A Second Hello

[Nick]

Afternoon All,

 

I joined a couple of years ago and benefited from some great advice and discussions on here, but after a while researching the type of build my partner and I have our hearts set on (modern barn-style new-build or Class Q conversion) we decided we'd be better off saving a while longer and reducing the amount we would need to borrow before going any further. I've popped in for the odd read but have mostly had to force myself to stay away from self-build scheming in the meantime after realising I was spending all my free time looking at suppliers, build methods, technologies e.t.c. that would probably have doubled in price or disappeared completely by the time we were actually ready to start.

 

Fortunately we're a bit better placed now and I'm getting my head back into things with an aim to secure either a plot or a barn to convert by the end of this year.

 

Just wanted to say hello and glad the forum's still going strong. I still work as chief technical at a decent-sized company in the glazing industry so without wanting to stick my nose in, if anyone would like input on any window/door/glass related issues, I'll be happy to assist if i can.

 

 

[Jilly]

Hello. Welcome. We have quite a lot of glass on the plans we have had drawn up for our stable conversion. The chap who will do the BC drawing warned we have to check there is not too much or use uber triple glazed stuff. Can you guide me to where the info is on this, please? Thank you. 

[Nick]

1 minute ago, Jilly said:

Hello. Welcome. We have quite a lot of glass on the plans we have had drawn up for our stable conversion. The chap who will do the BC drawing warned we have to check there is not too much or use uber triple glazed stuff. Can you guide me to where the info is on this, please? Thank you. 

 

Thanks,

 

Haven't had much experience of conversions sadly as in my area they are pretty rare overall As far as I know, with conversions / material change of use you'll need to comply with Part L1B of the building regs which only explicitly states specifies a maximum glazed area (25% of floor area) for extensions.

 

I can only guess that with a complete conversion, once you get near that same 25% glazing ratio, you'll be asked to provide whole-building u-value & heat loss calculations rather than just prove the simple minimum u-value of 1.6W/m2K for glazed elements. As your chap suggests - that will probably mean going to much more efficient glazing to compensate.

 

If you get to that stage and need to beef up the spec of your windows to raise the whole-building performance, feel free to post up some drawings and I'll have a look. Careful specification of frames and glazing and playing around with sizes can get you quite far.

 

 

[Jilly]

Ok, fab, thanks