About to do this very soon on a late 60s built house with enclosed garage.
I'm going to get a UPVC window to fit totally across the top half, to existing brick, and use new bricks/blocks below, which will be rendered with concrete.
I'll also stick a DPC at the same height as the existing one.
Do I need to do anything else with the DPC and can I lay brick straight onto the concrete floor with mortar or should I prepare it some other way?
Any other advice appreciated.
Cheers.
Sorry, 'Replacing' not 'Removing' should be in the title.
If you are changing the use of the garage to a dwelling area, then planning and/or building control will need to know, they'll also want to see the foundations which will mean diging some test holes outside, they'll want to know if there's any DPM underneath the existing floor and if there's not you may have to dig it out and get one in and probably insulation under the floor too, and also the walls and ceiling.
If it's not becoming a dwelling then you can disregard all of the above, but if it is and you don't do the above, then you will have problems when you sell the house, unless you turn it back into a garage.
The foundations shouldn't be too much of a problem. There probably aren't any across the doorway - but there won't be much to support anyway - just the brickwork in the lower part of the doorway and the window. The concrete floor will support that ok. Everything higher up is supported by the lintel which, in turn is supported by the brickwork and foundations either side of the door.
The garage floor is almost certainly several inches lower than that of the adjoining rooms, and will need to be made up to house level - so there is plenty of scope for installing a DPM and insulation if required.
When I did a similar project, the building control officer made me excavate the ground immediately outside what would be your door area to confirm how thick the concrete floor was, before giving me the OK not to prepare new foundations.
Suggest the BCO is consulted over this too before work gets under way... for current regs, several inches of insulation plus the overlying concrete (presumably) will be required; I think the OP would be lucky to have that much depth available. However, my BCO was prepared to compromise over this as it wasn't a new build, and I got away with 1" Kingspan (ie 1" more than elsewhere in the property! which is likely to be the same scenario with yours if it's 1960s).
Once you've submitted a building notice to the council, and paid your fee, you'll probably find the BCO will be prepared to come round and advise on what he expects. They're usually pretty helpful IMHE, if you show you're trying to do it properly (and actually bothering to submit a building notice in the first place is the first step in that process!)
David
Couldn't agree more, why people are reluctant to liase with BC or planning is a mystery to me.
Okay, thanks to all for the advice. I'll let you know what the BCO says.
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