Building Regulations - Which Book?

[Tim]

Hello All :-)

Planning some work at my Dad's house (inc. adding a tiny lean-to conservatory as a utility room with power, water and drainage).

I'm OK with following the IEE Wiring Regs (just ordered the latest copy) + Whitfield's excellent pocket guide.

But, building regs are a mystery to me. Is there a single book equivalent to the IEE Regs? Would I understand it (assume reasonable mechanical nous and commonsense)?

I've ordered a copy of Tricker's "Building Regulations in Brief" to get an overview. What would people recommend as the next step?

As much as I like or dislike council BCO's poking their nose in to what I'm doing, I *do* like to do a good job, by the book, so to speak. Also, when the BCO does turn up, he's got less chance to find anything wrong and I've got more chance of defending grey areas.

Ta muchly in advance :-)

Timbo

[Andy Hall]

Check your local authority's web site carefully (or that of another) and look up conservatories in both planning permission and building control. With a little care in the design and the size, you can avoid tangling with bureaucracy altogether.

There are a bunch of exemptions around conservatories for both aspects which mean that you can build a relatively large conservatory without interference as long as you stick within the guidelines.

The main issues are

- position

-size

- use of plot area

- construction being predominantly glass (or polycarbonate roof)

- glass to appropriate safety spec.

- separation from house for thermal isolation - i.e. not knocked through

- not in conservation area

You can download the Approved Documents to the Building Regulations from

These are guidelines that BCOs follow rather than the legislation itself, which is referenced anyway.

It's worth talking to the building control people anyway for clarification if you need it.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Tim]

Thanks Andy. I was partially happy on some of the points:

Rear of house, filling in a bit in a "L" shaped bit of wall - s'ok.

Tiny (1.3m x 2.2m ish), well within permitted volumes too.

Path/patio - loads of clearance (and neighbour doesn't mind)

Hopefully ;->

On the "pleb" side of the railway line :-> Check.

Ah - that's handy - thanks.

Planning office have been handy so far. I thought I could avoid the BCO altogether, then I read (from this group via archives IIRC) that adding plumbing, drains and power might mean that "conservatory" type exemptions from BC didn't apply.

I'd have to admit, I wouldn't normally worry too much - but I might want to build a garage later so I'd better be extra nice to the council :-/

Cheers

Tim

[Christian McArdle]

They're available online as PDFs at

It is the approved documents that define in detail the rather woolly definitions in the legislation. They're divided into "parts" which cover a particular aspect. "Part A" is about having a sufficient strong structure. "Part L" is about energy efficiency etc.

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I got a book called 'building regulations explained' for about 60 squids. Worth every penny. Try a google search for it, but mine came from Waterstones I think.

[Hugo Nebula]

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:25:53 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named The Natural Philosopher randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

The Building Regulations Explained. £37.95 from Amazon. It (the 1985 version) was the book I used going through college.

[Tony Bryer]

book I bought in my BCO days was very good at explaining the obvious (e.g. min/max staircase rise and going limits) but said not a lot re regs that needed some interpretation