Spinny

Our architect did a drawing showing the drainage layout and services/extractor positions as part of detailed design. The structural engineer did a report with the joist/steel/lintel dimensions and layouts, structural calculations for them, foundation and slab specification etc. We had test pits dug to assess ground conditions. I am not sure building control pore over it too much if they can see you have professionals on board. In reality it doesn't become fixed in stone. We had two lintels changed from concrete to steel during build, and just sent the new specification and calculations for these from the structural engineer to BC.

Looking again I am surprised the upper floor doesn't feature at least one dormer window. There appear to be only 3 windows serving the upper floor and all of them positioned in a gable end. No velux or rooflight windows there either - just 3 windows. Given all that tiled sloping roof I'd be thinking at least 1 dormer. My late parents had the upper floor in the roof and ended up installing double dormers opposite each other in both legs of the roof which made a huge difference. Dormers can look old fashioned, but a decent architect would avoid that. PS Open plan kitchen diner looks sizeable and perhaps likely to be used as a second seating area too - so where would the ubiquitous second tv go ? Maybe think about the kitchen/dining/seating layout in there carefully - the layout is likely to strongly influence the electrical/lighting plan for that room. PPS Looks like the original architects might no longer be ?

We used two different supply/installers so that we could get particular bifolds and large adjacent windows from one company, and then single doors and windows from another. Just because we wanted particular bifolds but didn't like their single doors. It is all RAL coloured aluminium so all looks fine together with squared off profiles etc. Going to a big home improvement show gave us a chance to look at some offerings, and then off to their showrooms. A lot may depend on your priorities re cost, quality, timeline. When you have openings and they come to measure up, get them to mark a reference level clearly at multiple points on your walls e.g. 1m above FFL. And give a lot of attention to how the same floor level is going to be achieved between the extension and the existing building by the builders. Overheard our builder telling multiple customers 'Sorry the floor level is a bit off but a threshold/small step will cover it up' and we had to change our internal flooring plans because of such a problem. Ask about threshold and cill options.

It has been skimmed now see pics. Quite happy with the way it has turned out, much better than some of the other ideas bandied about which involved having parts of the gloss white newel post on show lower down the wall. I do agree with Nick that some added molding is likely to finish it off. The horizontal timber along the edge of the upstairs landing has also been boarded ready to plaster, so elected to run the faux newel piece added to the front of the actual newel up as far as the top of the stringer as that seems like a structure related logic for where to end it.

ah ok. Just looking for a way to get the whole area around that door to look right when architrave is put around the door and it wasn't clear what to do with the newel post coming down. carpenter was suggesting I would have to put gloss paint on one edge of the newel post and then matt emulsion on the other face. But I think boarding and plastering over the newel post is going to work better. Now under way - see pic.

The traditional way of increasing the area of higher ceiling height in rooms in the roof is the dormer window of course. I notice how appropriately positioned velux windows can achieve a similar effect by using the window reveal to similar effect. Wonder if some adjusted toilet/services layout around the entrance way might allow the front door to be moved across to better align with the double doors at the back of the house to give you that 'look right through the house' look when you come in through the front door. Timber cladding looks wonderful when new, but we decided we didn't like the aged grey look so much so went with Cedral fibre cement boards instead. Agree with Pro Dave about access from the other road. Also back of house currently faces east, so evening sun will be at the front of the house and the back will be shaded by the house itself at that time. Consideration might be given to rotating the house by 180 degrees and then flipping the across the midline. Size and position of existing trees also to be considered. There are tools you can use to examine the passage of the sunlight over the property. (We are east facing at the back but by having a roof light in the side extension we can catch some evening sunlight, and fortunately the garden length and angles work to give us evening sunlight).

Hi, urgently trying to find a decent aesthetic way to finish around my understairs door and wall. I am wondering about boarding and plastering over a newel post running up from ground floor to first floor, but then creating a 'faux' floating newel post at the top of the staircase stringer. See photograph and sketch. The aim being to resolve details around the doorway and allow an architrave to be fitted around the understairs toilet door. Do people think this idea will work ? Any other ideas for making the area look decent around the door area and surrounding hallway wall ?

Wow, is that really going to work for the life of the doorway - the screw holes will end up practically on the join. (In the youtube i watched people were not moving the hinge and accepting of a rebated door front, but personally in a hallway directly adjacent to other doors I don't want to do that and have it look odd.) Most times if you have a problem that could be solved by a suitable hinge, someone has already invented it, the only problem is finding it - he said hopefully, having been too busy phoning eclisse over my pocket door issues to further trawl t'internet.

Strewth. They are going to kill us all for dollar... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2eSujzrUY

Your comment made me check - My mistake apologies, I was misremembering from 2 years ago... Structural Engineer did NOT recommend intumescent - he actually recommended Zinc Phosphate Epoxy and I bought some from here https://www.taindustrialpaints.co.uk/products/two-pack-epoxy-high-build-zinc-phosphate-metal-primer - it is two part and you have to mix in a catalyst. When it arrived it had loads of health and safety and storage requirements so I didn't use it, and went with the red oxide.

Has got 15mm fireboard underneath. Got a call in with Building Control.

We had the same with steels that had been in place about 42 years (see pics). I had our structural engineer take a look, he gave them a good poke with a screw driver and said they should be fine for another 100 years, vigorous wire brush (as you propose) and treat. He suggested an intumescent coating paint, but when I got some delivered the skull and crossbones warnings all over the stuff made it seem you would die if you opened the can. So I went with vigourous wire brushing/drill attachment, then treatment with Neutrarust 661 (NATO approved rust convertor for use in ships, tanks etc - available on Amazon), then 2 coats of iron oxide paint. Photo shows the end result. Builder showed zero interest in doing anything to the steels so I had to do it myself.

Plaster boarding going around a steel. The steel supports a 2.2m opening in the back wall of a 2 storey house. Wondering whether the fire protection requirement (would it be 30 mins or 1 hour ?) can be met with a 12.5mm fireboard. ? The problem being that the rest of the wall has already been boarded in 12.5mm, so using 15mm will create a problem with skimming the wall. There is 70mm of rockwool between the 44mm studs in front of the steel and therefore immediately behind the plasterboard.

Yes, have seen a youtuber doing that too. However it doesn't move the hinge point forward so the door face doesn't move forward.

Interesting, would like to see a photo of that. Lighting is a tricky thing. Architects don't seem to address it - ours just asked us to come up with a lighting plan. Then you are thrust into the world of lumens per square metre, CRI, CCT, LED tape, beam angles, baffles, smart control etc. Once you see the space you change your mind. Think I have over 20 switcheable lighting groups now.

I am not sure about the back lighting, I guess ideally you might have both, but we are not planning anything other than a white wall behind at present. I have also seen them put facing upwards at the back of the shelf. It is good to see pictures of actual install like yours, thank you. Now thinking of putting a couple of baffled mini downlights into the downstand as has been done in this photo. (PS I have got some trunking put in running up the wall behind the plasterboard at the side of the recess so I can just drill into it and fish the wires through. Then as we are having a cupboard at the bottom I have had a cut out left in the plasterboard with a plywood board behind to fix the transformer and WLED controller onto. Thinking of putting addressable cob led strips in everywhere just for the hell of it.)

I have an alcove 250mm deep we will be putting in a cupboard 90cm high then shelves above. At the top of the alcove we want to box the ceiling down a little in plasterboard to give that 'built into the wall look'. Question is if we put LED strip under each shelf (probably oak look shelves) - should we put led strip into the underside of the plasterboard downstand ? (i.e. to light the top shelf) Thinking LED strips should go near front of shelves.

Apols Susie, just couldn't see your makeup from the photo. Not seen studwork going down into the insulation layer before.

OK - photos and sketch. I am boarding around the existing u/stairs toilet door which hangs from the newel post and had no architrave. Therefore finished wall will be 12-15mm in front of the current hinge point. Best option would seem to be moving the hinge point forward to the new wall position, but screwing into the very edge of the newel post not sensible, therefore need a wider leaf on that side of the hinge. Could make door narrower by fitting new door liner inside the existing timbers but would make the door narrower and shorter - not keen on doing that. Could fit a super thick architrave around the door with the door recessed relative to the wall but will look odd - so not keen on that one. (PS I might keep it as a flush finish without architrave or add architrave as it is on the same wall as architrave less pocket door. But skirting board issues beckon)

Yes it needs to be forward of the lining when closed. In effect there is no door lining as such, the door lining is the timber stud, which then has plasterboard fixed to create the wall surface in front of it. I guess you can think of it like a flush door with no architrave. A normal butt hinge would have to be screwed into the very edge of the timber stud where it would end up breaking out the edge of the stud. I can see that some such hinges exist e.g. for marine cabinets.

I effectively need to mount a door on hinges so that the door hangs 12mm in front of the door lining. That is I need a butt hinge with unequal width leaves so that the wider leaf can be screwed into the door lining and the narrower leaf screwed into the edge of the door in the normal way. Thereby presenting the door 12mm forward. Anyone know where I might find such hinges ?

You can find recessed TV mounts that have fold out arms but which fold back into a large back box which gets recessed into the wall structure. I wanted one in a concrete block wall and had the architect do a drawing with a lintel and recess built into the wall - but it was all too much for the builders. What are ''those little covers'' exactly ? The absence of any proper planning for domestic M&E trunking/conduits/service voids seems like a major failure amongst architects. It has always seemed faintly ridiculous to build something then have to spend a while load of time drilling, chasing, cutting and generally bashing about what has just been built to force M&E into it.

So presumably this is a ground floor with a concrete slab ? If that back black wall is an outside wall I'd have thought consider digging up a piece of slab next to it to run a drain out through that wall. Maybe do this in the plant room/laundry room and then run the basin and shower waste through the stud wall and across to reach a new drain next to the black wall. You could dig out a channel in the slab and/or raise the shower tray to cover the shower waste pipe. It is a hard thing, there is so much detail, but the more that is planned in advance of a build the better, especially M&E.

It is always the right thing to do to talk to your neighbour, not a mistake - do this when you have some plans but before you apply for planning. The vast majority of people will respond positively to this. Think about their feedback and whether some minor changes could help. The tiniest change shows you can think about others. Don't do as our neighbour did - keep your plans secret - put in a planning app the day before xmas - plan to break all planning precedents and to unnecessarily maximise the impact on your neighbour - use a dodgy architect - refuse to answer simple questions - constantly claim ignorance of building regs and health & safety - mysteriously go away during the whole of the 2 week period on the day the party wall award is issued, refuse every written request from your neighbour while making contradictory verbal statements over the fence, etc

Bit difficult to relate the house photo and the plan drawing - are they in different orientations ? Where is the driveway in the photo on the plan ?