Live self-Builds - mod warning in post no. 1

Gretchy

Hi All
Need help on the above issue.
Am completing a self build at the moment and have an issue with insulating the upstairs dwarf walls.
The dwarf walls are approx. 4 ft high and are built directly onto the hollowcore slab approx. 3 ft in from the cavity closer and wall plate.
The dwarf wall construction is a simple 4 inch block on its edge.
I am proposing to insulate on the warm side with 50mm insulated board only. Is this sufficient

Poor Uncle Tom

It's not enough, imo. What is stopping you putting a double row of blocks with say 150mm insulation between them?

Gretchy

This was the engineer had on the plan, a single 4inch wall as we stated that we wanted block walls upstairs with the hollowcore. The roof is already in place, fully slated etc. On the engineers drawings he had specified 44mm of the Kingspan Thermawall insulation.
Having spoke to a second engineer he suggested that I insulate the whole way to the wall plate, but my concern is that these voids behind the walls will become stagnated with stale air if the internal of the dwarf wall and the rafter line is completely insulated to wall plate level!!

Gretchy

Hello Folks
If anyone has built a dormer upstairs with the outline I have described can they please give an indiaction of how best to insulate these dwarf walls.

ninjaBob

We've had more that our fair share of problems with our build. I thought I would post some of my highlights.

Front Elevation


Front of the house
Spot the difference....



It gets better:



We knew our window reveals and arches were a little bit off.... so we pulled them down



Some Nice Tidy Blockwork

While we were doing that we noticed our ceilings were a little bit off




A belly of 38mm... So we pulled that down as well



The cause of the dip was that the boards were not fixed to the joists. Only 4 screws were holding the boards in place. The landing had no bracing and then we spotted this joist:



This joist is where the stairs lands, so there would be a lot of traffic here. So we pulled down the whole landing.



While pulling down all our Window and door reveals we spotted that most of the boards on the wall didn't have the airtight membranes we paid for, nor were they as per the spec we outlined.... so you guessed it we pulled them down.



We then started to look at the rest of the ceilings and because the engineers didn't know what was up there and the builder didn't want us to to pull them down. So We pulled them down.... right about now we brought in a 2 other engineers to review the condition of our house. I also got a lot of advice from forum members and a special thanks to mfceiling who travelled down and helped us review the state of the suspended ceiling.

Here is our suspended ceiling from one of the wings:



Some vertical supports which didn't take to to the ceiling causing a difference of 50mm - 70mm between the corners of the room.




We moved into the house 2 days before our wedding, spent an extra €35k to date fixing the house.

ninjaBob

All the stress and heartache resulted in :

Custom Teak Front Door



Paneling in the hall, used to cover up some shocking walls, but it's a nice feature






Double Skirting adding a little more depth to the house, turning the skirting into a nice feature.




At this point all we have is some Carpentry, Tiling and Painting to wrap up, we are happy with the end result. It's just a shame that we had to get to the skimming just to be put back 7 months to redo a lot of work.

BoozyBabe

Fair fecks to you attitude!!!!!
I'd be in jail at this stage for killing the builder!!!! :eek:

I hope there's a nice bit of compensation coming your way, as that's just ridiculous!!!!!!! (Weren't you doing inspections all along though?)

Anyway, nice remedial work & the finished job looks lovely. Well done, & hope you've many happy days there.

ninjaBob

The engineers did over 15 inspections....

BoozyBabe

:eek: That's even MORE shocking!!!!!!!!!!

Well, health to wear anyway, after a slightly longer time & more money, you've a lovely home to enjoy.

sas

Blockwork upstairs will complete sometime on Tuesday, excluding the gables granted or the chimney rising through roof space. Then the garage get's going again.

Going reasonably well if a little slow. The pics below show front and back of the house. We're building passive so the front elevation had to give up alot of glazing to bring us in on target. It has approx. 9 m2 of window. The rear however has approx 42m2.

The 3rd pic was simply to show something I'm now more convinced of than ever. Spending money on good quality stone for your roadways on site is worth it. Having previously had a block truck sink to it's belly on site, I took no chances when getting the stone in. With the exception of about a 4 foot perimeter on the house, the stone in the pic has been there since Nov. Still nice and clean and level. I wear runners on site all the time. In conclusion, it cost money but it's made life on site easy going for all of us regardless of the weather.

Front Elevation - North.JPG

Rear Elevation - South.JPG

Stone - No mess or hardship.JPG

Viking House

ninjaBob wrote: »

The engineers did over 15 inspections....

What was the Engineer doing when he came to inspect your house? Having tea with the lads? I would be pointing the finger back at him, I hope you haven't paid him! I would guess he was there 2-3 times!

Hi SAS

I thought you'd be moved in by now, you're using an awful lot of concrete, I hope you're using Ecocem?
If you plaster the outside of the blocks to make the house airtight you'll save yourself an awful lot of hardship with membranes, airtight sockets etc.
Did you compact the stone under the foundations at all, it looks kinda loose?

ninjaBob

Viking House wrote: »

What was the Engineer doing when he came to inspect your house? Having tea with the lads? I would be pointing the finger back at him, I hope you haven't paid him! I would guess he was there 2-3 times!

Engineer was paid in full, money was held back from the builder but not nearly enough to rectify all the issues.

sas

Viking House wrote: »

I thought you'd be moved in by now

I'm getting enough of that from familly and friends without getting it here too...

Viking House wrote: »

, you're using an awful lot of concrete, I hope you're using Ecocem?

Yes, we're using alot. No, low carbon concrete was specifically ruled out for the structural slab because of the length of time it takes to cure and the risk of cold weather damage. We'd waited 3 months for snow\frost to clear so we could safely pour the slab. The fact that non standard concrete takes alot longer to cure only added to the risk that something would go wrong should we have had frost that night. We're not claiming to be experts and this may not have been an issue but there was enough risk without adding another variable. Once I ruled it out for the slab it never crossed my mind for screeds etc. There is no local supplier of low carbon concrete blocks so that ruled them out.

In summary, mother earth is going to have to take another one for the team...

Viking House wrote: »

If you plaster the outside of the blocks to make the house airtight you'll save yourself an awful lot of hardship with membranes, airtight sockets etc.

I've heard this before but it strikes me as alot of extra money as a pure belts and braces option. I'm clear on what I need to do for sockets etc. and also have confidence in what I'm told as a friend of mine using similar details is going certified passive and recently had his blower door test done. He exceeded the PH standard on the first test without any remedial action. This is on a direct labout build with none of the trades people having any PH experience whatsoever. So it's similar to my project basically...

Viking House wrote: »

Did you compact the stone under the foundations at all, it looks kinda loose?

What you're looking at is around the house, not under the foundations. The base for the raft (which is about 350mm below the level in the pics) was compacted in layers as specified by supervising engineer.

Viking House

ninjaBob wrote: »

Engineer was paid in full.

I hope you are going to sue him or ask for a refund, can he prove that he visited 15 times? Does he have photographic evidence of his 15 site visits?

ninjaBob

To be honest I don't know. They gave me a print out relating to all phonecalls and visits to the site.

No photographs though.

Viking House

sas wrote: »

I've heard this before but it strikes me as alot of extra money as a pure belts and braces option. I'm clear on what I need to do for sockets etc. and also have confidence in what I'm told as a friend of mine using similar details is going certified passive and recently had his blower door test done. He exceeded the PH standard on the first test without any remedial action. This is on a direct labout build with none of the trades people having any PH experience whatsoever. So it's similar to my project basically....

You'll save a lot more than the cost of plastering I think (1-2mm of Ext Ins glue @ €1.50/m2 plus labour), less tape, no airtight sockets, no worries about hairline cracks.

beyondpassive

ninjaBob wrote: »

We've had more that our fair share of problems with our build.... spent an extra €35k to date fixing the house.

Good to see you got it sorted in the end, best of luck with the new gaf. Is the pine to be painted over? Can I ask, God forbid, if you were doing it again would you have an Architect on board for the full process rather than just an engineer.

Viking House

ninjaBob wrote: »

To be honest I don't know. They gave me a print out relating to all phonecalls and visits to the site.
No photographs though.

Did they send you a written report following every site visit detailing the progress and issues? Did the builder see him on site 15 times? How much did you pay the Engineer if you don't mind me asking? Did the Engineer sign off on every stage? Did he sign off on the first floor for the bank saying it was structurally sound to take the stairs? If he did, how did he know it was structurally sound? Was he guessing?

We know the builder did shoddy work but somebody should have flagged this sooner i.e. the Engineer! The remedial work would have been a lot less if he had noticed sooner. What was his brief?

ninjaBob

beyondpassive wrote: »

Good to see you got it sorted in the end, best of luck with the new gaf. Is the pine to be painted over? Can I ask, God forbid, if you were doing it again would you have an Architect on board for the full process rather than just an engineer.

Skirting, Architrave and Paneling are to be painted an off white color. The painter we had lined up preferred not to paint them before they went on the wall. So we've done as he requested.

I went down the route of an architect first, but unfortunately they wouldn't design the house we wanted. They wanted to stamp their own signature style all over it. So I opted for an engineer to get the design we wanted. I should be clear on this we hired 1 engineer to submit designs for planning permission (he did his job, got us planning permission and helped with anything we required relating to planning and design).

We then hired another engineer to do the construction drawings and do the inspections...

If I were to do it again I would have put the boot in early and double checked everything myself. At then I would only have myself to blame. To be honest I was too fair and I relied on others professional experience and advice and took them on their word. I would have got a quantity surveyor to manage the costs, as it took our families an a lot of time to track down the best prices and quality.

Everyone we hired came recommended and the previous work was well above board, we paid well and paid promptly.

Viking House wrote: »

Did they send you a written report following every site visit detailing the progress and issues? Did the builder see him on site 15 times? How much did you pay the Engineer if you don't mind me asking? Did the Engineer sign off on every stage? Did he sign off on the first floor for the bank saying it was structurally sound to take the stairs? If he did, how did he know it was structurally sound? Was he guessing?

We know the builder did shoddy work but somebody should have flagged this sooner i.e. the Engineer! The remedial work would have been a lot less if he had noticed sooner. What was his brief?

They are members on these forums so I don't really want to go into two much detail.

1. Construction Drawings
2. A minimum of 8 inspections
3. Stage payments for the bank
4. Advice throughout.

(Not the exact phrasing, but I don't have the invoice to hand so I can't confirm if that's the exact phrasing nor can I confirm how much we paid but it was around 2500 for the inspections and construction drawings only). Additional to this we were told prior to hiring them that if there were any issues with the build they would spot them and we would be notified so that we could have them rectified.

I was only notified about 1 problem related to the gable wall which was resolved.

All other issues such as Slabbing, Plastering, Ceilings etc I had to point out to them.

The builder said he was there on regularly, I got no reports ( they only reported a single issue related to the build, They had issues with line of sight and brought them up on a regular basis but that was it.)

We have the cert of compliance, we've fixed everything we can to date and plan to fix the rest. As far as I am concerned we did very little remedial work, we simply pulled it down and did it again correctly. It may have cost us a fortune but we fixed what we were not happy with. Better than looking at it for the rest of your life and letting it drive you mad. The windows upstairs are beginning to piss me off, as the window board is nearly at my shoulder.

Quazzie

ninjaBob wrote: »

The windows upstairs are beginning to piss me off, as the window board is nearly at my shoulder.

Surely thats outside of the Fire regulations. I'd have that looked into because it should've never been signed off if it is.

ninjaBob

It's just shy of 1.6m I think (Will need to double check), I can get the exact measurements when I get home.

Please don't tell me the maximum height from the floor is 1100???

Quazzie

To meet fire regulation the opening of the window to be used as means of fire escape should be between 850mm-1100mm*. 1600mm above is extremely high and certainly too high to meet fire regulations. If I was you I'd be seeking legal advice.

*figures are off the top of my head so might be slightly off.

EDIT: I just found this online

An opening that is required for means of escape should have a clear unobstructed opening area of 0.33 m² and a minimum width or height of 450mm. For example, if a width of 450 mm is proposed then the height should be at least 733 mm in order to give the area of 0.33 m².

Openings that are required for means of escape should have a maximum floor to sill height of 1100 mm.

ninjaBob

No worries, well that's the end of an window discussions, I'll just confirm the measurements and leave it at that.

Poor Uncle Tom

We start here at page 53 where the following is stated:

- all habitable rooms at the upper storey are
provided with windows for escape or rescue in
accordance with 1.5.6; and
- the design meets the general provisions for

dwelling houses, outlined in 1.5.8.

We then move onto page 56 where the following is stated:

Windows for Escape or Rescue

1.5.6 Windows may provide an alternative means
of escape or may be used for rescue purposes in
dwelling houses of limited height. As an alternative, a
door which gives direct access to a balcony or roof,
which is suitable for rescue by ladder or for escape
may be used. Where provision is made in this subsection
for windows for these purposes (see
paragraphs 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.5.7.6 and 1.5.8.2), such
windows should comply with the following:
(a) The window should have an openable section
which can provide an unobstructed clear open
area of at least 0.33 m2 with a minimum width
and height of 450 mm (the route through the
window may be at an angle rather than straight
through). The opening section should be capable
of remaining in the position which provides this
minimum clear open area.
(b) The bottom of the window opening should be
not more than 1100 mm and not less than 800
mm (600 mm in the case of a rooflight) above the
floor, immediately inside or beneath the window
or rooflight. As an exception to the general
guidance in TGD K (Stairways, Ladders, Ramps
and Guards) that guarding be provided for any
window, the cill of which is less than 800 mm in
height above floor level, guarding should not be
provided to a rooflight opening provided in

compliance with this paragraph.

The above is only part of Part B, but it is relevant.

ninjaBob

I'll double check my measurements tonight, and I will post and update here and leave it at that. I really hope I'm wrong with my measurements because I don't want to be knocking out 8+ windows.

[Edit]

Bedroom windows are 1090 from the floor
Bathroom windows are 1500 from the floor

The master bathroom is the the only room upstairs that we are using, so that's why I assumed all the others were equally as high.

sas

Carpenters started shuttering the ring beam yesterday. It's not much to look at but progress is progress.

Wolfhound14

Just got a voice mail. The new entrance is being knocked as I type. Site clearance starts today.

sas

Wolfhound14 wrote: »

Just got a voice mail. The new entrance is being knocked as I type. Site clearance starts today.

Very best of luck to you. Lots of stress ahead..

muffler

sas wrote: »

Lots of stress ahead..

Stress -> Cure -> Smirnoff :cool:

Star87

Hi,
I'm just getting prices in at the mo and just wanted someone elses opinion on them as i dont really have any experience in building. I will be getting other prices to, these are just two I got today.....( 1 1/2 storey house approx 2300 sq ft)
For the roof I asked a local man and he said it will cost around 12k for labour only,he has his two sons working for him and this is a cash job.....materials etc is extra...same man priced 3500 for groundworks...digging foundations/pouring concrete....
for blocks its 60c a block for footings ( and i was told id need approx 2000 blocks),and then to get it to first level will cost 7000, they didnt price for upper level because I hadnt said if i was going with concrete floor, concrete walls/studded walls.plus stonework is 1500...off hand i dont know the area of stonework,its a front projection. i know im not exactly been specific...just some opinions would be nice..thanks a mill