Being careful of the drainage!
The weird thing was that along the back of our house is the main drainage run which connects all the houses and takes the waste away to be processed in a very magical place (Apparently this being at the back of the house is common on houses pre 1937). We had to be very careful as the last thing we wanted was to damage the pipe when we were demolishing the conservatory and removing the existing concrete slab on which it was sitting.
Before we started the demolision I sprayed down a few marks just to be clear in my own mind of what we were going to do! I also had some very loyal friends come and help me for the weekend to remove the conservatory and wanted them to know where everything was going too! (All for the price of a BBQ afterwards and a few cheeky beers!)
The red marks by the door is where there are drainage pipes under the existing conservatory and will be under the new kitchen extension.
The yellow marks were where the walls and the extent of the foundations were going to come to. (More about that later!)
Thames Water Approval
Where we live we have to apply to thames water for approval to build over a public sewer or of we want to build within 3m of the public sewer. We found out about this through speaking to the building control people at the council they gave us a contact phone number to check if out drainage pipe was one of the affected pipe and subject to this rule which is was.
We where then directed here to download an application form in which we had to specify our foundation details and how we were going to build over the pipe. (more on this later!)
At the point of demolishion we have not applied for anything as I want to expose the pipes and send photos which I will send with the main! I also want to discuss the foundation design I should use with the building inspector before I contact them!
Unfortunately for us the law have reciently changed and we had to pay a £343 charge for Thames Water to allow us to build over their pipe. If you are doing the same thing it's worth checking this out!
We where then directed here to download an application form in which we had to specify our foundation details and how we were going to build over the pipe. (more on this later!)
At the point of demolishion we have not applied for anything as I want to expose the pipes and send photos which I will send with the main! I also want to discuss the foundation design I should use with the building inspector before I contact them!
Unfortunately for us the law have reciently changed and we had to pay a £343 charge for Thames Water to allow us to build over their pipe. If you are doing the same thing it's worth checking this out!
Build Over DetailAfter our first on site meeting and encounter with Building control on the 7th August 2012, We discussed a variety of things such as the build over detail which we would need approved by Thames Water.
The Building inspector was very helpful and although I had done some preliminary sketches, he was able to refine the detail for me. On the right is the bridging detail which we submitted for approval. I was astonished that if your are using a standard concrete lintel you can go up to two meters fairly easily. The other useful thing to note is that I was told that 6 inches or 200mm bearing was required for either end of the lintel (as shown on the right) Note that the general foundations and design are discussed later here. |