BCO inspection needed??

[wanabechippie]

Ok, So there I was, first house all bought and paid for (well, first mortgage repayment made anyway) and my fingers are all itchy for a lump hammer.

The origional layout of the 1930's ex-council semi included an indoor outdoor toilet (within the main walls but accessable only from the outside) which joined on to a coalshed (still within the walls but accessable from the outside). These two rooms were approximately 1.70m x 0.90m.

I got in a reputable local builder for a quote to have the two rooms knocked into one and a doorway to be knocked into the adjoining living room wall. I asked him, under no ambigous terms, whether or not the walls were loadbearing, to which he replied 'no'.

After recieving his quote, I decided to take on the job myself, without contacting BCO. I knocked the dividing wall out and opened up the livingroom doorway. I then bricked up the two origional outside doorways (twin skin brick with insulation in between). This was 4months ago and no cracks or damp has developed at all.

Now after reading some of the posts here and seeing how tightly BCO likes to run things, I'm worried that I should have called them in before starting (a fairly obvious undersight ).

Do I need to call BCO to come and certify the work or would I be ok when I come to sell the property in a few years? If I do need to call them, how much would it cost and what is it I'd be asking them to do?

Thanks.

 

[iangh]

classic post
It is always best to get BC approval to any alteration to a house, however minor, as it will ease the sale.
The plans do not have to be elaborate , for a simple job a sketch will do showing the works.
But you do need to be sure there are no loads on the wall removed, is there a wall above the one you knocked out?, is it solid?, if so worry.
If not, then are( were!) the floor joists resting on it?, again if not no problems.
Did you put a lintol over the door you made?.
Did you insulate the new wall to the correct Building Reg standard?
Building is not as haphazard as it looks, but it is best to read up about it before picking up lump hammer.
If in doubt youmay need a surveyor to examine it, would cost though!

 

[noseall]

i think i would be more inclined to ask a designer/structural engineer/architect (whichever is less likely to charge a fat fee) to have a look first. it may be that the wall is purely partition walling and does not lend any structural value.

on the other hand, and even though it may not be carrying any load from above, it may offer lateral restraint to adjoining walls.

how wide is the opening?

 

[Richard C]

Load bearing walls aside, you may have contravened other BC regs. can’t really tell from the limited detail in your post so I think you should certainly consult someone! Assuming the builder that quoted was reputable, he would have notified BC if required & complied with any associated regs. involved with the work; but not necessarily told you about it!

You short circuited that process by DIY’ing & I know it’s not very helpful but the moral is that if your going to DIY, at least make sure you know what your doing & make an effort to understand the regulations your supposed to comply with

 

[^woody^]

If you are confident that what you have done is structurally sound, then I would not bother notifying building control.

Thousands of people have done this and will continue to do so.

It is unlikely that there will be any come-backs, and if it does get picked up at sale time, then either get one of those [worthless] indemnity policies for the buyer (which will be cheaper than a current building regs application) or just decline the offer - someone will buy the property if it is in good condition - regs or no regs.

 

[wanabechippie]

Cheers for your help.

The opening in the wall is approx 1m wide and runs from floor to ceiling. The stairs formed part of the opening to the left and are now left open where as before they passed through the wall and were boxed in. There are no walls above either of the ones knocked down, only a half landing which had the joists running paralell to the walls (from a wall plate at either end), none of which were resting on them.

I didn't insulate the bricked up doorways as we are getting cavity wall insulation soon and I wasn't sure if it would interfere with it. (There I go again, asumptions asumptions!! )

I guess I can blame DIY shows for this. They always show some eejit wading into their walls with a sledge with no thought for BR's!


... Yeah, all their fault.... that's right!