Jawbkk

Does anyone know if it is possible to do some forensic or some kind of tests on concrete/cement to analyse exactly the composition? we have found some unsused excess cement mix on our property and im hoping I can get hard evidence if I can have it matched against a sample from where we think it has come from.

Goof morning, I don;t recall when I foirst noticed a couple of cracks within the access alley slab between mine and my next door neighbours semi-detatched. The houses were built in 1970 and I have been in my house for 34 years as has our neighbour. There are no signs of any cracks in out gable end walls, or anything that would indicate some kind of subsidence. We are about to put our house on the market and I am a bit worried that a buildings inspection would fail. Is this a typical crack that can appear in this type of slab over a period of time and it can simply be filled in with some kind of non-shrink grout? I don't think the slab has any kind of rebar and it is just a mass concrete. The slab runs the length of our semi's and is 1.5m wide with 250mm stone chippings against the two properties. (can just see the stone chippings on the image attached). Maybe I can go and ask other neighbours if they have the same issue as I am sure it can't be just our properties. Its one of those things where now I have noticed it, I keep looking at it. It hasn't got any worse since I first noticed it. I guess it doesn't help if water gets in it and it freezes? Same as my ceilings, every year, no matter how good I repair them, there is always a hairline crack that appears. Be grateful for any suggestions / advice to put my mind at rest.

Yes, already cut-outs. (or notches) Personally I would have done it in copper.

Thanks Nod. Even though the legal cover is included in my insurance. I have already started the process through my insurancebased on the fact that I don;t have any legal fees to pay. Afterall, this is one of those occassions where I thought I am glad I took the extra legal cover premium.

I will put some timber on the joists about 30cm long 10 cm deep approx 25mm thick. The notch will be 20mm deep and 50mm wide so as close to the pipes as possible. I mark everything so make sure I clear the notch by 15mm. At least this to ensure the screw wont be too close to the edge.

Has anyone had to use their house ensurance which includes legal cover for poor workmanship issues? I would be grateful for any feedback.....

Thanks ProDave. I cut the wood blocks as over the years, plumbers had cut the notches excessively. Fortunately a structural engineer did some calcs to confirm given the span of the beams, the meat remaining in the joist was OK. I put the blocks in to give some land for the floorboards to be screwed into. Now I can;t do that through the metal!! Was thinking of putting some wood either side of the notches so I can have something to screw into. I don;t want the floorboards to creek and have to lift them up again.

I have recently re-tiled my bathroom as part of a bathroom makeover. My first time tiling so would be grateful for some feedback.

I have recently had some plumbing work done for central heating. The pipes shown are for three radiators, 2 upstairs and one routing to a downstairs radiator. I would be grateful for any thoughts on this installation.

Our old patio doors need replacing. Is it necessary to have Building Control involved? All the windows in our property have been changed and I have never notified anyone.

Thanks Mr Punter, my suspicions obviously correct. Seems like a wasted effort decking it out when I should not have been considering any kind of access in the first place. I will remove it all. Except for the Christmas decorations that is!! And remove the soundproof boards do you think?

We have roof trusses similar I think to the 'Fink' in 3 places within the 17' space between the party wall and gable end wall. I have shown a 47 x 200 timber whish is notched into diagonals where I have shown a blue rectangle. These are pocketed into both end walls and mortared. These 'Fink' ones are doubled. All other trusses inbetween are single members and just a triangle with no intermediate diagonal supports. I decked out the loft where shown (purple) which is 40mm x 16mm thick strips running across the truss, then I put tongue and groove panelling type boards on top. I also added soundproof plasterboard and soudproof lagging. Given that I have stored quite a lot of junk / tools, books, up there, have I overloaded the allowable design limit? Each storage box is quite heavy and some are stacked on eachother. We are about to have a major clearout, plus a bedroom makeover, so thought I need to address this issue. The soundproofing never worked so would go back to the lighter weight grey boards. It is worth noting that putting the boards up was a nightmare. The beams on the truss were either a bit twisted or just not in line. In my kitchen, similar scenario but as the kitchen area is only 1.9m x 3m, I ran furring strips which I levelled / packed using a laser. I have never put boards up so easily. I want to do the same in the bedroom but don't want to risk overloading the trusses. Any suggestions?

The joist span across the whole width of the house (17' or 5.18m) with an intermediate block wall 9'' from the party wall and 8' from the gable end wall in our semi.detached property. They are pocketed into the blockwork and grouted so I guess must have done this as they were raising the house. (1970 build) Over the years, plumbers have gone overboard with notching in the 8' section from the intermediate wall to the gable wall. As we are wanting to now convert our garage, which is in-built into the property and is the 9' wide section into a room, I was for peace of mind wanting to replace the joists with new. I have read in the Buidling Regs that nowadays, casting into the wall is not encouraged as it is bad for sound transmission. In that sense, we can install hangers by grinding out the mortar and the new joist dont enter the wall at all. The joists are 400mm centres. Is this something we have to formally notify the neighbour? I have spoken to him, we have an excellent relationship and he always comes to me when he is carrying out various projects in his house. My builder has done many types of these projects before and it is for this reason I selected him.

Great reply thanks JohnMo.

Our gas meter is located in the garage and a stell pipe (about 35mm dia) comes out vertically through the garage floor. The garage is built into the property and this is the main reason for wanting information as we want to convert the garage to an additional room. Most people are doing this in the area so I guess I could check with them what they did. But assuming they have left their gas pipe where it is, how do I go about having it moved? Obviously a job I'm not about to do, but need to consider this hen drawing up the conversion plans for building regs approval. The gas pipe is approx 3.6m from the garage entrance. Is it possible to locate the gas meter outside?

Didn't get this one Joe... Are you saying it isn't worth it??

Just wondering when working out the kN/m load...... All my floorboards are up and I stand in the middle of one joist. Is that almost as good as point loading rather than distributing the 900N load over 1m joist length? If there is any weakness in the beam, then this would be the maximum load?

OK thanks for the messages. I will have to repair the joists shown on the drawing for the landing / small bedroom as per the PDF drawing as the notches are too excessive and there is a fine crack in the ceiling which to me indicates the beams are perhaps deflecting more than they should.

When you say 'notching is how it used to be done' MikeGrahamT21, How should it be done nowadays? I thought notching was permitted within 0.07 and 0.25 x span.

Just taken some photo's of one joist.... The span at this point is 2.05m and the joist depth is 190mm (measured) x 45mm. The notch is 30mm deep and there are no other holes for cables, etc. Although technically the notch is above D/8 it doesn't seem to look so bad. (2 x 22mm copper pipes in there) Joists / house is 1970 build.

On the drawing attached, I have last night discovered some horizontal hairline cracks in 3 of the joists. They are approx 500mm to 1000mm long. The joist are continuous and supported on the midde wall so the cracks are on the left side (shorter span) as drawn and what is visible. Is the whole joist condemned and no amount of sistering up is going to make thngs acceptable? For all I know there might be other splits in the right hand side but the floor boards haven't been lifted yet. I wanted to avoid touching the right side as that is where the jost are cast into the party wall. The left side is the gable end of the semi. I didn't want to start the party wall act for putting new joists in on what I think now is hangers as this is the preferred way to connect to a party wall to prevent noise transmission through joists? Much appreciate any help.