notreadyforthis

Sorry, but a lot of the language for steel beams is new to me. I don't have even the slightest idea of what you mean when you say splice joints.

I'm not entirely sure if that acro is doing anything at the moment and they just haven't got around to clearing it. A few days after the steel beams went in, they started taking them out and they were leaning like in the picture but they definitely weren't before. I assume they haven't got around to tidying it away?

What's the likely consequence of this? It's one thing if the steel fabricator hasn't taken pride in their work, it's another thing if they've been supplied something that's not fit for purpose in quite an important part of the house. My builder ordered the steels.

I attach additional pictures taken from today as well as the architectural/structural engineering drawings of the steel beams. I can't make heads or tails of it but hopefully someone on here can point out how the implementation has differed from the drawings. I queried the cut out with the builder and whether this was part of the original design and he said it was. He said they hadn't made any adjustments to the steels since delivery as they don't even have the equipment to make a cut like that. I'm struggling to find a clear enough photo of that part of the beam when it arrived to confirm this though. Don't know if this makes any difference but the beam with the cutout is joined to a much chunkier beam that sits right across the back of our house and on to the extension. The extension is above the garage and won't have a floor above it, so no weight apart from a pitched roof. But the beam with the cutout is supporting the load of the side of the house where there is a floor of living space and roof+loft space. Attached are also images from the plans. The one showing the layout with the purple lines are for the steel beams. The one with the proposed elevation shows the extension above a garage. We removed from scope the conversion of the garage into living space. Foundations were dug and confirmed by both builders and building regs that they were sufficient for our plans.

Here's some additional shots. In picture 2 where the steel is resting on some sort of plates - is that good practice? Picture 3 at the end shows the other side of the largest steel beam showing the bolt holes.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. It gives me things to ask the builder about. I'm sure he'll have a good response but I can usually get a good read on whether he's trying to wing it. The beam where there appears to have been a cut is interesting as it didn't get delivered like that. i also note that the bolt holes aren't centred as they are in the drawings. These steels should have been ordered according to the structural engineering specification. I've got the docs which have all the calculations - none of it makes any sense to me though. The building regs guy has also been around to check it out - would he have raised any of the same concerns as you have or do they not check those sorts of things?

Not really knowing much about building works in general, thought it would be worth posting some pics for you all to see in case anything stood out either in a good or a bad way. Attached should be images of the steel work that has been installed in my living space on the first floor. It's great that we've gotten to this stage as we can see how big the opening will be for the sliding doors. On seeing the gap above the steel (now filled in with brick and cement), I did wonder whether the designers could have pushed the steel up further to accommodate a taller opening but too late for that now!

So I think the answer to the first question is yes you can sand it down. But any ideas where or how I might source the same wood for the additional floor space?

The previous owners must have gone to great expense in putting down hardwood flooring in the living space, stairs and entrance hallway. I thought it was engineered wood but I found some spare boards and noticed that they were made of the real stuff at 20mm thickness and 100mm wide. The issue with them is that they're a very dark brown/chestnut colour in an already dark space so we're thinking of getting rid of it all and replacing it with a lighter or warmer colour engineered wood. But before we commit to doing that, I wanted to check if we can somehow re-use it but also get more of it to fill the new floor space created by the side extension. So two questions: 1. Can the hardwood be sanded down to remove the dark colour and re-oiled to a lighter colour or is this wood stained forever now? 2. How do I go about getting new matching boards to cover the floor where the extension is going so it doesn't look like I've got two different floors?

If the neighbour is willing, what's the downside to drawing up an agreement myself that if my building work causes damage to his side of the wall then it will be my responsibility to put it right? We'll make sure photos are taken for records. The actual building work is a steel beam that needs to go in to reinforce our end-of-terrace side extension. No foundation works or anything complicated relative to other building projects. The builder said they'll be removing bricks by hand to make the space for the steel beam. With or without a party wall agreement, official or unofficial, my neighbour can pursue me for damage caused by my building works anyway can't they? From what I can tell, having a surveyor do a party wall award isn't going to prevent me from being sued for damages and doesn't give the neighbour any additional rights either. For what seems like a fairly minor job, paying over £1,000 for a document that does nothing for either me or my neighbour doesn't sound right to me. What am I missing here?

@cowsgomoo What did you end up doing in the end? Who did you buy from in the end and when are they getting fitted?

Looks fantastic! We're hoping to go for sliding doors with them.

Thanks, good to know that there's margin for negotiation. Am I right in thinking that you haven't had much in the way of issues reliability wise?

I know this is an older post but wondering if you went ahead with the company and how you've found them? I'm looking at them and a couple others for sliding doors.

We're getting an extension built over the garage to extend the living space and we're trying to optimise for natural lighting. The design introduces more than the 25% of the extended floor space in new glass so we're told by the building regs people that we need to get SAP calculations done. Can anyone advise as to what the scope of those SAP calcs should cover and do I also need a new EPC certificate or does that come with it? I don't quite understanding if the evaluation needs to be done for the entire house or limited to just the space in which we're making changes to. I want to make sure I'm asking for quotes for what I actually need.

I've had the designs and structural engineering calculations done for a side extension which has a pitched roof and three skylights of dimensions 140cmx94cm each. I wasn't really consulted about the size of the windows or given any options for sizings before all of that was done and have no seen that there are larger sizes to maximise light. I now want to bump the size of those windows to 160cmx94cm. Should a change like this require structural engineering re-calculations to be done? I can't make heads or tails of the calculations that they've produced and not even sure if they even do calculations for the roof and the skylights? Wanted to get advice as this is the third occasion where we had agreed one thing with the builder verbally but when it came to confirming in writing they come back to say that's not what was agreed and anyway you'd need to do XYZ before we could change it.

They don't note the size explicitly but the skylights are in the drawings which I believe are to scale. So I'm guessing you can work out what the planned size is for each window. I'll try and give the council a call tomorrow but they've never picked up or replied to my emails whenever I've tried before so I'm not hopeful.

How about the build regs surveyor? Would they go up to check something like that? Can't imagine they would unless there's some rule around what size skylights you're allowed to have.

We're looking to put a steel beam in to support the structure of our end terrace house and the side extension we're building. Builder told us we need to let the neighbour know as its a party wall and they may want a survey done. The owner lives overseas and rents out the house. I contacted the agency that manages the property on behalf of the owner and they asked me to email them with the details. That was over two weeks ago and I've yet to receive a response. What happens in the scenario when the party wall owner doesn't respond? Is that a strategy that is used by non-instigating owner to avoid hassle or costs from having a survey done whilst retaining their right to take me to court if they for some reason further down the line wish to sue?

I've had planning approval for a side extension which has a pitched roof and three skylights of dimensions 140cmx94cm. I want to change the size of those windows to 160cmx94cm. Does an amendment of that sort require me to go back to the council for approval?