MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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House A and B are the same.
Proposed 2-storey extensions to house A and B are the same - drawings, spec and construction notes exactly same too.
Building Standards Officer A passes the plans (no need for structural certificate) extension A gets built and Officer A issues completion certificate.
Building Standards Officer B says no way your building extension B without a strutural certificate. Structural cert being acquired and drawings reissued afer correcting issues with original drawings that would have made the existing house gable end structurally unsound.
So does this mean that extension A, is structurally unsound, even after you've passed it and issued the completion certificate?
Dear oh dear Building Standards this is getting confusing...
Are houses a and b next door to each other, ground conditions can dictate different building requirements.
Maybe the rules changed between the construction of a and b.
Maybe building standards officer B, knows his stuff, and extension A will collapse shortly taking a child's face with it.
can you not use building A as a president?
Otherwise it sounds like head not knowing arse on the face of it.
Maybe building officer A is just a bit slap dash though? But it's down to personal interpretation a lot of it.
So does this mean that extension A, is structurally unsound, even after you've passed it and issued the completion certificate?
[i]"after you've passed it"[/i] ? I thought you said it was a different Building Standards Officer ? 😕
If you're worried about House A then maybe ask Building Standards Officer B what they think.
But do you want to ask too many questions ? .......maybe leave well alone ? 💡
What did you do to annoy the officer??
Be careful that Ext A did actually comply to all regs and didn't just slip through the net before using it as a president, you don't want to end up in the situ I have seen of Building Standards Officer turning round and forcing it to be demolished or extensive modifications made.
It's precedent not president.
Cheers for the comments lol
Nope houses A and B are not next door - they're a couple of street away from each other.
In fairness any 2-storey extension should really be looked at by Structural Engineer anyway. I didn't do the drawings for A, but am working on B and wanted to use the same structural enginner as was used at A when I found out that no structural engineer looked at House A - hence why i started asking so many questions.
And yes I think I've done something to pi$$ of the Building Control Officer. Maybe its me asking too many questions lol
Otherwise it sounds like head not knowing arse on the face of it.
You have just summed up building control in most of the UK.
Indeed it is. Monkey see, monkey type. Brain cell was not engaged. Too late to edit by time idiot alarm went off...It's precedent not president.
Just finishing a kitchen extension. Structural Engineer decides we need a dense concrete block pillar to support the RSJ. Builder agrees and builds it. Building Inspector there during this discussion.
Pillar goes up, wall goes up, Building Inspector turns up as says 'What is this?'. We explain it is the pillar we were talking bout when he was last here. He says it is the wrong way around.
Builder explains it has to be that way around to support the 2 RSJs. Building Inspector says he is wrong. Phone the structural engineer who confirms that it is correct. Building inspector sighs and leaves.
Building Inspector turns up again, unannounced when the builder is not there. Wife lets him in. Look of amazement as he spots the pillar. What is that? Wife explains it is a wall with a pillar in it. "Why is there a pillar?" Because the structural engineer said so. "It is the wrong way round, take the lot down now!" Another phone call to the structural engineer and he is happy.
It was the same Building Inspector on each visit.
truth is it is up to you to get it right, building control are only there to check what they want to check, it is your responsibility to meet the regs - i think you even need to sign something to that effect for the completion certificate
so house at A you where either lucky or unlucky- you decide
Don't get me started on Building Inspectors. I know rules change etc but what about common sense! Why does my small extension have foundations that are 3 meters deep when the rest of the house is 1.5m why why! In the end paid for structural engineer to meet with Inspector on site. Building Inspector then just said OK I'm happy with that.
molgrips - Member
It's precedent not president.
Spell check offered it up, I follow. I make an effort that far but can't be bothered checking every word which are near-homophones, (I except it not a true homophone but dam near!).
3 metre deep foundations? do u live in a tower block?
Building Control officers have their own views and opinions, and in my experience have a poor understanding of the regs. I've often corrected them on several occasions.
Building Control told us we needed 3m footings for an extention. We live in a single story timber frame house. Doubled the cost of the project. That was 3 years ago. About a month ago I was on a tour up in the towers in Ely Cathedral. It only has 4m foundations!
About a month ago I was on a tour up in the towers in Ely Cathedral. It only has 4m foundations!
not bad, i believe that Salisbury Cathedral is on 4ft foundations....
what was the reason you needed 3m? must of been something in the ground that would make them insist on that? did you get a structural engineers opinion?
We had to go down 1.3 metres on a single story extension. That is 1.3 at the shallow end of the slope, closer to 2 metres next to the actual house. Original house foundations were about 70cm below the surface.
A small (10ft) tree which has since died! Spitting cherry blossom! Couldn't chop it down as the other side of a boundary. Didn't have the foresite to poison it before I applied for planning permission. I ended up building a shed with a connecting canopy. Better construction than the house. Saved about £25k by doing it that way.
those ll be the building standards that dont allow a new build property to have a stand alone combi boiler but do allow you to take out the boiler and cylinder the day after completion and fit a combi..
well I've found more incompetent builders than I ever have building control officers,but having been in the job for a while I'm bound to say that 😉 😀
If the Building Inspector says your footing should be 3m deep and your structural engineer can provide calcs to show they only need to be 1m deep then the structural engineer wins!
Quote "In fairness any 2-storey extension should really be looked at by Structural Engineer anyway." - Wrong
As long as the building is constructed to comply with Part A of the Building regulations it's Deemed to satisfy the regs and no structural engineer's calcs are required. When you go out of these regulations it's up to you to prove that it's safe.
A topic dear to my heart. thank the lord i'm not renovating my house any more.
We had similar issues - deck supports 2.8m off ground, 3m needs engineers calcs, building inspector measures and says it's fine. Different one comes round mid build and says 2.8 is almost 3 so needs an engineer. Wife had done calcs (she is an engineer, a proper one, not a software engineer :wink:) so gave them to him. OK he said. First one came back and went mental that the other one had asked for calcs.
Stub wall, original plans sho non load bearing. To be removed. Take GIB off. Holding whole roof up. Inspector not interested. New beams in to hold it all up, reGIB roof, comes back and starts asking about the load bearing wall, show him original plans, happy. WTF.
Take out hot water cyl, fit new gas rheem. Requires building consent at $1500. Well it might, nobody is sure. First guys signs code complaince, second guy there for something different says it can;t be signed, looks at signed one, shrugs and walks away.
No ****n wonder loads of our houses are falling apart.
Different one comes round mid build and says 2.8 is almost 3 so needs an engineer.
That is retarded.
That's almost what I said except somewhat stronger. My builder was none the wiser and was less than surprised. Whole things a ****n rort in my opinion.
'House modifications' soon to overtake job loss, death, divorce and moving house in the 'stress charts'.
A mate's recently had similar mind-changing and extraordinarily deep footings etc in his extension, cost about 35% more than planned in the end, most of which went to builder and kept him gainfully employed for an extra 3 months. His builder and his building standards officer/inpspector know each other very well from local boozer. 💡
It is all a conspiracy to keep estate agents (if it puts you off) and builders (if it doesn't) in business. 👿
You do know you allowed to use a 'private' building inspector?
You no longer have to relie on muppets (not all just some) at Building control.
After our single floor 1 metre extention had foundations over 6ft deep, as the area build inspect is a muppet (builders words). Apparently [i]all[/i] the local sites (larger, not tiny jobs) are now employing private inspector to avoid this muppet*.
* Who will end up out of work due to his own arseness
I love this thread so much now - makes me feel a whole lot better knowing many (not all) Building Standards officials conform to such a rigorous standard!
Madness I tell you
z1ppy - MemberYou do know you allowed to use a 'private' building inspector?
You no longer have to relie on muppets (not all just some) at Building control.
After our single floor 1 metre extention had foundations over 6ft deep, as the area build inspect is a muppet (builders words). Apparently all the local sites (larger, not tiny jobs) are now employing private inspector to avoid this muppet*.* Who will end up out of work due to his own arseness
I would be more than a little suspicious of a builder that didn't want to complete work to the standard required by the area building inspector and suggested a way to avoid it.
The builder had completed the foundations to the approved planning spec, the Building Inspector came along and said dig deeper, which was done, came back and said digger deeper still, "as the ground may move". Our house has 'only' been built 30 years and have a row of house behind us. To get any subsidence, that row of house would have to move 1st, which would need the houses across the road from them to have moved first...
Builder phoned up the building control office to complain, they just said "oh him".... he came back & approved it promptly.
Nothing wrong with my builder, he's happy to build to proper standards, but set a standard, not just "err I'm not sure, dig deeper", local B.I. is a muppet