DIY building work - good idea?

[NotMe]

I expect to get the approval for my planning application (well, building warrant) from the council any day now, and would like to go ahead with the work ASAP.

This involves knocking down a wall to allow me to connect two recesses and create one new room (to become my kitchen), and open a doorway in another wall to allow for access into this room.

I am in the top floor of a Victorian tenement building, and the wall to be knocked down IS NOT a supporting wall (all the plans were drawn by my architect and structural engineer), and the wall in which the doorway is to be made is, again, not a supporting wall.

My mate, who is a joiner with 15+ years experience, and who will help me with all the major joinery work has suggested that we will tackle the demolition work + installing the new doorway ourselves.

My mate is very sensible and would not have suggested this had he not thought that we were able to do this. It is just that I don't want any major problems/expenses resulting from this.

Is that a good idea in general? Anything to be concerned about? I forgot to mention that my structural engineer has specified exactly how he expects the building work to be carried out (which order, and which supports to have in place prior to starting, etc), and we intend to follow them.

Thanks in advance.

PS: all the walls + ceilings in and around the areas affected by the work are going to be plastered as soon as the work is complete.

[John Rumm]

If it were me, I would get stuck right in ;-)

[Michael Mcneil]

The engineer has already done half the work by the sound of it. It should be a piece of cake.

[Owain]

"NotMe" wrote | I expect to get the approval for my planning application (well, | building warrant)

It's important you get the right one.

| I am in the top floor of a Victorian tenement building, and the | wall to be knocked down IS NOT a supporting wall (all the plans | were drawn by my architect and structural engineer), and the wall | in which the doorway is to be made is, again, not a supporting wall. ... | Is that a good idea in general? Anything to be concerned about? I | forgot to mention that my structural engineer has specified exactly | how he expects the building work to be carried out (which order, | and which supports to have in place prior to starting, etc), and | we intend to follow them.

That all sounds much more sensible that what most builders would do (which is to suck their teeth, quote an extortionate rate, and reach for the hammer).

Run a pipe/cable detector across the walls before starting. A property of that age may well have pipes for gas lighting in the walls, and there's a chance they could still be live.

| PS: all the walls + ceilings in and around the areas affected by | the work are going to be plastered as soon as the work is complete.

It might be a good idea to check with your StructE and building control whether they want sight of the completed works *before* plastering over.

Especially if it's brick wall that is being demolished, how are you getting the rubble out? You can hire linked 'bottomless buckets' to make a tube from upstairs window down to a skip on the ground, easier than carrying waste down the stairs.

Owain

[Lobster]

It should indeed, but I'd still say it does depend on you having the - how can I put this?! - nous? - to do it properly and safely; only you can make that judgement. I know plenty of people who, were they to ask me, I'd have to say "don't touch it with a bargepole!"

David

[NotMe]

Good point - I already checked with them both, and it is building warrant that I need (and expect to get).

Will do - thanks again.

Again, checked with them already. Apparently with my council you only need to inform them when you start the work, and if they choose to turn up to inspect then fine, but they cannot refuse you the final approval if they don't bother to do so.

Looks like a bit of fun coming my way...

[Lobster]

What's the difference? (Alternatively - what's a building warrant?!)

David

[Mike]

Sounds fine - provided you follow his advice unlike the jerk on the Beany show who got an engineer in, was told to use more supports but decided not to. That the house survived is more down to luck than judgement.

[Owain]

"Lobster" wrote | > | I expect to get the approval for my planning application (well, | > | building warrant) | > It's important you get the right one. | What's the difference? (Alternatively - what's a building warrant?!)

Planning permission is concerned with what is built where. It covers appearance and use of the building, density of population, impact on neighbours, effect on transport and infrastructure.

Building warrant (building control) is concerned with how something is built, ie construction, structural integrity, spread of fire and means of escape, ventilation etc etc., IE compliance with the Building Regulations.

The two departments of the council are sometimes in the same building but that's about it.

Owain

[Rick Dipper]

I would DIY, on the other hand I have DIYed a couple of things that gave me sleepless nights untill they were finished, so if you are a bit worried, avoid. You could rely on your mate, and labor for him, and bung him a few quid at the end - which sounds the best way to me.

[Michael Mcneil]

Once permited, permission to have a building in situe in one form or another is not a matter of your lifetime nor the building's lifetime but the national government's legal statute's lifetime.

In other words, once granted, planning permission means that unless there is a civil revolution and radical change of government there will be planning permission for there to be a building there forever.

It is an immense charter.

[Lobster]

Ah, sorry - yes I know all about building control, just never heard of a "building warrant"!

David

[Mike]

Only if you start work on building that building within the time stated on the planning permission.

[David McNeish]

Probably called something different in England - we're talking in Scottish here...

David

[Michael Mcneil]

Quite.

I was just musing on something that struck me some time ago about our responsibilies to our grandchildren's grandchildren.

Too often we have to look for the short, quick fix. And sometimes we just make unecessary problems for others.

The OP was talking about some cosmetic surgery but I was thinking of a nation's landscape.

[NotMe]

Sorry, it is in Scotland of course.

Should have mentioned it in the original message.

[Mike]

Nothing new in that. The person who in early 18xx thought it would be a good idea to extend the local abatoir into a full house without putting in proper foundations was obviously NOT thinking of my wellbeing at the time :-)