building regulations « selfbuild centralselfbuild central

Retrofit

'Under the Sun', a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham is an outstanding example of bringing a fairly typical old building up to Passivhaus standard along with major improvements to its design and appearance. For more info – click the image

Upgrading an existing house, rather than starting from scratch and building a new one [...]

Flues

Flues are pipes or ducts which carry waste gasses away from a building to the air outside. This can be caused by two possible mechanisms

the exhaust gasses are hot and rise naturally up the flue by convection (as with a wood burning stove or conventional gas fire) the gasses are expelled mechanically by a [...]

Demolitions

Building Control

Demolition of existing buildings is covered on the Planning Portal web site.

Basically the local authority Building Control require 6 weeks written notice (except for certain exempt buildings). They may then issue a counter notice with certain conditions attached. These are most likely to do with protecting neighbouring properties and the public. You [...]

Stairs

Parana pine – photo by Eurico Zimbres

In terms of embodied energy the use of timber in staircases is far better than metal. However the timber should be sustainably sourced and be FSC woodmarked. One of the traditionally favourite timbers for the manufacture of closed riser staircases has been parana pine (Araucaria angustifolia) from [...]

Roofs and rainwater goods

May 2011

design

Getting started

As soon as you get on site you will probably want to organise some or most of the following:

health and safety

If you are having construction work done on your own home, or on the home of a family member, as a domestic client you do not have to notify the work to Health [...]

Walls

DPCs DPMs etc.

It is important to isolate all the dry inner surfaces of a building from any outer surfaces which might absorb water and be damp. The Building Regulations cover this subject here. While some outer surfaces are designed to be totally water resistant (such as roof coverings) many other areas can absorb [...]

Approved Documents (England)

The Approved Documents are ‘standard’ ways of getting Building Regulations approval. If you follow the principles and rules given in the documents you can be sure that they will be approved

The documents are as follows:

Part A (Structural safety) and see also the archived 1992 version which gives span tables for timber in floors, [...]

Design it yourself

Have fun designing your house.

There are several worthwhile advantages if you do your own design work (or at least part of it) -

it may be the only way to get what you want you achieve a kind of creative act that you can do in very few realms of your life. you [...]

Insulation properties

Assuming that the question of designing in enough insulation has been dealt with the question is about what kind of materials to use. Here the issues are -

resistance to moisture compressive strength if needed is it self supporting? is it easy to fit? must it be fire resistant? must it also be acoustic [...]

Architectural technicians

These are the people who know the nuts and bolts of building. They may work for architects or they may be in a separate business, sometimes linked with a building company. If you go to them with a design you have carefully worked out they can usually knock it into shape ready for getting [...]

Ventilation

How you ventilate a house depends very much on the level of energy efficiency you are aiming for. At the lower end the Building Regulations provide a “better than nothing” standard

The building regulations

cover the ways that houses should be ventilated -

England & Wales Approved document F

Northern Ireland [...]

Drains

see – Ground works > Drains

Standards / regulations

Permissions and regulations

The two main permissions you will almost certainly require for building work are Planning Permission and Building Regulations consent.

Planning Permission deals with the overall issue of what kind of houses are permissible in which area. The planning officers are employed by the local council.

Building Regulations deal with whether the building [...]

Green design Standards

a very low energy house in Peterculter

There are now several sets of standards afoot, and it can be quite confusing because they have somewhat different approaches. more +/-»

The Building Regs, part L

Part L (which are the current mandatory legal standards) has been tightened as regards thermal insulation and new [...]

Building Regulations

January 2010

Building Regulations deal with whether the building is built properly and is safe and energy efficient etc. more+/-»

They are not to be confused with Planning Consent (which is to do with the size, location and appearance of a house). The building inspectors are either employed by the local council [...]