boxrick

I am hoping to get specific advice from a flood specialist. Failing that I think the most sensible thing to do to keep BC happy is just puncture it a bunch of times and then cover in gravel... will mitigate any stagnant trapped water in the future hopefully.

So below the block and beam floor he has placed a level of visqueen which is basically an impenetrable plastic barrier. If I flood and it somehow gets into my subfloor, I assume this will simply gather water. Is it sensible at this point in time to get him to remove that and replace with some material which allows water to drain and then perhaps cover in a layer of gravel so it doesn't float?

https://www.floodprotectionsolutions.co.uk/products/airbrick/?srsltid=AfmBOooX8CZN8nbIxS9IMB5RuO3GjgvpVdBLunvWpxD9GTruvOoCOYcP Basically when it floods the little ball blocks up stopping water ingress.

FFL is going to match and be equal in new and old build. It was already around 70cm in height, we have further raised it as part of this renovation I think a further 10cm. In respect of the re-build, we don't have a tonne of other choices. The building itself was very small so not attractive to either live in or sell. In respect of home for life... I honestly don't know. Will just have to see where the next years take us. Right now this is in a particurly desirable location, any other property of similar size or quality would be more or less double what I paid + rebuild. We are using anti flood air bricks which will have a channel right through to the void underneath block and beam, avoiding the cavity. Existing property airbricks to be removed as we are infilling with concrete. We already have a membrane here which was just laid on the soil as mostly a weed barrier. Should I get my builder to rip this out? Ventilation is up to building regs which is approx every 1-2m

We have exposed ringbeam and it's mostly bare soil with a membrane over the top. At the lowest point we are already putting anti flood air bricks but this sit basically on top of the ring beam.

In the existing property we are going for a full fill concrete floor. The new property is on piles and is block and beam and it's all going to be a good bit higher too. Is there something else I can be doing beneath the block and beam before it gets fully encased?

I didn't really have a whole lot of choice, our house would be worthless if we didn't. Luckily we are in a very good area and demand for houses here is high. Hopefully the measure we are taking will help mitigate future floods. This spot has never flooded its a 1/100 year event, but obviously things are getting worse. In this case, the river broke its banks which meant it flooded worse than before and spread further. You could say unlucky, but honestly I have had a big payout from insurance. We have had accommodation paid for whilst we are doing our rebuild, so despite the stress of having to manage it all. Its been a blessing in disguise. We managed to move most of our nicer possessions onto worktops and similar. I will get flood gates for our sliding doors / front door I think.

New here... I posted once for advice but never introduced myself or got involved and it would be nice for bits of advice along my journey... Some context, I live in the the Northwest of the UK. Have owned our 1970s bungalow since 2020 we never intended to move in, but due to ongoing ( even to this day, flooding, fire issues ) in our flat we moved to let work commence there. We had always planned to refurbish and extend this when we bought it but a number of challenges meant it never started primarily with bad architects. Anyway fast forward to 2024 we have now a great architect and are in the process of planning things, we have incorrect planning permission and was going to apply for a modification then sadly in January 2025 our house was flooded This meant we had to move out whilst it was being dried out, we decided to fast forward our building plans and applied for amended permissions. The plans are to extend and completely gut the existing bungalow, leaving only the outside walls. New roof, windows, floor, add a bunch of rooflights ( 9 total ) to get light into the property. Then finish with MHVR, heatpump and underfloor heating. We will also be getting triple glazed alu-clad ( Norrsken / Fakro ) windows both on the roof and all round and having to take sensible flood prevention measures. Many have asked why we didn't knock it down and re-build but ultimately that was just one step too far, we had so many decisions to make and keeping the footprint of the original building to work with just made one less major decision. Plans are broadly as follows, we will finish with around 115 square meters of house and will be looking to get external wall insulation. We are going to move the entrance to the side and our foundations need to be piled due to surrounding protected trees. Foundations were finished around the end of April and we have been building / stripping for around 2 weeks now. A few pictures of the ongoing stuff, we started out removing a large tree. Then I got a piling firm to build my foundations whilst I waited on amended permissions, I did this with the older planning permission Sadly during this they managed to puncture the water mains which caused me a lot of stress.... Then I finally chose my builder and a few weeks later we got started with the drains Then whilst we were waiting for signoff we started stripping the inside, roof ceiling etc Then after we got the drains signed off, we backfilled. The beams arrived and the flooring built up in the new section: Which largely brings me to where we were on Friday see this quick video: Obviously a lot going on, and I am completely unexperienced at this. I have been trying to get numerous things changed in respect of thermal bridging, MHVR, external finishes, beams, getting electrics and water moved, gas capped off etc. Right now I just paid for a Heatgeek to do a heatloss survey for my ASHP and underfloor heating based on my plans and intended build, my local guy seemed incredibly knowledgeable rather than the other people I have spoken to who feel more like salesman. Sadly they only seem to install Valliant ASHP. I am also trying to get a full sensible design for MHVR so it works well within my property. So right now I would appreciate any thoughts or input - Is there anything sensible I should be doing in respect of extra measures in regards to flooding? ( We have raised the floor level and are concrete infilling existing property ) I will also be using things like anti-flood air bricks so any particular brand of that would be appreciated - Anything worth doing in respect of the property in general, I keep hearing things like tanking being thrown around. Insurance is covering some general improvement works around the area and the flats so if I can bring anything up extra which may help me that would be useful. - Any brand of ASHP I should be pushing for or looking at? - Whilst I am at this stage, anything I should be considering to include or modify on my build I may have overlooked?

Hello folks! I am planning a home renovation / extension. I will be completely gutting my property internally and extending. My new architect tells me I need fire rated windows due to its vicinity to the boundary. I have included pictures and circled in red the bit which is causing an issue along with pictures of the border. But as you can see my windows are fairly large and likely going to have to be custom, I don't even believe I can get something like this fire rated because of the difficult shape. On the other side of the boundary is a golf course and a bunch of trees and weeds ( basically nothing ). I am currently trying to purchase the land on the other side of the boundary to give me enough space and have made attempts to get fireproof glass / frames without much luck. Is what my architect tells me completely correct? Is there any sensible ways to work around this, or does anyone have any suggestions? Does anyone know somewhere which may do the required fireproof windows ( frames / glass as a unit )?