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Nope it was initially her boyfriend who asked me to look at it

He looked at it this morning and has told me it is not structurally sound and is putting considerable outward force on the stud wall of the dormer. He has agreed with me that putting cross members and collar braces to the roof will make it safe and is preparing a report. This guy is not getting...

The builder hired the architect. My friend did not want a vaulted roof but that is what the builder had constructed in the loft space. Basically the Structural Engineer has suggest that putting cross braces and collar ties with C24 2x4 will be sufficient to make the loft structurally sound. I am...

The Engineer drawings come from the Architect. I am not sure if the building inspector has viewed the roof yet or not - which is not in accordance with the initial design that was submitted, I am going to find this out.

It does not have a ridge beam. This is a vaulted roof supported by the walls - and I am basically convinced it is not sound structurally, it must be putting considerable outward force on the walls - one of which is a stud wall. The builder was paid for the job and his architect friend did the...

I checked through the plans which were done by a friend of the builder and what has been done is not in accordance with the plans. Architect tried to bs me when I put him on the spot when asked if what his friend had done was not what his design drawing specified. Bunch of cowboys basically, my...

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty sure this is not right, there must be a considerable outward force on the walls since there is no cross members. I am going to tell him not to pay until it is put right and if the guy refuses not to pay.

Hi, A friend of mine has had an extension built. It is a wooden dormer type extension and he called me round to take a look at what has been done before he pays the final bill. I am not a professional builder but know a fair bit of DIY and have built extensions myself on my own houses. One...

Thanks for the advice. I agree I am probably over thinking it and should just stick to standard building practice but I think it is obviously a compromise in the walls integrity - although it might not ever be an issue. I might phone the building control and ask if they will accept it if I use a...

I get that the weight of the wall will hold it in place but it is clearly a weakness in the wall. You might as well have a row of bricks with no mortar between then and just use gravity to hold the wall together. I am sure if you just left the mortar out of an entire row of bricks because...

Hi I am planning to build an extension on my house and have been doing some research on standard building practices. One thing I cannot get my head round is the use of a plastic layer between the mortar for the DPC layer. I have done a small test to see if my concerns about this creating a weak...

Thanks for the advice. I think the problem here is it will always be impossible to stop a bit of damp coming through the wall even with tanking and it will eventually just rot the wood. With this solution the bricks might get damp but will have the chance to dry out due to ventillation. It seems...

Hi, I have a problem where the bottom plate of a stud wall in my conservatory keeps rotting. I repaired it about 4 years ago and it has rotten again where it comes into contact with the concrete on the ground. The Stud wall is built againts a tall garden wall made from large cement blocks...