighbours garage is about 40cm on the other side.
Roofing was going to be just clear square walled plastic sheets.

It turns out that although conservatories don't need to be inspected the
building has to have over 50% transparent external walls to count as a
conservatory. If it doesn't meet that requirement then it appears that
it has to be built with double skin walls, double glazing etc.

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/planning...ervatories.pdf

The snag is that the building inspector says the design will have less
then 50% glass because of that solid brick wall and the brick bases to
the windows! Aargh! The crazy thing is that the building will be
unheated and will only have a plastic roof so a double skin and double
glazing would be a complete waste of time and money as far as I can
tell.

I could put windows along the wall facing my neighbours garage but that
would look ugly and I suspect I might run foul of planning regs for
putting windows which look onto the neighbours property (even if all the
window faces is a brick wall). The only other thing I can think of is
to bring the glass all the way down to near the floor but I don't
particularly want to do that as I don't think it would look as good.

I've no idea what the regulations are trying to achieve, they seem
pretty crazy to me as the room is unheated and is outside the main house
walls etc. so there will be no heat loss through it. I was wondering if
anyone has any experience of this, or any ideas how to meet the regs
without dramatically changing the design?
--
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The only other thing I can think of is to bring the glass all the way
down to near the floor but I don't particularly want to do that as I
don't think it would look as good.

I'd go that method. Full height glazed conservatories can look very good,
especially if rather than using large glazed panels that make it look like a
shop, you just replace a wooden panel with a small glazed unit or two.
Companies such as Baltic Pine would be delighted to supply you with wooden
frames and glazed panels in this configuration. They look particularly
handsome with glazed fanlights with a single Georgian bar such as the
following diagram, with all panels glazed. Personally, I think dwarf wall
conservatories look a bit odd and prefer full height designs, whether the
bottom panels are glazed or wood panelled.

+--+--+
| | |
+--+--+
| |
| |
| |
| |
+--+--+
| | |
| | |
| | |
+--+--+

I've no idea what the regulations are trying to achieve, they seem
pretty crazy to me as the room is unheated and is outside the main house
walls etc. so there will be no heat loss through it.

The problem is that there is no way of preventing you plugging in a fan
heater and making it heated.

I'd use double glazing anyway. It isn't that much more money and will make
the room much more comfortable, particularly due to the large glazed area.
Also, consider using triple wall polycarbonate (or better still, double
glazed roof) for the same reason.

The building regulations don't require you to use cavity wall methods. Just
bolting on sufficient thickness of Celotex insulation is enough and is
recommended anyway. However, due to the large glazing requirement, you are
unlikely to be able to comply with building regulations without using the
conservatory exemption.

Christian.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:15:49 GMT, Sapient Fridge
wrote:

I'm having a bit of a problem with the design of our new utility
room/conservatory and the building regs. people and was wondering if
anyone has any ideas.

We got the builders to extend the house up to the old garage and was
planning to convert the garage into a conservatory/utility room. The
design I was going to go for has the right and far walls with solid
brick for 1/3 at the bottom and 2/3 toughened glass above. I was going
to leave the left wall as it is because it's on the boundary of the
property and the neighbours garage is about 40cm on the other side.
Roofing was going to be just clear square walled plastic sheets.

It turns out that although conservatories don't need to be inspected the
building has to have over 50% transparent external walls to count as a
conservatory. If it doesn't meet that requirement then it appears that
it has to be built with double skin walls, double glazing etc.

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/planning...ervatories.pdf

The snag is that the building inspector says the design will have less
then 50% glass because of that solid brick wall and the brick bases to
the windows! Aargh! The crazy thing is that the building will be
unheated and will only have a plastic roof so a double skin and double
glazing would be a complete waste of time and money as far as I can
tell.

I could put windows along the wall facing my neighbours garage but that
would look ugly and I suspect I might run foul of planning regs for
putting windows which look onto the neighbours property (even if all the
window faces is a brick wall). The only other thing I can think of is
to bring the glass all the way down to near the floor but I don't
particularly want to do that as I don't think it would look as good.

I've no idea what the regulations are trying to achieve, they seem
pretty crazy to me as the room is unheated and is outside the main house
walls etc. so there will be no heat loss through it. I was wondering if
anyone has any experience of this, or any ideas how to meet the regs
without dramatically changing the design?

One way is to build inside the regs, then alter it with a minor
uninspected alteration later.

Rick

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:15:49 GMT, Sapient Fridge
wrote:


I could put windows along the wall facing my neighbours garage but that
would look ugly and I suspect I might run foul of planning regs for
putting windows which look onto the neighbours property (even if all the
window faces is a brick wall). The only other thing I can think of is
to bring the glass all the way down to near the floor but I don't
particularly want to do that as I don't think it would look as good.

Someone I know had a similar situation - they built it with windows
facing the neighbour to meet the regulations and then put up
"shutters" (rather nice faced boards) over the windows inside and out
immediately afterwards. They had told the neighbour what they
intended to do beforehand so there were no complaints about
overlooking them.
--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

In message , Christian
McArdle writes
I'd go that method. Full height glazed conservatories can look very good,
especially if rather than using large glazed panels that make it look like a
shop, you just replace a wooden panel with a small glazed unit or two.

Many thanks for the advice.

Must admit I hadn't thought of putting in panelled glass rather than
just single sheets. It was the shop window look I was trying to avoid.
--
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:15:49 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named
Sapient Fridge randomly hit the
keyboard and produced:

I'm having a bit of a problem with the design of our new utility
room/conservatory and the building regs. people and was wondering if
anyone has any ideas.

If it is unheated, and you're not making the existing external walls
or doors between the heated part of our house and this extension any
worse (or if you're installing any doors, that they are external
quality and draught-stripped), then there is no limitation on the heat
loss through the extension; as per Approved Document L1, Sections 1.59
to 1.61.
--
Hugo Nebula
'What you have to ask yourself is, "if no-one on the internet wants
a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?"'

In message , Hugo Nebula
writes
If it is unheated, and you're not making the existing external walls
or doors between the heated part of our house and this extension any
worse (or if you're installing any doors, that they are external
quality and draught-stripped), then there is no limitation on the heat
loss through the extension; as per Approved Document L1, Sections 1.59
to 1.61.

The problem is that 1.58 says:

1.58 For the purposes of the guidance in Part L, a conservatory has
not
less than three-quarters of the area of its roof and not less than one
half
of the area of its external walls made of translucent material.

It's that second bit that is causing the problem, if I have less than
half glass then it no longer counts as a conservatory.
--
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Grok: http://spam.abuse.net http://www.cauce.org * nuke a spammer *
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On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 07:42:40 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named
Sapient Fridge randomly hit the
keyboard and produced:

It's that second bit that is causing the problem, if I have less than
half glass then it no longer counts as a conservatory.

Conservatories are exempt from the Building Regulations if they meet
the criteria in Schedule 2 of the 'Regs, which is: "the extension of a
building by the addition at ground level of... a conservatory...where
the floor area of that extension does not exceed 30m², provided that
in the case of a conservatory or porch which is wholly or partly
glazed, the glazing satisfies the requirements of Part N of Schedule
1".

The problem comes in that there is no adequate definition of a
conservatory. IIRC, the old 'Manual to the Building Regulations' gave
it as having a transparent or translucent roof, with no mention of the
glazing to the walls. The guidance in AD L1 only relates to
conservatories to which the Regulations apply; namely those which are
constructed at he same time as the house, or those which don't meet
the other exemption criteria. It's circular logic to apply this as a
criteria as to whether the conservatory is exempt. Unfortunately,
this logic has been adopted by many authorities and/or officers.

There's two separate routes to compliance here;
1. Your proposed extension is an exempt conservatory, in which case,
it doesn't matter how you construct it; or
2. It's an unheated extension, in which case a Building Regulations
application is required, and matters such as its structure, fire
safety, drainage, etc will need to satisfy the Requirements.
With your extension also containing a utility room, I would suggest
that it falls into the second route.
--
Hugo Nebula
'What you have to ask yourself is, "if no-one on the internet wants
a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?"'

"Sapient Fridge" wrote in message
...
I'm having a bit of a problem with the design of our new utility
room/conservatory and the building regs. people and was wondering if
anyone has any ideas.

We got the builders to extend the house up to the old garage and was
planning to convert the garage into a conservatory/utility room. The
design I was going to go for has the right and far walls with solid
brick for 1/3 at the bottom and 2/3 toughened glass above. I was going
to leave the left wall as it is because it's on the boundary of the
property and the neighbours garage is about 40cm on the other side.
Roofing was going to be just clear square walled plastic sheets.

It turns out that although conservatories don't need to be inspected the
building has to have over 50% transparent external walls to count as a
conservatory. If it doesn't meet that requirement then it appears that
it has to be built with double skin walls, double glazing etc.
.....

I've no idea what the regulations are trying to achieve, they seem
pretty crazy to me as the room is unheated and is outside the main house
walls etc. .....

The rules are there to stop people building what are in fact extensions to
their living space, e.g. utility rooms, disguised as "conservatories".
Around here its very tempting for people to want to convert their integral
garages to e.g utility room + kids play room, but a lot of work has to be
done to get through the regs,or if they ignore then problems when they sell.