MH Building Services

03/10/2015

Job complete.

20/09/2015

This single extension that was added to the property 10 year ago has had its
original roof took off
Wall plate off
Soldier course all the way round at lintel height just as the feature of the property
3 course of bricks were added to meet the new floor height
2.4m CH50/100 lintels were added & beaded on at finished floor height
300 bearing either side of each downstairs window so it could withstand the new added weight
100mm cavity was cut out so air can flow right round extension to prevent any damp problems
Starter kits were took up either side of new formed cavities to Wall plate height
Damp trays + weep holes were took right round the build for maximum water tightness
The bricks off the original peaks on the single extension were took down & cleaned to be used on the front elevation to match the rest of the property
Staggered stack bond added to corners
Soldier course under windows
3 stack bond under lintels
Diamonds in each peak all with the feature brick just as the property was designed

Got half shift left on this then the original roof tiles & ridge that was took off single extension will be re-added

19/08/2015

20 Things You Can Do, No Planning Required

Many home improvement projects can be done under Permitted Development rights
Posted on 4 Oct 2012
no-planning-council-house-transformed
What is permitted development (PD)?

Under PD you are able to undertake certain projects without needing planning permission.

1. Internal Remodelling

If what you propose does not require you to extend the overall footprint of the dwelling, Permitted Development (PD) allows you to carry out the work without obtaining full planning permission. You will, however, need to follow Building Regulations guidance for some aspects such as structural elements and electrical works.

2. Moving Windows & Doors

You do not normally need planning permission to replace or add new windows in the original walls of your house but you may need permission if conditions were attached to the original permission. Double glazing can be installed under PD, providing the building is not listed. For new or bigger windows or doors, you will need to follow Building Regulations guidance. Bear in mind that bay windows are classed as extensions. Planning permission to insert a new window or door opening is not required as long as any upper floor windows on the side elevation are glazed with obscured glass (level 4 or 5 obscurity). They must also be fixed into a non-opening frame (unless the opener is more than 1.7m above the floor of the room in which the window is installed).

You don’t normally need planning permission to put in new door or window openings. This 1960s North London semi is almost unrecognisable following its extensive remodel. Click here to find out more

3. Using Attached Buildings, e.g. Garages

If you wish to alter the internal space within an existing part of the building, such as incorporating an integral garage, you can do so under PD providing you are not increasing the overall footprint of the dwelling.

4. Single Storey Extensions & Conservatories

You can build various single storey extensions including conservatories without planning permission, providing the extension accords with the following:

The extension does not sit forward of the principal elevation.
Materials should be similar.
Where it is within 2m of any boundary, the eaves cannot be higher than 3m, and no more than 4m in height otherwise.
Rear extensions — no more than 4m in depth (detached house) or 3m in depth (semi-detached or terrace).
Side extensions — the width of the extension must not be greater than half the width of the original dwelling. Side extensions are not permitted on Land (e.g. AONB, Conservation Areas).
See the planningportal.gov.uk for a full list of caveats.

Hanse Haus click here
glass-extension
A stunning light filled extension has completely transformed the internal dynamic of this London home.

5. Rooflights

Alterations can be made to the roof of a dwelling under PD. However rooflights are not permitted under PD where they would extend forward of the roof plane on the elevation fronting a highway. But they are permitted providing they do not project more than 15cm from the roof slope. Rooflights are not permitted on a dwelling which is located in an Article 4 Direction Area. Two common examples are a Conservation Area or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

6. Loft Conversions

Loft conversions provide a great opportunity

to create additional space and may not require planning permission. Permitted Development allows for the construction of dormer windows, which would provide additional headroom within a converted attic. However, they must not sit higher than the highest part of your existing roof, or extend forward of the roof plane on the principal elevation.

There are also limitations on the cubic content allowed under PD but generally up to 40m³ is fine.

7. Two Storey Extensions

A two storey extension can only be built under PD if it is at the rear of the dwelling (this includes the addition of a second storey onto an existing single storey part of the house). In addition, your two storey extension must not exceed 3m in depth or be within 7m of the rear boundary. Specific restrictions also apply to the glazed nature of windows in such extensions.

8. Work at Home

If you are weighing up the options of working at home, but you don’t have the space to spare, an outbuilding may be the solution for you. This would give you the extra space you need and may also offer you a peaceful environment to concentrate in away from household distractions. However, if this is something you are considering for employees as well as yourself, there are certain regulations you would need to follow.

9. Sheds & Outbuildings

outdoor office building Out buildings are a clever way to add extra space without the need for planning permission

Where you have a larger plot, there may be opportunities to build multiple outbuildings under PD, providing the total area covered by such buildings/enclosures does not exceed 50% of the total area of the curtilage. This 50% should take into account any extensions, but not the area covered by the main house.

Outbuildings cannot sit forward of the principal elevation, and there are height restrictions depending on the type of roof (4m for dual pitch roofs, 3m for other roofs, and 2.5m when the building is within 2m of the boundary). Outbuildings may only be single storey, with the maximum eaves height remaining at 2.5m.

A key factor to bear in mind when considering what you want to achieve from an outbuilding is that the use should be ‘incidental’ to that of the dwelling, e.g. gym, garage, store. Outbuildings under PD cannot be used for residential accommodation, e.g. bedrooms.

10. Converting Two Homes Into One

When you need more space and you are weighing up the options of whether to significantly extend your home or move house, it may also be worth considering the benefits of converting two houses such as a pair of semis into one, or two flats into one property. This can usually be done under PD, and would save you moving out of an area you love. However, if you were considering the option of dividing a property into two dwellings, unfortunately the same rules do not apply and you would need to apply for planning permission.

11. Porches

Whilst many of the schemes described so far have not allowed for the development of any extensions forward of the principal elevation, you can build a porch on the front of your property without obtaining planning permission, as long as you follow certain rules:

No part of the porch can be taller than 3m
It cannot be within 2m of any boundary adjacent to a highway
The ground area (measured externally) does not exceed 3m²
cottage-with-clad-side-returnsProvided they don’t measure more than 3m², porches can be added without needing planning permission. Click here to find out more about this low budget cottage

12. Gates, Walls & Fences

It’s worth knowing that Permitted Development facilitates the er****on, construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration to a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure, providing such work accords with the following limitations:

The height would not exceed 1m when adjacent to a highway
The height would not exceed 2m for any other gate, fence etc
Such development is not permitted under PD around a listed building

13. Decking

Whilst a raised platform (a platform with a height greater than 300mm) would require planning permission, garden decking and other such similar structures which are of a height below this limit can be built without planning permission, providing they accord with certain criteria (available at planningportal).

14. Swimming Pools

When looking to enhance the enjoyment of your garden, what better way than to build a swimming pool for the whole family to enjoy? Under Permitted Development rights you can build a pool within your garden, provided that the total area covered by the pool does not exceed 50%?of the area of the garden curtilage.

swimming-pool-hyde-and-hyde-walesSwimming pools such as this, designed by Hyde +?Hyde Architects, can be built under PD providing they don’t exceed half the garden.

15. Some New Accesses

Planning permission is not required when creating a new vehicular access onto an unclassified road. However, permission is needed for accesses onto classified roads. For a new access onto a classified road, you will need to ensure sufficient visibility when leaving the site, as well as enough turning space to allow you to enter and exit in a forward gear.

16. Cladding

Cladding (stone, pebble dash, render, timber, etc.) is not permitted under PD on any dwelling house located on land (in special areas, e.g. an AONB). Yet, on other buildings not affected by an land, cladding changes may fall under Permitted Development.

17. Solar Panels

Solar panels can also be developed under PD, providing they do not protrude more than 200mm beyond the plane of the wall or roof, and that the highest part of the panel is not higher than the highest part of the roof (excluding the chimney). Limitations apply in Conservation Areas and on listed buildings. Free-standing panels can also be developed, but are limited in size and proximity to the boundary.

18. Basements

If your property does not provide you with sufficient opportunities to develop extensions to your home above ground, have you ever considered building a basement? This would provide you with extra internal space, without reducing the size of your garden. In a recent appeal decision, it was considered that basements could be PD under Class A of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO). However, PD does not allow for engineering works.

A semi-basement was built in to this narrow plot home in London. Click here to find out more

19. Parking

Class F of the GPDO refers to the provision of hard surfaces, such as parking areas. These are also permitted under PD providing that any hard surface situated between the principal elevation of a dwelling and the highway, or any surface which would exceed 5m², is made of porous materials, or provision is made to direct run-off water from the surface into a permeable/porous area within the property curtilage… not onto the highway!

20. Using Agricultural Land

You need planning permission to incorporate agricultural land into your garden. In some cases this is possible, but it depends on the site and the local area. However, you are perfectly entitled to use agricultural land for growing vegetables or planting trees. The key is that the land should not become domesticated and that a barrier, e.g. a fence, should remain between it and the garden.9

18/08/2015

18/08/2015

House or at least an older house, you will have different considerations than those who own newer homes. Newer homes are more likely to be built following modern codes and with materials that conform to modern published standards.

This means newer homes are more likely to be safe. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your old home is unsave, however. You just have to know what you’re looking for and bring certain conditions up to proper safety standards.

Why You need To Improve Your Old Chimney Before Using It

Lack of lining is one of the most common issues that we see in older chimneys. As a flat statement, any chimney that is not lined should not be used for any purpose. You may say, “Well, it’s been there for 80 years, so why change it now?” and that’s a reasonable question. In some cases the answer is that nothing has changed the situation has always gotten worse! The reason why your chimney’s condition has gotten worse is because most things wear out over time and a chimney is certainly no exception to that rule.

Additionally, the fact that furnaces and stoves of 2011 require a more capable chimney to support them makes unimproved, older chimneys more or less obsolete.

Why Chimney Linings Are So Important

Installing Chimney Lining
Installing Flexible Chimney Lining

Here are a few reasons why chimney linings are so important:

Unlined chimneys have bad draft characteristics. These bad draft characteristics cause the appliances they serve to work less than optimally.
Unlined Chimneys may leak noxious gases into the living space.
If used for gas, modern appliances have such low-temperature flue gasses that they produce huge amounts of condensation. With an unlined chimney, the condensation is allowed to adhere to the actual masonry. This ruins wall paper in the house, and the freeze-thaw cycles in the winter slowly demolish the masonry chimney.
If the chimney is used for wood burning, the condensation can also help form tar and creosote, which is flammable. In this case, they pose an unnecessary fire danger.
When you make a change to the construction of a structure, the system must come up to building code standards. So if you have a new furnace or boiler, a woodstove or insert, the chimney must be lined at that time.
You may find yourself without insurance if you make changes without improving the chimney. Check with your insurance company if you intend to disregard the advice here or consult a certified chimney sweep.
Basically, have your chimney lined as soon as possible.

Block Chimneys in Old Houses

Block chimneys do work, but as a general statement they are less than desirable. Block chimneys are really meant to be surrounded with bricks. They are more subject to cracking, leaning and leaking; all most any problem you can imagine. As a general statement, if you have a block chimney built right against the house it’s probably not legal and if you have a wood-frame house you probably ought to just tear it down. However, if you can build brick around all four sides, unlikely in most situations, you can get the clearance to combustibles called for in the codes, the chimney can be serviceable.

Old Brick and Mortar Chimneys

Old brick chimneys have their own set of problems. Fortunately, older bricks are often actually better than newer bricks. It’s the way they were fired that makes the biggest difference. That’s why you see some houses from the 1800s or even 1700s where the bricks are still in great condition. Yet you’ve also probably seen modern houses with the faces of the bricks popping off. So if you have an old house, you probably have pretty good bricks!

Shifting Ground and your Old Chimney

The ground is always moving a little bit. Fortunately houses are actually a bit elastic, or at least allow enough give that they don’t split in half when the ground heaves an inch. But over time, those stresses can break bricks. If you have that problem in your chimney or walls of the house, it’s probably visible. Broken bricks are just a fact of life sometimes. You might need to replace them eventually.

Old Masonry Chimney Degradation Due to Weather

Sun, wind and rain are hard on any masonry work, especially the mortar. There are so many different types of mortar and concoctions of mortar cement that there’s no guessing how long your mortar is supposed to last, but suffice to say 60 years on a chimney is a long time.

When the mortar wears out it’s either time to rebuild or re-point. Re-pointing is the process of grinding out about an inch of the old and broken up mortar and putting in new mortar without removing the bricks. Unless your chimney is quite large, it may be just as easy to dismantle it and rebuild using the same bricks.

Waterproofing Your Old Chimney

One thing about those great old bricks is that they soak up water from the rain. On the sunny or windy side of the house that’s probably not a problem because they dry quickly. However, in shady areas the bricks can hold water and in the winter that water can freeze. This type of problem is usually visible. There are good water-proofing materials such as ChimneySaver by Saver Systems which do not block the pores of the masonry. Whatever you do, don’t use silicone, such as Thompson’s, because silicone blocks the pores and it has a shorter life due to UV light breaking down the silicone.

The Your Old Chimney Crown (Or Lack Thereof?)

There’s another aspect of the chimney that’s almost always lacking on older homes, and that’s the chimney crown. The crown is the cement part on top of the chimney that keeps the rain from going into the structure below. The crown catches more sun, wind and rain than all the rest of the chimney, and it is usually not as thick as a brick. Crowns are almost always cracked. I can’t think of one crown I ever seen that wasn’t cracked. If the crown is bad enough, it needs to be taken off and re-laid. If it is cracked but still structurally sound there are good materials to coat the crown, which will save money.

Regardless, you should have the crown coated with CrownCoat by Saver Systems or some similar product. If you put up a brand new crown, coat it so it doesn’t break up again.

How to Deal with Lack of Clearance to Combustibles

Clearances to combustibles is something they didn’t worry about in the old days. It is quite common to see wood beams or 2x4s right against the masonry of a chimney. When there are fires in old homes, it’s also common to find that some of this wood ignited. Oddly enough, the process of pryrolization takes place over many, many years. The unscientific definition of that is that the ignition temperature of wood gets lower over time. In other words, it takes less heat to catch it on fire 50 or 100 years later than when it was new.

Chimney Insulation

The way to deal with that is to make sure you have a liner installed to zero-clearance (insulated). The only alternative is to tear out the walls and cut away the wood. Practically speaking, nobody is going to do that, and even if you do, there’s no guarantee you’d get it far enough away. Take a look in the attic and remove wood you find against the chimney up there. That’s not so hard to do.

17/08/2015

Boundary wall using thermalite turbo trench blocks 215mm × 440mm × 300mm weight 21.3kg Dry weight these really need to be covered up if expecting rain through the night + 100mm × 440mm × 215mm skin of your standard thermalite aircrete. These trench blocks need to be this width for strength for when the wall is built & the earth's weight is put back behind pushing against the wall 💪

That'll be me & me old man. This man here showed me how to go on & make a trowel, learned me the old fashioned way! I can't thank him enough.
He's a weathered 62 year old that's been on the trowel for 47 long winters - HE IS MUSTARD!

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF EXTENDING YOUR PROPERTY OR GOT PLANS FOR A BUILD IN THE NEAR FUTURE MAKE A CALL
I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT OUR PRICES WILL BE HARD TO BEAT
THAT'S NOT BECAUSE OUR WORK IS CHUCKED UP & ROUGH BUT BECAUSE WE ARE A GOOD TEAM OF BUILDERS THAT COMPLETES THE JOB WITH NO HICKUPS & IN TIME EXPECTED
ALL WORK WILL PASS BUILDING INSPECTORS VISITS WITH A CLEAN BIT OF HEALTH EVERYTIME
VERY CLEAN & TIDY WORK
ALL WORK WILL BE AT A HIGH STANDARD OF QUALITY AS THE PAGE PHOTOS SHOW

17/08/2015

Boundary wall using 7n blocks with 2 brick pillars. This wall was built 2 year back the man has since give it a rough rendered look which is cream in colour.
Was a right beast to be honest with you's everything was delivered & dropped nowhere near! Just what you need 🙈