Cover over foul water pipes

[MortarThePoint]

Sorry if the question has been asked before (I did do a quick search) but I'm really tired after a couple of hard days and Part H is confusing me. Can someone be kind enough to advise me as to what the minimum depth is for foul water pipes running along side the house and then across the garden to a sewage treatment plant is. I see information for fields and roads but not garden etc... I guess it may be different near the house from in open garden. If the regs don't set a minimum depth, then experience appreciated. There are some things you don't want to step in when walking in the garden and, without a dog, this could be the greatest risk.

[nod]

I was right on top of our for the first 3 metres that came from the 

Bc was fine as we were work to an existing outlet from the treatment plant 

 

[nod]

13 minutes ago, nod said:

I was right on top of our for the first 3 metres that came from the 

Bc was fine as we were work to an existing outlet from the treatment plant 

 

Pictured is my temporary disabled ramp all ready for BC inspection 

If you look carefully at the top right 

You can see the exposed drain 

 

[Dave Jones]

whats with the ramp ?

[Jeremy Harris]

4 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

whats with the ramp ?

 

Building regs compliance.  All new builds normally need wheelchair access from the point where someone gets out of a car in to the entrance floor, at least as far as the entrance floor WC (in England and Wales).  There are slightly different access requirements in Scotland, and, I believe, NI.

 

My solution was to run the ramp around the side of the house to the back door, and have that as the wheelchair accessible entrance, as I didn't like the look of having a ramp to the front door.

[Dave Jones]

that was a really anal BCO you had to make you do that. 

 

There is no rule stating a step cannot be used in Part M of the regs.

[nod]

10 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

whats with the ramp ?

 

Just now, Dave Jones said:

that was a really anal BCO you had to make you do that. 

 

There is no rule stating a step cannot be used in Part M of the regs.

You have to have wheel chair access 

I wasn’t ready to pave 

So I followed the gradients to the letter and sizes It took me an afternoon to make 

Passed with flying colours for our local Authority final inspection 

Shame to smash it up the following day 

[Jeremy Harris]

10 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

that was a really anal BCO you had to make you do that. 

 

There is no rule stating a step cannot be used in Part M of the regs.

 

 

Sod all to do with the BCO in my case.  Having a wheelchair user around means using common sense to provide access, funnily enough.  Maybe you would rather wheelchair users were banned from houses?

 

This is what Part M states very clearly, and very sensibly:

 

Quote

PERFORMANCE
In the Secretary of State’s view the requirements of Part M will be met by making reasonable provision to ensure that buildings are accessible and usable.
People, regardless of disability, age or gender, should be able to:

a.   gain access to buildings and to gain access within buildings and use their facilities, both as visitors and as people who live or work in them;

b.  use sanitary conveniences in the principal storey of a new dwelling.

The provisions are expected to enable occupants with disabilities to cope better with reducing mobility and to ‘stay put’ longer in their own homes. The provisions are not necessarily expected to facilitate fully independent living for all people with disabilities.

 

Quote

ii.   Dwellings

a.   so that people, including disabled people, can reach the principal, or suitable alternative, entrance to the dwelling from the point of access;

b.   so that people, including disabled people, can gain access into and within the principal storey of the dwelling

c.   for WC provision at no higher storey than the principal storey.

 

[Hobbiniho]

wow im suprised that you passed with that, up here that wouldnt pass as it is so obviously temporary,im also suprised with the lack of handrail aswell, i have built so many access ramps that the homeowner said that they would rip out as soon as they were moved in but still had to build them to look like they are meant to be permanent, there is also some people who build concrete ones with concrete that is only a couple of inches thick so they are easier to remove after completion

[ToughButterCup]

I have a quadriplegic mate.

No question of not catering for him on our build. Got as much fizz, vim and vigour in him as anyone I know. You can reach out and warm your hands on his enthusiasm....

He's taught me so much about being inclusive. It's essential.

 

Take pride in building your ramps: you might need one sooner than you think. 

 

 

 

[nod]

30 minutes ago, Hobbiniho said:

wow im suprised that you passed with that, up here that wouldnt pass as it is so obviously temporary,im also suprised with the lack of handrail aswell, i have built so many access ramps that the homeowner said that they would rip out as soon as they were moved in but still had to build them to look like they are meant to be permanent, there is also some people who build concrete ones with concrete that is only a couple of inches thick so they are easier to remove after completion

No I did my research 

No hand rail needed as it is wheel chair access 

Doesn’t need to be permanent for sign off Or any particular material 

1200 x 1200 level in front of door 

and I think the slope was 1 -7 

Must have numbers around the edge 150 high 

None slip service 

Hence the mineral felt 

The two inspectors that came where fine 

One of the inspectors who hadn’t been before did say he wouldn’t be happy if it was moveable 

Then preceded to try to lift it off 

But they  did add a foot note to the sign off 

Landscaping incomplete 

Temporary Disabled access in place 

 

 

 

[MortarThePoint]

Well I didn't expect so much ramp discussion although it is interesting.

 

Sounds like there isn't any minimum cover required by building regs. I have a run that needs to go a total of about 35m so it may start pretty shallow and end 2 or 3 feet down. A gradient of 1 in 80 is OK for a family of four sharing a house isn't it? That would be a drop of about 450mm.

[Dave Jones]

21 hours ago, Jeremy Harris said:

 

 

Sod all to do with the BCO in my case.  Having a wheelchair user around means using common sense to provide access, funnily enough.  Maybe you would rather wheelchair users were banned from houses?

 

This is what Part M states very clearly, and very sensibly:

 

 

 

 

Fair enough if you have a disabled occupant, in which case I would have made a more permanent job of it.

 

Part M also states, in case you missed it, that steps are allowed.

 

[Dave Jones]

21 hours ago, nod said:

 

You have to have wheel chair access 

I wasn’t ready to pave 

So I followed the gradients to the letter and sizes It took me an afternoon to make 

Passed with flying colours for our local Authority final inspection 

Shame to smash it up the following day 

 

thats what I mean about the BCO being anal making you go through that sharade.

[nod]

29 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

 

thats what I mean about the BCO being anal making you go through that sharade.

Yep

One of many hoops 

[Jeremy Harris]

54 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

 

Fair enough if you have a disabled occupant, in which case I would have made a more permanent job of it.

 

Part M also states, in case you missed it, that steps are allowed.

 

 

 

FWIW, I'm intimately familiar with Part M, but just because there are sections in there that allow for some leeway with provisions where the site topography is such that steps MAY be permitted doesn't mean that everyone should just ignore wheelchair users and install steps just because they want to be bloody-minded and selfish. 

 

The intent is very clear, new homes should be designed and built to be accessible to all, without needing expensive alterations through life.  Having been through the pain and grief of adapting a 1930's house so that it was partially wheelchair accessible, I think it needs to be absolutely mandatory that all new homes are made accessible where it's practical to do so.  For a house on a fairly level site there is absolutely no reason not to have good wheelchair access, with no steps.  It may well be that a reasonably fit wheelchair user, in a lightweight chair, can negotiate steps with a long enough going and shallow rise, but age will reduce that ability, as it reduces mobility for us all.

 

Doesn't matter whether a house has a disabled occupant or not at the time it's built, such short-term, rather selfish, thinking is precisely why the regs are worded as they are.  In my view they should be enforced more tightly and steps should be prohibited altogether, and the current get-out that allows steps where the topography of the site makes a ramp difficult should be removed, as the last thing we need is new houses being built that may create problems for future occupants. 

 

Neither of us have limited mobility at the moment but that didn't stop me from going over and above the requirements of Part M as far as designing and building the house to make it easily accessible.  Apart from the gentle ramp and level access into the house, all the doors are 33" wide, to give a wider clear access (saves rapped knuckles for wheelchair users), all the door thresholds inside the house are completely flush, and all the internal doors open in the easiest direction for a wheelchair user.  I also installed 18mm play strong points behind the plasterboard alongside the straight run of stairs, to allow a wall mounted stairlift to be fitted if need be, and made space at the bottom of the stairs for it to be safely parked out of the way.

[Dave Jones]

It really doesn't matter what your personal opinion is and if you think people are selfish or not for designing their own home to their own tastes. A bit like the nimbies who plague the country objecting to every planning application.

 

A step or steps are perfectly acceptable even on perfectly flat sites. Should the buyer wish to adapt or change this they are free to do so. It is after all, nearly a free country.

[Jeremy Harris]

2 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

It really doesn't matter what your personal opinion is and if you think people are selfish or not for designing their own home to their own tastes. A bit like the nimbies who plague the country objecting to every planning application.

 

A step or steps are perfectly acceptable even on perfectly flat sites. Should the buyer wish to adapt or change this they are free to do so. It is after all, nearly a free country.

 

 

Not my personal opinion though, is it?  The intent in the regs is very clear, that anything other than a ramp is very much a less preferred solution, with the intention that it should only be used if the topography of the site is such that a sloped approach isn't practical.  Deflecting the argument on to a totally different topic, like planning, is completely irrelevant and in no way connected to the intent behind making all new homes accessible.

[Dave Jones]

no it doesn't say that, that is your own made up interpretation. 

 

Maybe go take a drive around a new persimmon or wimpy site, it will probably boil you over in rage the lack of 100's of ramps that these selfish owners haven't got.

[Jeremy Harris]

I guess you've not read the introduction to Part M, then, as the INTENT (as I mentioned above) is very clear.

 

Deflecting the debate into what the mass developers get away with is just yet another diversionary tactic.  I couldn't care less what others do, TBH, and certainly feel no emotion about it one way or the other.