Spent 2K on architect - builder says rsj is illegal

[freddiemercurystwin]

His drawings aren't very unhelpful, his beams in the first floor should be shown on the first floor plan not the ground floor plan. Likewise any roof beams should be shown on a roof plan not a first floor plan.

I can't see a B6?

 

[RobQ8]

The loft / bedroom level shows the chimneys both being removed; I'm a bit confused though, as it would appear from the roof level drawing that the main (shared) chimney is remaining; you'll need additional support in the form of a large lintel or additional RSJ to support the upper chimney structure but this isn't shown on the drawings.

As for the living room, it will be up to you whether to leave the defunct chimney in place or whether to remove for extra space, although I would have expected the architect to have covered this detail with you.

 

[cjard]

You think cjard? Have you looked at the drawings?

Yep. My second SE charged me a thousand quid for a single sheet of A3 with some blocks of concrete on. The first SE wanted 3 grand for the same thing

 

[cjard]

Sorry...the whole post above was the reply from my architect.

His typos, or yours?

 

[cjard]

His drawings aren't very unhelpful, his beams in the first floor should be shown on the first floor plan not the ground floor plan.

Is that a standard? Just curiosu because the engineering diagram for my building shows beams that support the first floor deck on the ground floor plan.. Something at odds with your statement there. I had it down in mind that "everything that supports something above, is on the same drawing" - hence my downstairs LB walls, posts and beams and joists for the ff deck are on the GF layout. Perhaps it's because mine's SE generated

 

[blueeyes777]

His typos...direct paste from his email

 

[RobQ8]

make sure both the architect and builder are in agreement with works to be carried out. If you do indeed have the upper chimney structure shared with your neighbour (i.e. the brickwork visible above roof level does not have a visible joint running vertical between the properties), then you may be held liable for any damage to your neighbours chimney caused by movement on your side.

 

[blueeyes777]

this has been agreed with the neighbour"
"it has been agreed that the stack (only the part that stick out the roof will be removed. Notice and approval to commence works that impact on party wall have also been previously agreed.
X will be responsible to ensure that the roof it put back to its original condition and will bear all the cost. Any internal surface cracks will also be repaired before the build is completed."

 

[blueeyes777]

His typos again - not mine!

 

[RobQ8]

I would request hard copies (i.e. real paper) as proof of these "agreements"; right now you only have your architects word, and I personally would find it hard to trust a person who has purportedly studied 5-7 years for a degree yet fails to string a coherant sentence together.

 

[blueeyes777]

Hi - I believe English is his second language!
I have signed copies of the Party Wall agreements and the chimney agreement.
That is to say, they have been co-signed by myself and the next door neighbour.

Of greater concern is whether the drawings pass muster as the original builder didn't want to do the job and said that the floors would need to be raised by a couple of inches and the stairs demolished and rebuilt to account for the greater height. The architect said this:"If you don’t want to move out the house and touch the ceilings then we can build a new floor on top of existing. The downside is you could end up with 2.2m celling which is not part of the brief. Also you need to then raise some of the wall on the rear to match this new height."

If we follow the plans then you end up with approx. 2.4m height. Room height is usually an important factor as it will match the downstairs height and feel."


The builder summarised this as "
if we go my way floating floor you won't have to move out all this means is you will have a ceiling height of 2.2 /2.3 and new stairs "


Both the original builder and architect need to proof-read their emails but the question I have is that the new builder (whom I trust and have known for a long time and is now available to do the job) says that I don't need to do anything to raise the floor height or touch the stairs! I am so confused!

 

[blueeyes777]

His drawings aren't very unhelpful, his beams in the first floor should be shown on the first floor plan not the ground floor plan. Likewise any roof beams should be shown on a roof plan not a first floor plan.

I can't see a B6?

Hi there - here is the link to the drawing illustrating "B6".
http://s598.photobucket.com/user/fo...s[user]=89417455&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

 

[jeds]

I'm slightly confused now. In you original post your main concern was about the steel sitting on a chimney stack. But you now say the stack is being removed?

 

[blueeyes777]

no - my original builder said that after looking at the drawings, there was a steel beam going into the chimney which apparently is not legal. Whilst it will probably be removed, I wanted to check that the drawings shown are all legal so to speak and would pass building control, etc

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Jeez is the chimney removed or staying???