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Hi all So we've completed a single-storey kitchen extension with vaulted ceiling, and the Council's inspector came around for the final inspection. Been so many trials and tribulations, I really thought that we were done...but he said we need external extraction! Alas our cooker hood is an...

Hi all We've finished a single-storey kitchen extension, including installing an RSJ for a new opening to the rear wall. We're now ready for the completion visit from the Council as all previous inquiries, inspections and calcs are confirmed ok! However the builder has plasterboarded and...

Hi all We're coming to the end of a single-storey extension, and I submitted Building Control the structural calcs for making a 2-metre wide opening in the main rear wall - there are two smaller openings already in that wall, see diagram below. After about three weeks of sitting on the...

Hi all I'm a (part-time) landlord with a couple of houses that (unsurprisingly) have an upper floor! I understand that windows need to comply with fire safety regs (i.e. minimum openings) above ground floor: but does this apply to existing installations, or only when you replace the...

Hi all Am just refurbing a 3-bed terraced house in London. The upstairs windows are double-glazed and still have some life left in them, so I don't want to replace 'em! However before I get tenants in, I'm concerned that the lower section of the windows are large and open out quite wide...

Hi all We have a Class 1 sewer running through our back garden: I believe it's a private sewer transferred to the water company's ownership in 2011. Any idea how deep these typically run? Trying to get my head round potential single-storey extension headaches, to build within 3 metres but...

Hi all I have a mid-terrace Victorian in London, we're currently building a single-storey extension. To avoid party wall issues, we will build a brick pier out to support the required RSJ, rather than tamper with the party wall. However I now understand that my works may still come under...

Hi all I'm taking out (or rather my builder is!) part of the ground floor rear wall of a Victorian terrace in London, to create an opening to our new kitchen extension. Opening will be just under 2m wide. RSJ to be put in above new opening. The issue is what's to the right of the opening...

Hi all We recently bought a Victorian mid-terrace in London and the single-storey kitchen extension has an old chimney stack, below which the chimney breasts have been removed. So have taken pictures (below) of what's left of the chimney stack, above the ceiling. It has what looks like an...

Hi all We recently bought a lovely Victorian 3-bed semi in London... Downstairs, the interior of the wall that borders the garden had a lot of damp. So up to a height of about 1.5m we hacked off all the plaster back to the brick, and replaced with a sand/cement render mixed with sika. But...

Hi all I recently bought a 3-bed Victorian house, much of the internal decor is about 50 years old, including the carpets upstairs. I ripped out the upstairs carpets myself: they all had what I THINK was particle board as an underlay - it was like some woodchip board, about 5mm thick with...

Hi all I recently bought a 3-bed Victorian semi-detached, with Artex-covered ceilings (the swirly pattern) on nearly all the ceilings. I don't live there currently and have got some guys working on the plastering. Their plan was to skim (and presumably bond first) the Artex - but having...