Hi
I live in a Victorian terrace, standard construction - 9 inch walls with rear outrigger. We had a loft extension done 4 years ago, using timber frame and hung tile construction.
Our neighbours also just completed an extension as well. Wasn't easy to say the least - didn't see why they needed a party wall agreement and when we forced it they just broke the rules. They decided to build their extension out of brick... now this is when the fun starts. Given this is what we considered non-standard (when I spoke to building regs he said he had never heard of anyone building a Victorian loft extension from brick). They initially built on the existing walls but then they were in breach of planning because you have to be 20cm recessed from existing eaves. From what I can gather, they then inserted steel beams and laid blockwork and then facing brickwork on top of these beams - although on the gable end they build directly on the existing wall.
They then fell foul of planning again because you have to make it look like a roof, so they went to Wickes and bought garden shed roof tiles and glued them onto the facing brickwork.
They finished the work in December, and in March we noticed a crack in our render on the top right of the window. The crack was small, but its been getting bigger and bigger and now I would say its more worrying in size.
They used the council for building regs. I spoke to them at the time and asked about the additional weight given they weren't using wood frame and they said that generally speaking, foundations could take a 10% additional weight load with no issue.
Any thoughts - am I just over worrying. Could it be just the dry weather cracking our render. The render has been on the house for decades.
I live in a Victorian terrace, standard construction - 9 inch walls with rear outrigger. We had a loft extension done 4 years ago, using timber frame and hung tile construction.
Our neighbours also just completed an extension as well. Wasn't easy to say the least - didn't see why they needed a party wall agreement and when we forced it they just broke the rules. They decided to build their extension out of brick... now this is when the fun starts. Given this is what we considered non-standard (when I spoke to building regs he said he had never heard of anyone building a Victorian loft extension from brick). They initially built on the existing walls but then they were in breach of planning because you have to be 20cm recessed from existing eaves. From what I can gather, they then inserted steel beams and laid blockwork and then facing brickwork on top of these beams - although on the gable end they build directly on the existing wall.
They then fell foul of planning again because you have to make it look like a roof, so they went to Wickes and bought garden shed roof tiles and glued them onto the facing brickwork.
They finished the work in December, and in March we noticed a crack in our render on the top right of the window. The crack was small, but its been getting bigger and bigger and now I would say its more worrying in size.
They used the council for building regs. I spoke to them at the time and asked about the additional weight given they weren't using wood frame and they said that generally speaking, foundations could take a 10% additional weight load with no issue.
Any thoughts - am I just over worrying. Could it be just the dry weather cracking our render. The render has been on the house for decades.