LeanTwo

Thanks for the additional pictures Onoff. They illustrate the technique very clearly. The rails, I can see will give a very accurate levelling of the concrete. I too was hoping to do away with a screed coat. I will be laying an engineered wooden floor on underlay on top of the slab. I would need to attach the rails to my first course of blockwork but the methodology seems very similar. I will have the protruding DPM to contend with which will get in the way a bit! I guess that you chose the metal rails for strength and accuracy but would wooden rails do the job as well? I notice that in your original set of pictures, you have divided up the slab into sections. Is this the way to go forward so that you are only levelling small sections at a time? The extension that I'm building is to enlarge our current, cramped kitchen diner.

Many thanks for the replies. The screed rails look like a great idea and I'll certainly follow that one. Do the rails just pull out after the concrete has cured and do the indents need to be filled? What I have done on-site so far.... Excavated to get levels and trenches for foundations. Constructed form-work from 12mm shuttering plywood. Foundation concrete has been delivered and poured. It has now been in-situ for five days. Shuttering ply has been removed. I am starting to fill the excavated area inside the foundations with hardcore and levelling it with scalpings, using a vibrating compactor. Today, we have installed the sewer and sink waste connections and made provision for the rising water main. I will finish with a layer of sand ahead of laying the dpm. A layer of insulation (Kingspan or similar) will then be installed. The dpm will extend over the inner first course of Thermalite blocks, which will also define the slab concrete, which will be poured over the insulation layer. The cement mix will have a fibre and retarder additive. The Building Control Officer has visited and approved all work to-date. Any experience, tips or techniques for the slab pour would be very helpful.

I'm at the point where the Building Control Officer has inspected the foundations to a small single story extension and I'm starting the preparation for the slab pour. I have my compacted rubble/sand/insulation/dpm going in and want to check the next steps so the pour goes right. The slab is only 2.5m X 4.5m and I'm having a mini-mix chute delivery (with retarder and fibre added). I've a small posse of helpers with wheelbarrows, rakes etc. at the ready. It would help to be able to get some tips on getting this right. Are here any techniques that I should know about? Maybe you have found a really good YouTube video? Any thoughts or guidance would be great.

I'm constructing a lean-to extension that will cover about 13.5 square meters to my existing kitchen/diner. The total length of the foundation, allowing for a 100 mm shoulder, is about 9.5 meters. I'm looking at about 2.75 cubic meters of concrete. (9.5 X 0.65 X 0.25m) I looked up a concrete mix on the internet and the suggestion was: 1 part cement 2 parts sharp sand 4 parts gravel. Does this sound right? I had other ratios result from my search as well! My builder's merchant also sells a mix of sand and gravel. This sounds like an easier option than separate deliveries of sand and gravel? I hope to mix and lay this in one day, with two of us working. Does this sound achievable?

Hello, A_L and thanks for the reply and link. Looking through the document that you sent a link for, it looks like things have already changed. I was told by my local council building regs officer that my trench needed to be 900mm deep and 600mm wide, which is different from the figures in the 2010 document. In this link, the figures agree with the document you gave me a link to! http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20151113141044/http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/br_pdf_ad_a_2004.pdf

Guessing that the answer to my question is "no", I'll ask it anyway! I wanted a quick reference to the regulations for the slit trench dimensions for foundations and couldn't find them on my local authority's website. A quick call to them resolved the situation but I wondered if there is a website or pdf list that might be available?

Thanks for the replies RichS and Ferdinand. We must have been typing replies at the same time! The suggestion to look at the project from my neighbour's "side of the fence" is very helpful and gives some perspective. So far the project has not caused any breakdown in relations with my neighbour and I intend keeping it that way! The steps suggested by Ferdinand seem a good way forward and a way of both bringing things out into the open and clarifying issues.

Thanks for the replies to my question, they are very helpful. I will discuss the issue of safety with my neighbour and maybe look to see if there is a part of the agreement which could include something to ask them to take all reasonable steps to ensure that their property is safe? There seem to be a number of aspects to this. If I or my builder was injured whilst on my neighbour's property, the liability might be different if it was due to poor or unsafe practice by me or my builder as opposed to unsafe practice by my neighbour (the neighbour's rake in Construction Channel's reply, for example)? I will check with my builder with regards his insurance and my insurance company with regards to me. I think that the issue of damage to my neighbour's property is a little clearer, in that should I drop a hammer on my neighbour's roof and crack a tile, it would be perfectly reasonable for my neighbour to expect this damage to be made good. We have already agreed verbally that I will, as a goodwill gesture, make good some cracked hard standing on their property before we leave it. I am also channelling a foul drain connection through their property and I will make good the back-fill and surface.

I now have the necessary planning consent to start my project, which it is a single storey extension. The build will be up to the boundary of my neighbour's property. I will need to go onto my neighbour's property to complete the work. I have discussed this, very amicably, with my neighbour and there is a willingness from them to let me come on to their property. We have enjoyed good relations with our neighbour's for many years. However, I am to be asked to sign a document, which is being called a disclaimer, by them which will say that I will not take action against them, should I be injured on their property. If this is normal practice then I've no real objection to signing something but equally, if I would be unnecessarily compromising my position, I might have some reservations here. I guess that, should I damage their property, they may wish to take action against me? Being a reasonable sort of person, I would expect to make good any damage. Having not come across this before, can anyone give me any guidance? Is this sort of document to be expected? Is it usual to have such an agreement? Are such documents binding and legal?

Thanks for the reply Temp. We've kept our neighbour up to date before the application and during it. We've talked it through so they are aware, fully and have raised no issues with us. They have seen the full plans. We will continue to consult them as we go forward with the project as often the reality of things going ahead will cause concern. The window is a triangular light above normal head height and so could not be used to look into the neighbour's garden, easily. No concerns have been expressed from our neighbours. The proposal has been granted full planning permission. If our neighbour chose to obscure our window, then I would take the appropriate professional advice to determine what options were available to me. Thanks for raising the issue.

Just to add to this one.. Speaking to my local District Council Building control officer, any window less than 1m sq (including frame and glass) in area does not need to be fire resistant, even if it's less than 1m away from the boundary. The relevant building regs can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/485420/BR_PDF_AD_B1_2013.pdf and are: Section 8 clause 8.3 Section 9 clause 9.7 Appendix A Tables A 1 and A2

Thanks for the replies AliG and Montipora. The window is right on the boundary. It's a triangular fixed single sash measuring approximately 2.5m on the horizontal and 1.0m on the vertical, including the frame. My (very poor) maths makes that approximately 1.25 sq. m., including the frame. It's at the top of the elevation on my lean-to so it's for letting light in and not for seeing through so wired glass would not be a problem, if I also made a good cost saving. Maybe a smaller window would save me a lot of money?

I have a requirement for my listed building consent that I must fit "cast iron or alternative metal material" for my guttering. There are both cast iron and aluminium products available and there does not appear to be a huge difference in price. Why are two different products offered and is there any difference in the performance or use? Aluminium will obviously be lighter. Any thoughts would be great!

I'm putting a double glazed window in an elevation of my new kitchen/diner extension that abuts a neighbour's property. I have to comply with building regulations so as to provide thirty minute fire resistance. Can anyone point me towards some more information on this such as a technical (but not too technical!) description of what is required, please?

...thanks for the swift response and clarification Crofter.

Many thanks for all of the replies. The requirements of planning authorities appear to vary. Some permit glazing bars that are mounted inside and out to give the appearance of a straight through bar and others do not. Whilst this thread is not about this issue, I do think it is inconsistent and unfair. All planning authorities should be following the same policy. My planning authority is insistent about fitting individual panes and straight through glazing bars. They will not approve mounted (stuck-on) glazing bars. I have discovered that doing this will result in much less satisfactory insulation. Insulation is very much part of the building regulations so the planning authority appears to be pulling in two contradictory directions. I will check out the thermal break issue with the planning authority. I guess this means including a good insulating material in the construction to prevent heat conduction? The experience of mafaldina is interesting in that the planning authority allowed stuck on bars in a Georgian house for the French windows. The width of the glazing bar has been discussed with the planning authority and they appear to have given the green light to a 24 mm wide bar. I will approach them on modified, cross laminated and engineered timbers (is there a difference between these terms?). Some feedback that I have had from joiners pulls me in different directions! Some have criticised certain timbers in certain ways. Examples are that Douglas Fir has an open grain so I guess they are inferring that it will absorb water. Some say a hardwood such as oak will move, which will be a problem with so many small pains. Other advice is that it's the external maintenance that really matters and a regular, yearly inspection and painting, if required, will overcome all issues of what timber is used. There are a number of other factors that will go into my decision as to which supplier to use, including joinery quality (I'm going to try and see examples of all products), draft-proofing, window furniture, delivery time, finishes and of course, price! I will be doing as much work as I can, myself on the project so any "how to" guides would be helpful, if you know of any. For instance, I guess there are various ways of fixing the window frame within the aperture and and various ways of sealing between the surrounding block-work and the frame? Are there any other good sources of self-build information, specialist forums etc? Any further thoughts?

I am embarking on a kitchen/diner and repair project on my home that will require the installation of new/replacement windows and a bi-fold or French door. My property is a grade two listed building so my planning/listed building consent is conditional. The conditions are that I use wood for the construction of windows and doors and that they are painted white. They will have to have Georgian glazing bars and these will have to pass through the window so no stuck-on bars will be permitted. Each pain will have to be an individual unit such as the Wescountry Heritage range http://www.westcountryglass.co.uk/westcountry-heritage My application can be seen at https://planning.eastdevon.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage I am contacting joiners at present and have had a number of different suggestions as to the type of timber to be used. The suggestions include: Accoya Douglas Fir European Oak Utile Idigbo Baltic Pine/Scandinavian Redwood I have contacted the Wood Window Alliance http://www.woodwindowalliance.com/, which is already providing me with some good information. I would be grateful for any views on the suitability of timbers in my list or alternative suggestions. Also any links to useful sources of information or forums would help. Many thanks in anticipation!