My Extension

[Basecoat]

Hi All

Guys and Gals( I am lead to believe there are now Gals in the building trade as well). Mick Leek, Static, Joe-90 and Stevie-b and anyone else. I have in my possession the written consent under party wall act 1996. I have also trail dug to find the depth of exhisting foundations.

I have clay base with 400mm concrete laid on top and 650mm in 7 courses of bricks. This brings the foundations to 1050 mm. Shall I keep to exhisting foundation depth or dig them to as on plans to be 900mm deep and 600mm wide. Guys help. Thanks in advance.

Basecoat

 

[Mick Leek]

Basecoat,

Good man. My foundations are 300mm lower than my exsisting house ones.

In fact the top of my concrete strip foundations are at the bottom of the house ones if that make sense...

Dont know specs of your house for example is it old and use old 75mm bricks instead of 65 ? I had to jiggle about a bit bellow ground level so when i came out of ground, my bricks (old accrington 3" (75mm) were in line with the ones on the house... For some reason i lost it a bit at the rear but considering the total legnth of the build was 15 meters and i lost about 15mm to 20mm i was happy

These are all things to take into consideration... If yours are 65mm you should be OK

Problem i had was the trench blocks were metric but i was using imperial bricks.....

Take your time and plan ahead..

Good luck mate

Mick..

 

[Static]

Footings need to be a minimum depth of 900mm below ground level, so if your existing footings are 1050 below ground i would put the bottom in at that same level, use the proposed width of 600mm and then build up to required floor level with foundation blockwork (blockwork is cheaper-use blocks suitable for use below DPC) can run 2 courses of block on external leaf and 3 on internal. Make sure you have brickwork externally starting at least 150mm below ground level.

 

[Basecoat]

@Mick Leek

Hi Mick

Thanks for your rapid response. My existing bricks are 3 inches and the gap between the bricks is 3/16th of an inch. The new bricks, I presume will be metric therefore 75mm. That is not a problem but maintaining 3/16th gap is going to be some task.

By the way, my construction is similar to yours in the way that you have part bricks and the rest in blocks.

@Static

Hi Static

Thank you for your rapid reply. I understand your point. First job is to dig the foundations. I will post on here when the foundations are dug.

Please keep information coming.

 

[masona]

.Shall I keep to exhisting foundation depth or dig them to as on plans to be 900mm deep and 600mm wide.

Afraid you have to follow the drawing plans otherwise building inspector will give you a hard time

 

[Basecoat]

.Shall I keep to exhisting foundation depth or dig them to as on plans to be 900mm deep and 600mm wide.

Afraid you have to follow the drawing plans otherwise building inspector will give you a hard time

Hi "masona"

Glad to hear from you too. Thats what the measurements are on the plans (approved). Taking on such a complex project on is worrying. Building Regs inspector giving you hard time. That I will try my best to avoid. To be honest I want to carry out the tasks as required by building regs and hopefully keep the inspector sweet.

This is where all taking part on this forum are helping me enourmously. I am now confident within myself then I was few weeks back.

 

[masona]

Some building inspector don't like diy'er although they can do a better job sometime You shouldn't have a problem by being honest with them and having a nice relationship goes along way

 

[Mick Leek]

Basecoat,

Once you have dug your footings you call in the BCO guy to take a look, BEFORE you pour the concrete.

If there is a problem he will tell you then. he may tell you to make them lower... You simply dig a little further down if required... Make use of the BCO guy... i had mine up 3 times a week sometimes just to confirm things...., Afterall, thats what he is getting paid for.

We had a small problem with the new drains but i explained my intentions and he said "Fine carry on..."

Ask him to explain things if you are unsure, He will be more at ease if you are asking him questions than simply trying to do things as you go
along...

I didn't follow some aspects of my plans simply because i learned that the architect had OVER SPECIFIED on several things just to cover his own back... i didn't find this out until i spoke to the BCO guy and he said "Why are you building yo such an over engineered spec..


So far as the gaps in the brickwork are concerned, that is were your tape measure and building your corners first comes in.... I laid 1 full corse of bricks then started building the corners... if you lay lets say 10 corses high, you measure from the first to the last... You simply then move to the next corner and start... Measure at regular intervals to ensure you are laying to a simular height....

Once you have the corners built, you then revert to your string line... If you use that, it is virtually impossible to cock it up and all your corses will be straight and equal joints...

Well thats my advice as a novice who did exactly what you are planning mate and my job isn't that bad...


don't worry too much,

There is plenty of help on this forum, Thats what i found anyway...

Mick

 

[Basecoat]

Basecoat,

Once you have dug your footings you call in the BCO guy to take a look, BEFORE you pour the concrete.

If there is a problem he will tell you then. he may tell you to make them lower... You simply dig a little further down if required... Make use of the BCO guy... i had mine up 3 times a week sometimes just to confirm things...., Afterall, thats what he is getting paid for.

We had a small problem with the new drains but i explained my intentions and he said "Fine carry on..."

Ask him to explain things if you are unsure, He will be more at ease if you are asking him questions than simply trying to do things as you go
along...

I didn't follow some aspects of my plans simply because i learned that the architect had OVER SPECIFIED on several things just to cover his own back... i didn't find this out until i spoke to the BCO guy and he said "Why are you building yo such an over engineered spec..


So far as the gaps in the brickwork are concerned, that is were your tape measure and building your corners first comes in.... I laid 1 full corse of bricks then started building the corners... if you lay lets say 10 corses high, you measure from the first to the last... You simply then move to the next corner and start... Measure at regular intervals to ensure you are laying to a simular height....

Once you have the corners built, you then revert to your string line... If you use that, it is virtually impossible to cock it up and all your corses will be straight and equal joints...

Well thats my advice as a novice who did exactly what you are planning mate and my job isn't that bad...


don't worry too much,

There is plenty of help on this forum, Thats what i found anyway...

Mick

Hi Mick

Many thanks. I 'll keep posting of my progress.