So I've finally made a start on my extension. It's a part double/part single 6m X 5.5m ground floor and 3.5m X 4.5m on the first floor on the back of my 3 bed semi. I will also be knocking through the back of the house and removing the internal wall between the back kitchen and dining room to create a large open plan kitchen/diner/family room with the obligatory bi-folds onto a patio. I'm also building a small 2 storey infill extension on the front to create a porch on the ground floor and convert the FF bathroom to a bedroom (with the bathroom moved to the back of the house into part of the rear bedroom with the remainder being partitioned off to create a corridor to access the new extension bedroom.
I'm hoping to do virtually everything myself and am on it more or less full time.
My budget is a little as possible.
I have planning approval and am doing the work under a building notice. I have worked in the building trade as a youngster and more recently have done a loft conversion and a few back to brick house renovations, and actually have a HND in Building studies (which I expect will come in useful if I need any scrap paper for recording measurements etc!)
Previously I have tended to dodge the building regulations approval side of things (tending instead to just over-engineer things) so that aspect will be new to me.
I started my 18m of foundation trench on Monday and put in my building notice application. I dug a sample section 750mm deep by 600mm wide and was expecting (as it's clay) to be told to go down to 1m. BCO came out today, seems very reasonable. Said unless I wanted the exercise not to go that deep (we must have hard clay here up North, not that soft southern stuff). He said 600mm deep and to expose the existing house foundations and if they're higher just step up to them. Then he rang me about another issue and I said I'd exposed the existing and they were about 450 down. In that case, he said dig the rest to match - 450 is the minimum we'd accept for clay. Happy days - but I'm still going 600 down and stepping up to 450 at the house.
Only thing he did say was that I need an SE on board straight away because there's lots of steel going in and any pads etc would be best done with the foundations.
I will update and post some photos when the sun stops shining and it's back to rain as usual.
I'm hoping to do virtually everything myself and am on it more or less full time.
My budget is a little as possible.
I have planning approval and am doing the work under a building notice. I have worked in the building trade as a youngster and more recently have done a loft conversion and a few back to brick house renovations, and actually have a HND in Building studies (which I expect will come in useful if I need any scrap paper for recording measurements etc!)
Previously I have tended to dodge the building regulations approval side of things (tending instead to just over-engineer things) so that aspect will be new to me.
I started my 18m of foundation trench on Monday and put in my building notice application. I dug a sample section 750mm deep by 600mm wide and was expecting (as it's clay) to be told to go down to 1m. BCO came out today, seems very reasonable. Said unless I wanted the exercise not to go that deep (we must have hard clay here up North, not that soft southern stuff). He said 600mm deep and to expose the existing house foundations and if they're higher just step up to them. Then he rang me about another issue and I said I'd exposed the existing and they were about 450 down. In that case, he said dig the rest to match - 450 is the minimum we'd accept for clay. Happy days - but I'm still going 600 down and stepping up to 450 at the house.
Only thing he did say was that I need an SE on board straight away because there's lots of steel going in and any pads etc would be best done with the foundations.
I will update and post some photos when the sun stops shining and it's back to rain as usual.
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